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Showing posts from September, 2009

La Cucina Zuccotto Recipe Redux

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Zuccotto is an Italian dessert with origins in Florence. Our popular version of Zuccotto is a dome-shaped, semi-fredda, made with liqueur-soaked vanilla sponge cake and a trio of flavoured whipped creams.Zuccotto can be kept frozen, then thawed before serving.The shape is said to have been inspired by it's resemblance to Florence's Duomo. Others allude to its shape as closely resembling a cardinal's skullcap. This delicious Tuscan-inspired bombe was a signature dessert at my former restaurant, La Cucina, on King Street in London Ontario in the early 1990's. Another variation of Zuccotto is made with layers of homemade ice cream and is known as a Bombe glacée or simply a Bombe in English. Escoffier gives over sixty recipes for bombes prepared in spherical moulds in Le Guide culinaire. Variations of the bombe have appeared on restaurant menus since 1882. Zuccotto Vanilla Sponge Cake (recipe below) and bake in a 13"X9"X2" pan. Cool. Cut into strips 13"

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Pine Nut and Fresh Sage Butter Sauce

This is the classic butternut squash dish, also often made with hubbard squash or fresh pumpkin.. You can also substitute canned pumpkin if you’d prefer, but we love the flavour and the texture of fresh butternut squash. How to Make Fresh Pasta Fresh pasta is made with 1 lb. 2 oz. of flour and 5 whole eggs. In many regions of Italy only 4 eggs and a little water are used; in others, 2 eggs and more water. In some regions only the egg yolks and a little oil are employed. Regardless of these regional variations, the dough must be well kneaded – that is, until little bubbles are visible in the dough – before being stretched with the rolling pin. Ingredients 1 lb. 2 oz. flour • 5 whole fresh eggs • semolina for sprinkling on pasta (optional) Pour the flour on a pastry board in a cone-shaped mound. Break the eggs into the center of the cone and blend the yolks with the whites, using a fork or fingers, then begin gradually mixing the egg with the flour. When the dough has a thic

LOLA'S LOUNGE IN SARNIA

Whatever Lola Wants… Tania Auger’s Lola’s Lounge in Sarnia By Cecilia Buy and Bryan Lavery Drive down Christina Street in Sarnia, and you can’t miss it: a narrow building, with the front of its second floor covered by the outsize signage, “Lola’s Lounge” in flowing neon script, voluptuously crimson. Red is Tania Auger’s signature colour, and the owner of Lola’s has put her unmistakable stamp on every facet of her restaurant, from furnishings to food, from the window treatment to the wine list. The bones of the old building show through. Operating continuously since the thirties, the shade of the former diner lingers. The swivel stools at the counter have been replaced with metal-framed barstools, but the curved bulkhead above the liquor shelves remains, now backlit with red neon that casts a speakeasy glow over the bottles and Tania’s collection of vintage Canadian and Italian art glass. Down one side of the room are the original booths, seats now reupholstered, each booth with its