GH (genius husband) and I just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. I love being married to him because he’s so much fun and not at all stuffy. For example, we’re at a sushi restaurant, sitting at the sushi bar and GH is barking like a seal (sotto voce) in the hopes that they will toss him his sushi, you know, like fish to a seal. Another time we’re in a store, walking through the men’s department when he says, rather obviously, “don’t you hate pants” (a favorite Simpson’s reference). He’s handsome, goofy, intelligent, and lovable…what more could a woman want. Every year around this time I sing love songs as I cook and Otis Redding’s I’ve Been Loving You is an absolute favorite and as you can imagine I belt it out with soulful intent, totally undeterred by the fact that I can’t sing on key, or even near key.
I’ve got great taste in men and music. I also have great taste when I eat. I’m not saying I’m a supertaster but I can, and often do identify flavors correctly when I’m eating. Example, the same sushi restaurant served us a scrumptious satsuma semifreddo. It came with a sauce of stewed dried figs and it was heavenly. I went home and two days later recreated the dessert perfectly, with the exception that I chose to go with dried cranberries instead of figs. To my taste it was obvious that the sauce had some honey, balsamic vinegar, yuzo, and citron with just a splash of white wine…and I nailed it. The semifreddo was easy and a perfect dessert to create when you only have a few hours advance notice that you need a rocking dessert.
Semifreddo is italian for “half cold” and therein lies its genius. A combination of whipped cream, whipped egg yolks, satsusma juice and zest, and sugar. I think it may have taken me 30 minutes to put it together but that’s only because I couldn’t find a recipe I liked so I made it up as I went. But lucky you, you get the recipe. Now there is only one issue that we must discuss first. Do you mind eating raw eggs? I don’t because I know exactly where my eggs come from and how they are raised. But if you do worry about eating raw eggs this recipe isn’t for you…however you could gently heat the yolks in a double boiler prior to whipping them. If you do that let me know how it turns out.
Satsuma semifreddo with cranberry balsamic sauce
- printer-friendly recipe -
1 ¾ cup of heavy cream, well chilled
1/3 cup sugar
5 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup satsuma juice
zest from 1 or 2 satsumas
Put the heavy cream in your mixer bowl and fit the mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk the cream until it starts to take on volume and then add 1/3 cup of sugar. Continue whisking until stiff peaks form. Transfer the whipped cream to another bowl and give the mixer bowl and whisk a quick wash up.
Put the egg yolks, 1/3 cup sugar, and the satsuma juice and zest in the mixer bowl and whisk for 3 or 4 minutes on high. The yolks should triple in volume and be a pale yellow.
Fold the whipped cream and egg mixture together…be gentle but thorough. Transfer the semifreddo to individual serving molds. I used my petite brioche molds and they worked brilliantly. Freeze for 2 hours or until totally set.
Cranberry balsamic sauce
1/3 citron honey
1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
¼ white wine
1/3 cup dried cranberries
splash of yuzo
dash of salt
Put all the ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer until reduced. If you reduce too much add some water because when it cools it will be much thicker. Chill and serve with the semifreddo.
Go to my blog, What Geeks Eat… for an awesome video of Otis Redding singing my other favorite love song plus there’s a fabulous pork recipe too.
