I found this recipe in Nancy Silverton’s book who got it from the famous Italian olive oil production company – “Capezzana’s”. Apparently, it was old and cherished family recipe. The recipe calls for a lot of extra-virgin olive oil, and I mean - A LOT. But the only thing Nancy – I’m quoting her – “dared to change” was the size of the pan she used, or, to be correct – the pans, since she baked the cake batter in small tartlet pans instead of two 9” round pans. Nancy loved the crust and wanted to increase the crust to crumb ratio. Well, if she didn’t dare to change anything, I thought I probably shouldn’t do it either; and with a sigh measured out 1½ cups of very good organic Italian extra-virgin olive oil (sigh… not cheap). I dared, though, to add the salt, a whole teaspoon; it seemed like a necessary ingredient (maybe it was supposed to be mentioned there but somehow it got lost during the publishing process of the book :) The little cakes turned out nice. I understand now Nancy’s affection to the crust – it’s crackly, and sugary and, wonderful; inside, on the other hand, is very tender. If the cakes are made in advance the crust can lose some of its lovely crispiness (humidity is a significant contributing factor to this); simply place the cakes back to the 350F oven for about 10 minutes to return the crust its once lost great quality.

Adapted from the “Pastries from the La Brea Bakery”

Capezzana Olive Oil and Orange Cakes recipe…

There’s another frozen and basil-containing treat. But the basil here is not dominant and very pronounced; it’s more of a subtle and intriguing accent. The sherbet is tangy, refreshing and light. And it’s so effortlessly put together. For an appealing presentation the sherbet can be served in the juiced hollowed lemons (reserve the juice for making the sherbet and keep the leftover juice (if any) for other use.

I’m thinking this sherbet would be nice layered with espresso granita in a glass… I’ll try it next time. There’s nothing left to experiment with now.

Just slightly adapted from Alice Medrich’s “Pure Dessert”.

Lemon-Basil Sherbet recipe…

I loved everything about this ice cream – the flavor, texture, and the color. I so wanted it to be green (without addition of any food colorings which I avoid whenever possible) that for a moment I thought if I was too hard on the basil. Turned out I had worried for nothing - the basil flavor was delicate enough and not overwhelming. The ice cream was lovely served on top of the grilled peaches brushed with Muscovado sugar and melted butter mixture before grilling and drizzled with good quality balsamic right after. The pine nut brittle was just the right accompaniment. The only thing I regret I didn’t make a double batch of the ice cream, it disappeared so fast…

I’m submitting this recipe to Ammalu’s Kitchen as an entry for Herb Mania – Basil.

Grilled Peaches with Basil Ice Cream and Pine Nut Crocante recipe…

The most descriptive word for this would be “addictive”. I made the crocante planning to serve it with not-yet-made ice cream in a couple of days (the crocante can be kept for up to 2 weeks – theoretically speaking). But it was all eaten the same day and I ended up making another batch of the crocante for my project…

The crocante is not teeth-breaking hard; it’s very porcelain crowns-friendly :).

Adapted from “Dolce Italiano”

Pine Nut Brittle (Crocante) recipe…

There’s another, summer-influenced way to consume espresso. Well, yes, the dessert is not made from scratch (if the grinding of the espresso beans doesn’t count), and can be put together within a couple of minutes or so – the time required by the espresso machine to finish its job. But who cares if the dessert is good; and this one is. The ingredients below are just for the reference. You really don’t have to measure the ice cream before transferring it into the glasses. Please, eyeball everything, don’t waste the energy on absolutely unnecessary steps. The dessert will turn out just fine.

Adapted from the latest “Gourmet”

Tiramisu Affogato recipe…

The recipe caught my eye while I was browsing through the “Desserts by the Yard”. The peaches called “Saturn rings” were so cute and the way of cooking them and serving was very promising. But honestly I thought I’d never be able to find them here; even Sherry described them as unique and not-so-easy-available. She had to persuade a farmer to sell the peaches to her (she wanted all three available cases at once). And only after revealing her recipe to the farmer (must be good, right?), she got what she wanted.

I was so pleasantly surprised when I spotted exactly the same peaches in my local farm market. They were offered under less impressive name – “Fancy Doughnut Peaches”, but there were no doubts – these were The Peaches from the book. The peaches themselves were so good - sweet and juicy, so, I was asking myself why I was doing all this (described a moment later) to them when we could eat them as is… But, macerated in lemon verbena syrup, coated with anise and pistachio biscotti crumbs, then baked and served warm from the oven with vanilla ice cream (the peaches shape was perfect for holding the ice cream well), they made a terrific dessert everyone enjoyed. I bet a pistachio ice cream would be wonderful here, too.

I used half of the biscotti made earlier for coating 6 about 3-inch wide peaches. Sherry in her recipe used the same amount for coating 12. But my intuition told me it’s not gonna be enough (yes, I developed a useful habit – listening to my inner voice :). The half batch of biscotti was just the right amount (smart me :). I also added more pistachios to the crushed biscotti, well… because there’s no such thing as to much of pistachios, and it gave the crumbs brighter (greener) look.

Another thing I wanted to mention. If the same peaches are not available in your area, you can substitute them to regular ones. Just peel them, cut in half vertically, remove their stones, bake them cut side up, and later on fill a stone holes with ice cream. It should work. If you can’t get the lemon verbena, you can add grated lemon zest to the marinating syrup instead. Either way, the recipe is worth a try. It’s delicious.

Ring of Saturn Peach “Doughnuts” with Vanilla Ice Cream recipe…