Ciao Chow Linda

Torrone and Pistachio Semifreddo

Ingredients

• 6 eggs

• 6 T. sugar

• 1 T. rum

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 1 cup chopped up almond or hazelnut torrone (the hard, crunchy kind, typically sold in a long box usually about 5.3 ounces. I used about half the box.)

• 1/2 jar of pistachio cream (jars are usually 7 or 8 ounces)

Instructions

1. Break up the torrone into small pieces.

2. (I used a meat pounder and placed the torrore between clean dish towels so it wouldn’t spew all over the kitchen.)

3. Separate the eggs, but you will only need four of the egg whites.

4. Save the other two egg whites for another use.

5. In a double boiler, place the egg yolks and the sugar.

6. Whisk over warm water until you get a velvety, thick mass.

7. (Don’t move away from this or you could end up with scrambled eggs.)

8. Some recipes call for using raw eggs, but I like to err on the side of caution and cook my egg yolks.

9. Let it cool slightly, then add the rum, whisking it in.

10. Place it to the side or in the refrigerator, but if you let it chill too long, it will become hard to work with.

11. Whip the four egg whites until they form stiff peaks.

12. Add the chopped torrone and the cooled egg yolk mixture to the whipped egg whites, folding everything together.

13. Beat the cream until stiff.

14. Fold the egg yolk, whipped egg whites and torrone mixture thoroughly with the whipped cream.

15. Remove half of this mixture to a separate bowl and set aside.

16. The pistachio cream can be quite dense, so if you put it all into the mixture from the jar all at once, you risk deflating it too much.

17. Instead put tthe pistachio mixture into a bowl and mix into it only a few tablespoons of the egg white, egg yolk and whipped cream mixture to “lighten it up.”

18. Then add the rest of the other half of tthe mixture to the pistachio cream and fold in thoroughly.

19. You should now have two bowls, one that’s beige with the torrone in it, and one that’s pale green with the torrone and pistachio cream mixture.

20. Line a loaf pan (8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ x 2 1/2″) with parchment paper.

21. Using a large serving spoon, place alterrnating spoonfuls of the beige torrrone mixture with the pistachio mixture.

22. Continue layering until you reach the top of the pan.

23. Place a piece of plastic wrap or aluminum foil on top and freeze overnight.

24. When ready to serve, run a knife around the edge,and flip it over onto a serving platter, removing the parchment paper.

25. If it doesn’t want to come loose, let the pan soak for a few seconds in hot water, then flip it onto a platter.

26. Serve with chocolate sauce

27. CHOCOLATE SAUCE:

28. /2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

29. cup granulated sugar

30. /8 teaspoon kosher salt

31. /2 cup cold water

32. /2 teaspoons vanilla

33. In a saucepan, whisk together the cocoa, sugar and salt.

34. Add the cold water and bring to a boil.

35. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes, making sure all the lumps are dissolved.

36. Remove from heat and add the vanilla.

37. The sauce will be quite runny when it’s hot so let it sit at room temperature for several hours before using it, or place in the refrigerator to thicken in a shorter time.