I find that in every relationship there is a hoarder and a thrower. Take my relationship with Stephen for example, I'm a thrower as I greatly dislike amassing huge amounts of stuff, whilst Stephen is an absolute hoarder.

Hence, once the kids have outgrown a particular piece of clothing or unwanted toy I usually drop it off at our local St Vinnies. Stephen on the other hand is a consummate cling-on as he  can't stand parting with anything. Whether it's his skin tight black leather pants from the 80's or a favourite pair of shoes he hasn't worn in seven years, he just can't bare to throw anything out! Unfortunately our two children are also displaying strong cling-on tendencies and so, I find that the moment they're all out the door of a morning, happily off to school and the office, that is when I begin to purge.

Over the years I have managed to remove tonnes of unwanted stuff from right underneath their unsuspecting noses. Hence, my theory is if the cling-on's are none the wiser as to the disappearance of the skin tight black leather pants, the Thomas the tank train set and the Dora the Explorer doll with matching back-pack - then more power to me!



Funnily enough, when it comes to food I tend to be a bit of a cling-on myself and err on the side of 'waste not, want not'. This tendency I suspect has been kindly passed on to me via my mum and my nanna who have both lived through the post-war food shortages that existed in Malta last century. Sure the war is well and truly over and has been for some time now (65 years to be exact), but the need to 'waste not' and improvise is as imminent as ever.

So the other day while I was making that gorgeous Spiced Chocolate & Hazelnut Meringue Cake, I just couldn't bring myself to wastefully dispose of six unsuspecting egg yolks. So aren't you glad that I decided to make zabaglione ice cream with them instead?

Zabaglione Ice Cream

Ingredients

150ml Marsala

6 organic egg yolks

½ cup brown sugar

600ml full fat organic milk

600ml thick cream

For the Amaretti Crumbs

100g Amaretti Biscuits, crushed


Method

1. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in the upper half of a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Once the mixture is tepid add the Marsala and continue to whisk for another five minutes until it has thickened.

2. Add the cream and the milk to the zabaglione and gently fold in so that it is fully incorporated.

3. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. When it is cool, place the bowl in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. Put the mixture in your ice cream maker and proceed according to the manufacturers instructions.

4. Serve the zabaglione ice cream with a generous sprinkling of Amaretti crumbs or with a thick slice of Spiced Chocolate & Hazelnut Meringue Cake.





A Mediterranean Feast of the
Mythic Islands of Malta & Sicily

June 7th-17th, 2011
Ten day fully escorted gastronomic tour

 
Download 'A Mediterranean Feast' 2011 Tour Brochure ( 111kb pdf)

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