In Malcesine (Mal-CHEE-see-nay,) Italy, we had the most amazing pastries. I think technically they were cookies, made from some kind of short dough, but there they called them Balls of Snow. Sure I had pizza and pasta, but it wasn’t until I ate these things that I knew I was in for some really interesting food. Balls of Snow are apparently only available in Malcesine, and can be a little tricky to eat. From what I could taste, this was a butter cookie of some sort, that while still warm from the oven was slathered with a filling and rolled into a ball. Then once cooled, a topping or glaze was added. After I started stuffing my face, it didn’t matter, they were brilliant, and fun to eat. I had other pastries in Italy, none that really stick out in my mind. Eating there was all about showcasing fresh ingredients, and this really came through on the savory side of things. In Limone, I had pizza that was so simple, yet so perfect, it left me speechless. Well, more like slurping, but you get the idea. One of our best meals was in Bellagio, at a little place called Barchetta. We walked up this little stairway/sidewalk, sat in the sun and had the lunch of a life time. We had bruscetta, then I had the Gorgonzola Gnocci, and Kate Spaghetti Carbonara. We washed it down with a 4 euro carafe of wine and were absolutely sated. I went inside to pay the bill and tipped the cook directly for an amazing meal. It was so good, that night we went back for dinner. At 7 pm, the dining room above the street opens up, and they serve even more good food. We shared a plate of Pan Fried Lake trout over Parmesan Rissotto, and of course more cheap wine. Our dessert was creme brulee (below,) but not in the traditional presentation. The custard was quenelled onto the plate and bruleed in a free-form way…on the black plate it looked sharp. Kate looked at me with that special look she’s got, and we knew we’d had another great meal. It was just enough to push us into a full fledged food coma. We slept like babies that night. Fat babies.
Nice presentation. I’ve always wondered if it were possible to do a creme brulee cube, a la Wylie D’s fried mayo.
What could be better than six sides of caramelized sugar?
You could set it up in a square mold maybe, and cut a nice clean, tall piece. Brulee that shit.
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i was thinkin along the lines of using one of those newfangled high temp gelling/thickening agents, making the custard, filling a sheet pan, chilling/freezing, cutting out cubes and dredging each in sugar.
Bruleeing all 6 sides would be the challenge.
…or I guess you could just fry it in some ground up Cap n Crunch.
yeah. do that.
Did you rent a car while in Italy? I didn’t see Malcesine on the trenitalia site and it looked interesting.
No, we didn’t rent a car. In the Riva Del Garda area, you can take a boat around to the little towns that surround the lake. I highly recommend Limone, it was our favorite.
@ Zak- Please try that…that sounds soooo good. As good as grilled riced krispie treats.