Piato Forte

A cool part about being the only pastry chef in my family is that I often get to be the one to make desserts for family gatherings. Yesterday, on the 4th of July, I had one such opportunity. It was my grandfather's, or Nonno's, 88th birthday. He was born in Coselli, Italy, and has been living in California for 78 years. When I asked my nonno what kind of dessert he would like he said, "Piato forte would be nice" without even a hesitation, as if he'd been planning on having that for his dessert all year. I had never made piato forte before, but I knew I had my great-aunt Inez's recipe tucked away somewhere, and I was up for the challenge.

Piato forte is like a trifle, but with a couple of distinct Italian-American twists: lady fingers and lots of booze. Here's the recipe, just as my aunt Inez Giusti wrote it:

4 egg yolks

4 coffee royal glasses of milk

4 slices lemon rind

some orange rind

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 packages lady fingers

whipped cream

mescolansa

chocolate syrup

Make a custard with the first five ingredients. Sprinkle a layer of lady fingers with mescolansa. Add a layer of custard, a layer of cream, and a layer of chocolate sauce. Continue layering.

I find this recipe interesting for 2 reasons. First of all, what is a coffee royal glass and how big is it? Recipes are so much more personal when unconventional measuring tools are used. Second, the directions are very minimal. That is because back then, most women knew how to do basic cooking techniques, such as "making a custard" without the entire procedure being written out. In cookbooks and magazines nowadays, each step of a recipe is described in detail.

So the above recipe is what I had to work with to make my Nonno a delicious piato forte. I started by making the custard. I decided to use 2 cups of milk and I added some sugar. (See recipe below for my version). For the chocolate sauce, I used a mocha hot fudge sauce recipe...I think the coffee flavor gave the whole thing a boost. For the lady fingers, I visited my local italian delicatessen, Lucca Ravioli Company, and bought a package. (Lucca happens to be the nearest city to where my Nonno was born in Tuscany, so it works.) 

For those of you wondering what "mescolansa" is, it can mean a mixture of anything. In my family, we use it to mean a spice mixture or a mixture of liquors and alcohols. In this case, it is a mixture of alcohols made by combining the last bits from bottles over the years. Any good Italian family will have a bottle with the original name of the contents crossed out and replaced with the word "mescolansa". So I used my mom's mescolansa for putting the "forte" in my piato forte.

It was a huge success! My Nonno loved it and said it tasted just like Inez's. Everyone at the party enjoyed it thoroughly. I finished off the night by licking the serving spoon until there was nothing left. So here is my version of the recipe:

Piato Forte

4 egg yolks

2 tablespoons sugar

2 cups milk

zest of 1 lemon

zest of 1/2 an orange

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

about 20 lady fingers

3 cups heavy cream

2 tablespoons sugar

mocha fudge sauce (use a recipe that you like)

mescolansa (you can mix together rum, amaretto, peach schnapps, frangelico, etc...whatever you want)

1. Heat the milk and zests until it starts to steam. Cover and let it sit for 20-30 minutes. 

2. After the milk and zests have sat for 20-30 minutes, whisk the yolks and 2 tablespoons of sugar together. Pour a bit of milk into the yolks and whisk. Now pour that back into the milk and cook on the stove over low heat. Stir it constantly with a rubber spatula, scraping the bottom the whole time, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon.

3. Remove from heat (be careful...if it gets too hot the eggs will curdle. If it gets a little lumpy it's no big deal, but ideally it will be smooth). Whisk in vanilla extract, strain out the zest, and chill. (This can be done a day ahead)

4. When your custard is cool, you're ready to assemble the piato forte. In a bowl or a trifle dish, put a layer of lady fingers. Arrange them the best you can to fit as many in laying flat as possible. It doesn't have to be perfect. Sprinkle them with the mescolansa until all the lady fingers look moist...it's up to you how much you want.

5. Next, pour 1/3 of your custard on the moist lady fingers. Next, drizzle your mocha fudge sauce over everything.

6. Whip your 3 cups cream and 2 tablespoons sugar until it will hold soft peaks. Put 1/3 of it on top of the lady fingers and chocolate.

7. Put another layer of lady fingers on top of the cream. Sprinkle with mescolansa. Pour another third of your custard over them. Drizzle with chocolate and top with a layer of whipped cream. Repeat one more time.

8. Let the piato forte sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour...the more soaked the lady fingers become the better.

9. When it's time to eat it, scoop it out with a spoon. Enjoy!!!