cream reincarnated...
i recently purchased approximately two pounds of mascarpone. the first pound was obtained in anticipation of making mascarpone ice cream for an iron chef cooking contest amongst friends. the ice cream was delicious, but i felt that it wasn't mascarpone-y enough. it tasted like homemade vanilla, not that there's anything wrong with that. after conducting more research, i realized there was a whole new world of possibilities out there, besides just tiramisu.
technically, like ricotta, mascarpone is not cheese. no rennet or starter has been added. it is pasteurized cream, to which citric acid has been added, then it is drained through a cheese cloth. however, most cheesemongers sell it, alongside their fresh mozarella. it is pale blonde (peroxide blonde, to be precise), sweet and slightly tart. the texture is thick, creamy, and smooth like buttercream icing. it simply invites you to experiment with it
it can be used like whipped cream with fruit. i like to sprinkle vanilla sugar (2 vanilla beans to a lb of sugar, grind together as finely as possible in a food processer, then sift out the larger bits of pod) on sliced figs and blast them in a broiler long enough to carmelize the sugar, then plop some mascarpone mixed with a little honey on top. i also found a heavenly recipe for mascarpone sorbet, although it's really more like ice cream. it's a hell of a lot easier than making the ice cream, and tastes more mascarpone-y. believe it or not, it came from the french laundry cookbook. (but thomas keller says he got the recipe from alain ducasse) here goes:
take a pound room temperature mascarpone, and blend it with 2 1/4 cups chilled simple syrup (i used vanilla sugar). freeze in an ice cream maker, then add 1/4 cup lemon juice (i used meyer lemons). voila! this is excellent with strawberries briefly marinated in balsamic vinegar.
Posted by connie at July 14, 2003 10:55 PM | TrackBack