The kitchen door flies open. A young man with hips as wide as a python streaks out into the packed dining area with his tray held over his shoulder.
Oohs and Aahs erupt around the table as he places a thick slice of semifreddo in front of a wide-eyed little girl.
Gianluca shakes his corkscrew locks and grins. Tonight, he is playing to a full house and “Evviva la sacra famiglia!”
Tiramisù and semifreddo are the burlesque artistes of Italian desserts. Voluptuous, open to improvisation, and downright bawdy, they tease even the most jaded palates with their “sugar, booze and cream” routines.
A recipe for a hazelnut semifreddo has been knocking around the back of my mind for years now, but I have never attempted it until today. Why so long? I have just been too lazy to tackle toasting and skinning all of the hazelnuts, then cooking them with honey and sugar to make the brittle croccante (praline) needed for its unmistakable flavour. A few years ago, Nigella Lawson’s Italian Gelato Cake from her book “Nigellissima” was covered all over the internet. In her recipe, she smashes meringues, then folds the rubble into whipped cream along with chopped dark chocolate. Once it is frozen, she serves it with a decadent, liqueur infused chocolate sauce. I have never tried her recipe, but have had versions of it in Italy, where they call it “meringata”. This is perhaps the easiest semifreddo ever invented, and Nigella’s version has been declared a Genius Recipe by Food 52. Indeed, it is a delicious yet practical dessert to have up your sleeve.
Her smashed meringues inspired me to try using the Italian cookies “brutti ma buoni” which are made with hazelnuts and a dark, toffee like, collapsed meringue. Would these hard, intense “ugly but good” little cookies save me from making a croccante? They are less airy than a classic meringue, so I knew that I would need different ratios from Nigella’s.
I turned to the chapter on Sicily in Claudia Roden’s award winning book “The Food of Italy” to consult the recipe she gives for “semifreddo alle mandorle o alle nocciole”, which she procured from Antonio Tantillo, the chef at the Charleston in Palermo. Confident that this source would teach me the basics of a good semifreddo, I tinkered with it to make my own, simplified hazelnut version.
Semifreddi like to luxuriate in sauce and a chocolate one is certainly compatible, but I wanted something fresher and less cloying. Hence my apricot sauce invention. Try this recipe when you have a party. You can make it in no time the day before and get on with the main course.
PS: If Dita van Teese is a tiramisù, then this recipe is my ode to Pink and all the other girls singing “Voulez vous coucher avec moi” for the soundtrack to the film Moulin Rouge.
Notes:
Brutti ma buoni cookies can be bought in any upmarket food hall or Italian bakery
I used plastic wrap because it is easy to handle. However, I have a bit of “elephant skin” on the sides of my semifreddo. Parchment paper or maybe even foil will give you a smoother result.
The Recipe
List of Ingredients
For the semifreddo
250 g brutti ma buoni, plus one or two more for decoration
600 ml double cream or whipping cream
2 eggs, separated
50 g confectioner’s sugar
For the apricot sauce
4 tablespoons apricot jam
4 tablespoons orange juice, or more to taste
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier
The Method
Line a 1 kg bread pan or a mold with plastic wrap, making sure it hangs generously over the edges.
Place the brutti ma buoni in a flat container. Take a large mug and crush down on the cookies until they resemble coarse breadcrumbs. Do not pulverize them to sand.
Place three mixing bowls on the table. Two of them need to be of glass or stainless steel as you will be whipping cream and egg whites in them.
Separate the yolks from the whites and place them each in different bowls. Pour the cream into the final bowl.
Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. Without bothering to rinse the whisks, whip the cream to soft peaks. Rinse the beaters. Beat the egg yolks with the confectioners’ sugar until pale and fluffy.
Fold the yolks into the cream, then fold in the egg whites and the brutti e buoni crumbs.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan, then cover with the overhanging plastic wrap. Wrap the entire pan again so that it is airtight. Freeze for a minimum of 6 hours.
To serve
Take the semifreddo out of the freezer and let it sit for a few minutes to soften. Turn it out onto a serving dish and pull away the wrap. Do not fret if the wrap is stubborn and wants to stick to the dessert. Just give it a few more minutes and it will come off. The semifreddo will be relatively hard, but once cut with a hot knife and put onto plates, it will quickly relax and reach the consistency of a frozen mousse.
The apricot sauce should be made no less than 30 minutes before serving, as it should be poured on the semifreddo at room temperature
Apricot Sauce
Gently heat all of the ingredients together for a few minutes and let cool to room temperature.
Zig zag the apricot sauce over the semifreddo. Crush one or 2 more brutti ma buoni cookies over the top for crunch and presentation.
