Romance, Tiramisu!

First, "dear Mom, I know you were upset when I told you that I am going to make Tiramisu. And yeah, you guessed it right, it does contain eggs. But right from childhood I got used to eating eggs in various forms. Cakes, ice creams and chocolates and it removed my aversion to it. Also, after eating this heavenly dessert at restaurants and authentically in Italy, it is very very difficult to restrain from it. I hope one day you eat this, prepared by me, and give a thumbs up."

 My first encounter with Tiramisu was in Lindau, Germany, 2006. Yeah, it is Italian, but you are seldom exposed to all these when you are in India. For me "Senthil softy" was one of the best and it will still remain so! And here in Germany, European cuisine is prominent. So, on a vegetarian food starved party, Tiramisu came to my rescue. The second time was in Rome and the most recent one was in Venice. And suddenly one day, my dear friend Vasudha sent me an email explaining how to coquere Tiramisu at home. When I read the instuctions, I knew I was going to make it, asap! 

I have a very good foodie with me here, Tez. He shares the same amount of enthusiasm I have for cooking and so we decided to make this a joint venture. Two many cooks spoil the broth is an old saying, but it never spoils when the cooks have the same frequenzy! After a real good game of Badminton, me and Tez went to the market to buy the ingerdients. Fresh eggs(4), Mascarpone cheese(500g), sugar, loeffel biscuits (a.k.a Ladys finger or just Tiramisu biscuits), whiskey, good coffee powder and cocoa powder (which we actually missed).

I was a bit skeptical actually. Eggs, yeah, okies, not an issue. But when I read the instructions, I realised, raw eggs! As I have already said, once you have tasted Tiramisu, its hard to give up. So, I proceeded. First dividing the egg yolk from the white, I added generous amounts of sugar (4 big spoons) into the yellow and beat it until the sugar dissolved. I smelled it several times to make sure it didnt smell raw, it actually did not. This put a smile on my face. When Tez added the mascarpone into this, I was so tempted to eat this mixture. Mascarpone is divine! Few minutes of beating and this became a soft cream. Next is to beat the egg white until it becomes soft and fluffy. Best is to use an electrical whipper, but since we were not equipped with it, it was muscular whipping. After adding the fluffy whipped whites into the creamy beaten yellow-mascarpone, I felt like diving right into the bowl! This mixture was set in the fridge for an hour.

We then made thick espresso coffee and after it cooled down, added the whisky to it and dipped the loeffel biscuits into this mixture and arranged them in a bowl. A layer of the prepared cream on top, and yet another layer of biscuits dipped in coffee-whiskey and then one final layer of cream on top. We didnt have the cocoa powder to sprinkle on top, so with a little sad face and a curse to our memories, we set it in the fridge for 4 hours.

Tez then calls me to my mobile " Machan, my entire house smells of Tiramisu and the taste is better than the ones we get here in Germany. We should sell this da!"

Tiramisu, sounds exotic, tastes divine, not so difficult to make! A perfect dessert for a candle lit romantic evening! Buon appetito !!