Zabaglione is a classic sweet that you don’t encounter much any more on restaurant menus or home meals. That is a shame because it is delicious. Marie used to make this wonderful dessert, layering it with fresh fruit in tall sundae glasses, so I decided to get a couple of good Internet recipes, improve and combine them into one recipe, and provide it in Food Nirvana.

Zabaglione belongs to the family of custard-like sauces that use egg yolks to thicken a liquid, such as hollandaise sauce and mayonnaise. All of these require some patience in adding the liquid to the egg yolks and, for the warm ones like zabaglione, care not to overheat and curdle the mixture. In this recipe, you whisk the egg, sugar and wine constantly until it becomes more of a mousse than a custard. You need arm muscle stamina if you’re going to whisk by hand, but an electric whisk can make preparation easy.

Ingredients: (serves six people)

8 egg yolks

1/2 cup of sugar

1 cup of sweet Marsala wine

1/2 pint of fresh, chilled red raspberries

1/2 pint of fresh blackberries or blueberries, chilled

1 cup of chilled heavy cream

1 tbsp. of sugar for the heavy cream

1 tsp. of vanilla extract for the heavy cream

Directions:

Fill a large saucepan with several inches of water, and bring it to a boil over high heat.

Reduce the heat until the water maintains a strong simmer.

Place the egg yolks and half cup of sugar into a metal mixing bowl. Whisk the mixture until you have an even consistency.

Place the bowl over the simmering water. Whisk constantly, adding the Marsala wine gradually in a thin stream and continuing to whisk constantly, until the zabaglione turns pale yellow and thickens to the consistency of softly whipped cream.

Transfer the zabaglione with a rubber spatula into a clean, chilled mixing bowl, set over ice, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until the zabaglione is cold. Once it is cold, it is ready for the next step where you fold in the whipped cream.

Whip the cream in a separate chilled bowl with an electric mixer. When it forms soft peaks add one tbsp. of sugar and one tsp. of vanilla extract and continue whipping for no more than 30 seconds.

Fold the whipped cream gently into the chilled zabaglione.

Divide the berries to be used into portions for 6 large sundae glasses.

Layer the berries and the zabaglione in the glasses, ending with a berry or two on top. Keep the dessert chilled in the refrigerator for no more than one or two hours, covered with plastic wrap, until it is time to serve dessert.

Serve and enjoy!