Zaba Zaba Doo

by Chewy

The other day I ran across a word I didn’t know. Zabaglione. I’m going to give you a chance to prove you are smarter than I am.

A zabaglione is:

A. One of those machines that smoothes the ice during hockey games.
B.  A cyst composed of joint fluid.
C.  Fred Flintstone’s  famous tagline.
D.  An Italian dessert.
E.  None of the above.

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If you answered “D”, an Italian dessert,  you get to go to the head of the class. Yes, today’s blog is brought to us by the letter “Z”, as in zabaglione.

The origins of this classic dessert are, as usual, a bit uncertain, although it’s Italian roots are undisputed. With a  possible date of the ninth century, the area of Turin or Venice  are cited as the inception of this dessert.

It is a very light custard, composed of four simple ingredients, egg yolks, sugar, whipping cream and a sweet wine (usually Marsala). Whipped into a frenzy (or is it whipped with frenzy?), large amounts of air is incorporated which gives it the “light” moniker (not to be confused with “lite” as in low calories. Did you read the ingredients?). Traditionally served with fresh figs, newer versions have been updated to include strawberries, blueberries and peaches.

by J-Stuart

It is served  after preparation, once it has attained room temperature. However, if you wish to prepare ahead of an event, it can be served chilled, especially with berries. If children are present, the wine can be omitted (to avoid a covert call to children’s services. Note, this is not a problem in Europe.) and sometimes replaced with small amounts of espresso. In my mind,  removing the wine removes an essential flavor and it now becomes a totally different dessert.

United States restaurants serve zabaglione in a champagne glass, Argentina in an ice cream bowl (very popular ice cream flavor!) and Venezuela in a glass suitable for drinking (as in eggnog). For this Zabaglione Recipe. I recommend serving in any fancy wide mouth stemmed glass you have available.