Tonight I made one of my favorite desserts, zabaglione. Unfortunately my
P.O.S. stick blender crapped out in the middle of making it, but I recovered
from that.

My recipe is roughly based on the one in the cookbook "Lidia's Italian
Table" by Lidia Bastianich. I found the proportions she gave and
instructions for other ingredients to be useful. In any case, here is my
version:

Zabaglione for two

Ingredients:
4 large egg yolks
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons dry white wine, usually an Alsatian riesling or
gewurtztraminer for me
1 tablespoon Cointreau

Equipment:
zabaglione pan or copper bowl or stainless bowl*
saucepan of slowly boiling water
stick blender with whisk attachment **

- Place egg yolks into bowl and beat lightly together.
- Add sugar and beat lightly together.
- Add wine and Cointreau and place bowl over saucepan of slowly boiling
water.
- Start beating constantly until consistency is fairly thick but still
smooth and fluffy. This may take up to eight minutes or so depending on heat
provided and beating speed. Attention must be paid to ensure all of the
contents of the bowl are kept in motion and no part of it sits too long
against the heat of the bowl. Judging the exact point at which it is "done"
is kind of a matter of experience. Go slightly too far, and the eggs will
start to take on a "scrambled" appearance.

- Transfer into two glasses and serve warm. It can also be chilled and
served cold but is not as good.

* - I use a zabaglione pan, but I suppose one of these metal bowls would
work fine. I think whatever you use has to be rounded though, as you have to
keep all of the mixture in motion. Corners where you couldn't get the whisk
in would be a problem.

** - When I first tried to make zabaglione, I tried to whisk it by hand. I
just didn't have the stamina or whatever to do it. That's when I got the
idea of using one of those stick blenders with the whisk attachment. It
works great except if your stick blender breaks in the middle of the recipe.

This is a most fantastic dessert, and really is quite simple and quick to
make. Getting the proportions right and the technique down are important,
but once you get the hang of it, it's easy. Just practice a few times and
don't try to make it the first time for guests.

I'm in the market now for a new stick blender. The one I got a couple of
years ago I got primarily to make zabaglione. I got a cheap one as a kind of
"proof of concept", to see if it would be useful to make zabaglione. It was
a great idea, but this one hasn't held up. Not that it has gotten much use,
all considered. What failed was the switch. It's one of those damn "soft
touch" switches, which I have found really aren't very reliable. I was
having problems with it before today, but this time it more or less died in
the middle of the recipe. By using two hands and pressing very hard on the
switch, I was able to keep it going long enough to finish. What a pain!
Don't things last any more? I know... you get what you pay for! ;-)