Saturday, February 21, 2009

Hey little Big head is running away with it!



Little big head Giada De Laurentis is running away with our poll so far. It seems like she has a lot of fans who want to stuff her and who are stuffing the ballot box. Here is a recipe for a tasty little desert I have made from her cookbook and from the Food Channel.

Ingredients
6 cups hot espresso
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 teaspoons confectioners' sugar
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, grated or shaved
Fresh mint sprigs, for garnish

Directions
In a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish, carefully pour in hot espresso and whisk in granulated sugar until dissolved completely. Place dish in freezer and every hour, scrape the mixture with a large fork to create the granita texture. The granita will need approximately five hours to completely freeze. The first time you scrape, the granita will not be frozen solid. You want to start scraping while it's still slushy so that texture of the granita will be even throughout.
Right before serving, make the whipped cream. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks. Add the vanilla extract and confectioners' sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks.
Line up 12 glass Champagne flutes. Place 1 tablespoon of granita in the bottom of each glass. Using a different spoon, spread a layer of whipped cream. Continue layering the granita and whipped cream, ending with the whipped cream. Sprinkle chocolate over the top of each glass. Garnish with a sprig of mint. Serve immediately

8 comments:

knox said...

Her show and Barefoot Contessa do have the best recipes. IMO.

blake said...

Maybe everyone's just grateful she didn't go into the family's movie business.

TitusFreezeFrame said...

I am not voting. I find this poll completely sexist. I expected more from this blog and I am sorely disappointed. "Stuffing" and "Meat"-the terms are obvious and tacky and lacking intelligence.

I'm mad. You heard it mad.

TitusFreezeFrame said...

Women are people too and should not be treated as meat or just a pair of tits and an ass.

Filthy I say. Filthy.

TitusFreezeFrame said...

What about their minds? I hear no discussion about their minds?

What happened to being attractive to intelligence?

Gone the way of th Saturn I guess.

Penny said...

Actually, blake, I was even more impressed with her for NOT going into the family movie business. She could have easily enough, but instead set out to follow her own passion.

And Titus? My nan said only DOGS get mad. Please don't make me come and put you down for having rabies, dear.

ricpic said...

Titus doesn't even have a dog in this hunt, so to speak, and he's mad? She's beautiful. And she's got a mind. Think of the handicap this puts on the poor normal male, or as Titus would say the straight. The poor guy's tongue is hanging out and she's scheming.

Penny said...

Dear ricpic, more likely she is steamin'. ;)

As for Titus's stake in all this?

Two rabies-free, rare clumbers in his bed, should go a long way to discounting rumors he is "mad" (from rabies).

Any other guesses as to Titus's madness?