Who Says Meat Doesn't Go With Dessert?

I’ve been reading food blogs for about a year and a half now and over that time I have come across tons of recipes that I’ve made mental notes to try but never do. Occasionally though, I will go back and search through archives in order to find a recipe I had seen and thought I should make. Usually this happens when someone else mentions a particular dish and a light bulb goes off in my head, reminding me that I had seen a recipe for that dish that I wanted to make. The only problem is that I forget that the people around me have not read the blogs that I have and I blurt out something like, “Oh yeah, Tartelette or What’s for Lunch Honey? just recently made that, I really want to give it a try.” When I’m met with blank or confused stares I mumble something about blogging and run away.

This was the case last week when my friend Jls was visiting and mentioned that she’d like to have tiramisu on New Years. Immediately I knew where to go for the recipe as I had seen the same one pop up twice, first on La Mia Cucina and then on Cream Puffs in Venice and when those two bloggers back a recipe, it’s guaranteed to be good. This particular recipe is special because it’s Ivonne’s family’s tiramisu recipe. She says it’s completely adaptable but the only changes I made were to use Bailey’s as the liquor and to make my own lady fingers, (instead of using store bought). I had never made lady fingers or tiramisu before so I figured I should kill two birds with one stone and forgo the store bought cakes for homemade, (I used this recipe from Joy of Baking). However, that recipe did not make quite enough ladyfingers for my purposes and I didn't really feel like making a second batch so I had to get a little creative. I looked in the freezer and found half a dozen chocolate madeleines that were looking to be eaten so I cut each one in half, soaked them like I did the lady fingers and layered them in the middle of my tiramisu.

I think it turned out pretty well because after finishing off her first piece Jls asked if she could have some more. I told her it was in the fridge and she should help herself to as much as she wanted. While getting the tiramisu out of the fridge, she noticed some leftover Swedish meatballs, (another blogger recipe! This one from Anne’s Food) from the night before and grabbed a few of those too. Upon seeing Jls sitting on the coach with a meatball in one hand and tiramisu in the other it made me think of the Friends episode where Rachel decides to make an English Trifle for Thanksgiving dessert but she manages to make a combination English Trifle and Shepard's Pie as the recipe pages were stuck together. The rest of the group realizes her mistake and is horrified at the thought of having to eat her dessert comprised of meat, potatoes, jam and custard, so as not to hurt her feelings. Joey is the first one to try it and to everyone’s surprise, he likes it. When they question him on this, Joey’s response is, “What’s not to like? Custard? Good. Jam? Good. Meat? Gooooood.” Or in Jls’ case it would be, “What’s not to like? Mascarpone? Good. Espresso? Good. Meatballs? Gooooood.

If you’d like to try your hand at tiramisu check out Ivonne’s blog for her family’s recipe.

If you’re so inclined to try the tiramisu with a side of Swedish meatballs, check out Anne’s blog for the recipe.

Technorati Tags:

Tiramisu + Meatballs