Flavoured Mascarpone
How to make mascarpone more interesting…..
Some of you might that mascarpone is perfectly fine in its own right and I wouldn’t argue with that but the occasional twist and turn never did anyone any harm in my opinion. I love mascarpone, it’s rich, creamy and versatile.
I suppose I use ‘versatile’ in many of the recipes that I write about but then I put that down to my profession. Cooking for me is also a business and I have to be business minded in the dishs I create.
But then we all have to be careful about the food we cook and as price is such an important issue for so many of us then the versatility of an ingredient becomes evermore important.
What I like about mascarpone is that it serves as a great base and easily takes on other ingredients but for now I’m sticking to two; oranges and lemons.
An spoon of orange or lemon scented mascarpone is a thing of beauty, no question. It reaches parts other creams can only dream of and it is so easy to make. I couldn’t say which one I prefer but I’d probably advise you to try the lemon first.
All you do is take a washed lemon or orange, maybe two and grate the zest on a fine grater.
Now take a pan and add a small quantity of equal parts water to sugar, a simple stock syrup and bring to the boil. Now add the grated zest, lower the heat and cook until the syrup has reduced, the zest is cooked and you have a thick, sticky syrup. Leave it to cool.
Take your mascarpone and add the syrup, zest and all to it. Get the ratio of mascarpone to syrup right, you want it to taste of the fruit, it should be right up there at the front, not lurking in the background.
All you do now is serve it with a warm pudding, tart, pancakes, whatever you want. Just don’t feel guilty about it!!!
Miles,
What a marvellous idea…. even the zesty stock syrup on it’s own is an excellent one and could presumably be added to other sweet dishes or used as a cordial?
Cid
p.s. I can almost hear the out-cry from table #5 on this one but something tells me that should a bowl magically appear before him, he would scoff the lot
March 12, 2010 @ 5:17 pm
Miles,
Mascarpone is very versatile as you say and I like your above suggestions.
I make a Cappuccino Cake which is baked and topped with mascarpone. The flavour added in this case is either Advocaat Liquer or an Orange Liquer - yummy
Anne
March 12, 2010 @ 8:19 pm
Cid,
The syrups are great andyou could simply pour them over a hot pudding or incorporate them ino other recipes. Have an experiment.
Miles
March 12, 2010 @ 8:27 pm
Anne,
That sounds really good, I like the idea of that.
Miles
March 12, 2010 @ 8:28 pm
I’ve never cooked a single thing with mascarpone
March 13, 2010 @ 7:40 pm
Rod,
I’ll buy you some
Enjoy the F1.
Miles
March 14, 2010 @ 8:42 am