David Rocco

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One of the things a foodie loves best is discovering new things about food, whether it be new  cuisines, foodstuffs, gadgets, books or food personalities.  Passions work that way.  New is fun.  New is often good.  David Rocco is new.  David Rocco is good.  I discovered him while watching Cooking Channel, a personality driven food media outlet.  His breezy delivery and enthusiasm combine to make quotidian goings on anything but boring.  We see smatterings of his daily life, meet his friends and watch him cook.  His personality is deliciously interwoven into his very straightforward style of cooking.  Add to that the scenes of life in Florence where David makes his home and side trips through Italy and Cooking Channel has a winner.

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The other day I watched him make Brutti ma Buoni cookies.  Over the years I have tasted lots of recipes for this classic cookie.  Some call for hazelnut paste, no hazelnut paste, some call for only hazelnuts, some hazelnuts and almonds, maybe pine nuts, some liqueur, no liqueur, some cocoa, no cocoa, cinnamon, no cinnamon.  You get the idea.  All of the recipes have three components in common, egg whites, sugar and nuts.  David’s recipe calls for equal parts toasted hazelnuts and almonds along with Amaretto.  The recipe is easy to put together and produces a cookie that has the tenderness of meringue coupled with the crunch of nuts.  Don’t be intimidated by the egg whites.  You can do it.  Believe me.  Make them.  And enjoy them with a cup of strong coffee for a great afternoon treat.

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While perusing David’s recipe file on the Cooking Channel web site I came across his recipe for Zabaione con crema.  Zabaione or zabaglione (called sabayon by the French) has long been a favorite of mine.  David’s no nonsense recipe is delightfully straightforward.  He explains that a basic zabaglione is one tablespoon each of sugar and liquor for every egg yolk. Zabaglione simplified.  His recipe calls for combining the cooled zabaglione with whipped cream and garnishing with blueberries.  The addition of the whipped cream lightens the zabaglione and mellows the liqueur to a perfume.  The result is a simply ethereal dessert.  The contrast between the berries and the zabaglione raises this dessert from a simple egg foam to an elegant creation.  The berries offer a bit of resistance to the bite, then the skin breaks and they fill your mouth with their unique tart sweet flavor.  Very quickly the creamy sweetness of the zabaglione takes over and combines with the blueberries for an intriguing and complex blend of tart and sweet.  The simplest ingredients combined in just the right proportions come together for a dessert that goes beyond the traditional.  Make it.  Chill it.  Enjoy it.