Ingredients

Makes about 2 cups (3 or 4 dessert servings, or 6 servings as a sauce for fruit)

　　6 egg yolks, at room temperature

　　1/4 cup dry Marsala wine

　　1/4 cup sugar

　　

Step 1

Whisk the egg yolks, Marsala, and sugar together in the top of a double boiler or a wide heatproof bowl until smooth. Place over, not in, barely simmering water, and continue beating (switching to a handheld electric mixer at medium speed, if you like) until the mixture is pale yellow and frothy and falls back on itself in thick ribbons when the whisk or beaters are lifted, about 8 minutes. Immediately scrape the zabaglione into serving glasses and serve warm.

　　

Variation: Chocolate Zabaglione

Step 2

Melt 3 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate, stirring often, in the top of a double boiler or in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Remove the pan from the heat, but leave the bowl of chocolate over the water to keep it warm. Make the zabaglione as described above, then fold in the warm melted chocolate with a rubber spatula. Serve immediately.

　　From Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Copyright © 2001 by A La Carte Communications and Tutti a Tavola, LLC. Published by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.Buy the full book from Amazon.