Tuesday, November 11, 2014

What does one serve a Diva?

(Continued)


Gina had described her Mother to me in detail over the years, but to be honest, it always sounded like she may have been exaggerating a bit. Seeing how well I knew her Father and sister Laura, I couldn't imagine how these people could have, at one point in time, all fit together as a family. That was the problem: they didn't.

People always make jokes when they see two very ill-suited people who happen to have children. You may see a couple walking down the street that go together like Rosanne Barr and Italian opera, yet they have four kids! “Well,” you’ll hear someone say, “you know they at least had sex four times!” In the case of Gina and Laura’s parents, it was twice.

It wasn't that Gina’s parents didn't like each other. In fact, they were best friends, but they simply had no interest in each other physically. For some reason, Gina and Laura’s parents told their daughters they were not intimate on a fairly regular basis. They felt the need to make this very clear. Gina told me that when she was little, she would ask her parents “Do you two ever kiss?” to which they would respond with variations in the key of ‘No’.

As an adult, Gina would learn that ‘it’ happened twice. Being good Italians, Giacomo Radioli and Graziella Travoli did what they were supposed to do on their wedding night. They did it for the same reason one compliments a homely aunt when she wears a new dress, praises a child for a hideous drawing of an unrecognizable object or when one takes a second helping a friend’s culinary disaster: because it was easier than telling the truth. The Radioli and the Travoli families had so much emotional and, moreover, financial investment in the union of their children that neither Giacomo or Graziella had the heart to tell their respective families that they would both rather date outside of their species than marry each other. Nine months later, or as Graziella would often remind her daughter, nine and a half months after their wedding night, their first daughter Gina was born. ‘It’ occurred again on Giacomo and Graziella’s one-year anniversary. This produced Laura. Two children. Mission accomplished. Done!

So as we were waiting for the arrival of the famed Graziella, I began to think of how I would serve the one dish Gina told me was sure to impress her Mother: Lemon Sorbetto. It wasn’t really that I wanted to impress her. To be honest, I really didn’t care. I may never see the woman again. But, if I made something she loved (and had ice cold Champagne stocked) Gina said I had a pretty good chance of hearing stories of some of her Mother’s adventures.

Gina always said, “Hospitality is the key to unlocking my Mother’s jaw!”

Well, here’s hopin’!!

                                                  

Lemon Tarragon Sorbetto
Makes 1 quart
Special equipment: Ice cream maker, micro plane zester
Ingredients:
6 lemons, well washed and dried and brought to room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ cups water
Lemon zest from 4 lemons
3 tablespoon chopped tarragon leaves
Pinch salt

Garnish:
2 tablespoons julienned tarragon leaves
Fresh strawberries, cleaned, hulled and sliced




1. Using a micro plane, zest the lemons. Cut the zested lemons in half then juice them. Strain the juice of any seeds. Set aside
2. Bring the sugar and water to a boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Cover the saucepan with the lid to sweat down any sugar crystals. Remove pan from heat and stir in the zest. Allow to stand, covered, for 10 minutes.
3. Pour the syrup into a heat-proof glass bowl and stir in the lemon juice, chopped tarragon leaves and the salt. Cool to room temperature, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
4. Pass the sorbet base through a strainer and freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions
5. Serve sprinkled with julienned tarragon and fresh sliced strawberries.


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