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12/24/2007 Archived Entry: "Merry Christmas"

Merry Christmas and, in case I don’t have another opportunity to wish it, a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous New Year to all.

Sorry I haven’t written in a long time but I have been extremely busy, too busy. A new assistant is running me ragged. Wil (yes, one “l”) is a professional chef, so while he is not very inclined to sit at the computer doing the administrative grunt work that I hired him to do, he is beyond excellent in the kitchen. He is excellent and fast.

As you may remember, I am in the process of writing a book, “The Big Book of Southern Italian Food & Wine.” Right now all I can see is the word BIG and my deadline. I need more than 300 recipes by the end of the summer.

“No problem. It’s a rich cuisine,” you say, knowingly. And you’d be right.

Eating my way around the six southern regions of Italy over many years, I have identified what those dishes should be.

“Now there’s a job I want!” you say. And you’d be right again.

I have notes on most of them. I have tons of recipes, though many of them are, so far – still -- sketchy at best. I’ve done my homework. Now all I need to do is write the recipes clearly and precisely, test them exactly as written with American ingredients, re-do the dishes, re-write the recipes, honing both the food and the directions for making it, not to mention the story behind it, the history, the cultural context. Then I have to re-re-test them and re-re-write them. That’s all.

Now you are supposed to say, “That sounds like a lot of work, detail work.” And once again, you’d be right.

With Wil at the stove in the kitchen, and me at the computer in the kitchen, and both of us constantly swapping places and shopping for ingredients, it is the testing and recipe-writing cycle that has consumed me the last month, seven days a week. And now I am leaving for Italy, for a Cook at Seliano group, which also required much preparation, then a little tour with my niece and her fiancée. You’re bound to hear from me while I’m on the road.

My little Christmas/going-away present to you is my recently perfected recipe for Ricotta Cake, Torta di Ricotta, which, truth to tell, is not a genuine Italian sweet, but an Italian-American one. It’s going to be in my new book anyway. I think American cookbook buyers will expect it, and this simple recipe is so, so good. In any case, Ricotta Cake has its geneses in southern Italy, where many different ones are made, although none quite as high and fine as this one, if I say so myself. It’s similar to many other recipes I have found for Ricotta Cake, but I tweaked it a bit.

As you can imagine, with fabulous foods like this cake around the house (we baked it three times), it has not been a good time for dieting. We can’t give the food away, or eat it, fast enough. As soon as we do, Wil cooks more. Now he’s on vacation and finally I have a moment to write. And not cook. And not eat. (Okay, so I’m going to a party tonight and there will be many temptations.)

Again, all my best to you and yours this Christmas, New Year, and every day,
Arthur

P.S.: CHRISTMAS CHEER
I don’t usually pass along internet noise, but this is so cheerful, well-crafted and, well, if you want to know what I am doing on Christmas day, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1uZ_W7atDE

(A better typographical treatment of this recipe can be found on my web site, in the last entry of The Maven’s Diary. It is clearer to read and to print out.)

Torta di Ricotta
(Ricotta Cake)

Makes 1 9-inch cake, serving at least 10

There are many cakes made with ricotta in the south of Italy, but none that are quite like this, the ideal of Italian-American cheesecake. It is rich and impossibly creamy, yet somehow still light. It’s a high cake with little embellishment except a cookie crust, which, truth be told, is there mainly so the cake releases from the pan neatly, and can be slid off the springform base onto a cake plate.

You can, if you like, bake the cake without a crust, but don’t skip the water bath. It definitely adds to the cake’s silken consistency

1 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup finely ground amaretti cookies (about 3 ounces, the exact number depends on the
brand) or finely ground vanilla wafers, or finely ground Graham crackers
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 pounds whole milk ricotta (1 large container)
9 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Grated zest of 1 orange

Place a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Refrigerate the pan for 10 minutes. Dust the bottom and side of the pan with the amaretti or other crumbs, pressing lightly to make a thin layer adhere.

To insure against leaks when the pan is put in a water bath, wrap the outside of the springform with a sheet of aluminum foil. Select a larger pan into which you can insert the springform. This will hold the water bath.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, on medium speed, or in a very large bowl using a hand-held electric mixer on medium speed, beat the ricotta until it is smooth, about 30 seconds.

Break all the eggs into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, combine and stir together the sugar, flour, and salt. Set aside.

On medium-low speed, gradually add the eggs to the ricotta until all are well incorporated. Increase the speed slightly and beat in the vanilla, and the lemon and orange zests.

On low speed, beat in the dry ingredients just until well mixed.

Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan. Place the foil-wrapped pan the larger pan, and fill the outside pan with boiling water to come half-way up the side of the springform. Depending on the size of the outside pan, rather than pour the water around the springform when it is already in place, it is often easier and safer to pour the water in the outside pan first – remembering that the springform will displace some of it.

Bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Let the cake cool in the water bath until the water is tepid.

Carefully remove the springform from the water bath, keeping the aluminum foil in place. Finish cooling the cake on a rack.

When cooled to room temperature, refrigerate for at least 3 hours before removing from the pan.

The cake should be served chilled.