The Italian Job

Catherine Fulvio

Chef Catherine Fulvio sees Italian food through Irish eyes and has adapted traditional recipes to make them accessible to all. Catherine, who has appeared on BBC’s Good Food Channel and has her own RTÉ show Catherine’s Roman Holiday, has been cooking from a young age having helped her mother prepare meals for those staying at the family’s B&B Ballyknocken House in Co Wicklow. But it was only after she married Sicilian husband Claudio Fulvio that she became immersed in Italian food. She now runs Ballyknocken Cookery School and wrote her first cookbook, Catherine’s Italian Kitchen, so that people could get cooking at home rather than always having to go out to enjoy the pleasures of Italian pizza, bruschetta and flavoursome pasta sauce.

Raspberry Tiramisu

Tiramisu ai lamponi

Serves 8-10

Catherine says: “Invented in Venice, tiramisu means 'pick me up'. The original recipe is made with espresso and Marsala, but I have my own delicious twist by introducing raspberries and orange. It's equally tasty made with strawberries in the summer.”

Ingredients 

300g raspberry jam

75ml plus 4 tbsp Marsala or sherry

150ml orange juice

475g mascarpone, at room temperature

375ml chilled whipping cream

60 caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

52 savoiardi biscuits (approx)

600g raspberries, divided

Whisk the jam, 75m1 Marsala and the orange juice together. Set aside.

Place the mascarpone cheese and 2 tbsp Marsala in a large bowl. Fold just to blend and set aside.

Beat the cream, sugar, vanilla and the remaining 2 tbsp Marsala in another large bowl until soft peaks form.

Stir a quarter of the whipped cream mixture into the mascarpone mixture to loosen it, then gently fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Spread some of the jam mixture in the bottom of a 32cm x 22cm x 12cm serving dish (or you can use individual glasses). Arrange enough savoiardi over the jam mixture to cover the bottom of the dish. Spoon more of the jam mixture over the savoiardi, then spread some of‑the mascarpone mixture over. Arrange some raspberries over the mascarpone mixture.

Repeat the layering with the remaining savoiardi, jam mixture, mascarpone mixture and raspberries. Cover with cling film and chill for at least 8 hours or overnight. Arrange any leftover raspberries over the tiramisu and serve.

Catherine’s Italian Kitchen is published by Gill and Macmillan.