Eating Italian Semifreddo: A Decadent, Frozen Italian Dessert Mama Margaret is a Canadian Italophile who offers authentic cooking, food and wine tours in Italy with a cast of fun-loving local families and friends. Find out more at her website. Here she discusses her long-time love for one of Italy's most luscious desserts. On a wickedly cold day in February 1999, wandering the deserted streets of the small southern Tuscan town, Pienza, I found only one restaurant open, a family run trattoria. I was their only customer. An unlikely spot for a gastronomic adventure. I love anything with citrus. On the dessert menu the "semifreddo all'arancia"—semifreddo with orange—cried out, "Order me!" With the first spoonful, a rich, creamy, deliciously strong orange flavor overwhelmed my whole mouth. The signora said she put candied orange peel, separated eggs, whipped cream, sugar and Gran Marnier in it. She poured a healthy dose of Gran Marnier over my piece. True decadence! The name, semifreddo, makes you think it's half cold, but it's all frozen. You choose your main ingredient like orange or hazelnuts to give flavor. Then you separate the eggs, and separately beat the yolks, whites and whipping cream. In some recipes you add the sugar to the whites and to the whipping cream while in others you add sugar to the yolks only. Gently fold all ingredients together. Put the mixture into a loaf pan. Leave in the freezer for six to eight hours. Turn the frozen dessert onto a plate, slice it in pieces like a meat loaf and enjoy. Since 1999 one of my missions has been to eat as many different types of semifreddo as I can. With its regional cuisines, Italy offers an amazing variety of flavors. In Piedmont they make a divine semifreddo with crushed "torrone"—hazelnut nougat with chocolate sauce. In Sicily they use ground pistachios or almonds. In many places I've savored chocolate, coffee or fruit semifreddo. At home I make my favourite semifreddo with lemon zest, crushed amaretti biscuits and cinnamon with raspberry sauce but I often drizzle limoncello on top instead. To die for! This recipe from the chef in 2007 at Hotel Villa Cicolina near Montepulciano, Tuscany got rave reviews at a dinner party. SEMIFREDDO AI CANTUCCI E VINSANTO Semifreddo with Cantucci Biscotti and Vin Santo Ingredients: 2 cups fresh whipping cream 4 eggs separated 2.2 lb cantucci biscuits (almond biscotti) 3.5 oz sugar Sultana raisins 1 bottle of Vin Santo 1 glass of Marsala Instructions: Beat the whipping cream, the egg whites, and the egg yolks separately. Smash 10 biscuits. Delicately add the whipped yolks with the sugar and smashed biscuits, and then the whipped cream. Very delicately add the whites beaten stiff. Mix until you get a homogeneous, soft mixture. Take a long, narrow pyrex glass dish with high sides and line with saran wrap. Soak the biscuits for a few seconds in Vin Santo. Lay them out in the bottom of the dish so they cover the bottom completely. Add part of the mixture and cover the biscuits with a layer 1/2 or 1 inch thick. Put another layer of soaked biscuits on top and then another layer of the mixture. Put it in the freezer for at least 8 hours. Heat the sultana raisins for 5/10 minutes with a little glass of Vin Santo and Marsala. Take the semifreddo out of the freezer a few minutes before serving, cut in slices and garnish with sultana raisins. Garnish it with the raisins. (Note: I couldn't find Vin Santo so I used Marsala instead.) Buon Appetito!