Annarosa Petrucci Grazioli and Giapo Grazioli came to Aotearoa over 16 years ago, from Naples, Italy, and set up Giapo, the innovative icecream parlour in central Auckland. They have created a special winter dessert for Canvas and share the recipe. Annarosa talks with Sarah Daniell.
I had the luckof growing up with my grandparents very near where we lived in Napoli. I had two sisters and one brother and we would sometimes stay with them. My grandfather was an amazing cook. We were close in age and loud, so to keep us quiet he would sit us around the table. If it was bean season, we would cut off the ends of the green beans to make a meal with potatoes and often a protein like tuna - insalata di fagiolini, tonno e patate. If it was pea season, we would pod the peas for pasta e piselli, or pasta and peas - one of my favourite dishes. I have tried to do this all my life but nothing is like he could make.
In Italy food is the culture. If you go shopping you don't go to the supermarket. There are markets on every corner – the fruit and vegetable market, the butcher, poultry and pastries. You never touch the fruit or vegetables. You can see it but you can't touch it. The displays are organised beautifully and by picking up produce might ruin the balance. But it's also because the person selling wants to pick it for you.
In New Zealand I was surprised that you could pick up the fruit, but now I am used to it. When my sister came to stay, she was horrified – "What are you doing! Touching the fruit!"
Giapo came to New Zealand 18 years ago, and I followed two years later. Both our children, Francesca and Pasquale, are born here. They are proud to be Kiwis and proud of their Italian heritage.
They both cook – Francesca more, maybe because when she was very young I had more time to cook with her. But they both love food. We eat homemade cooking most of the time. So they know it and appreciate it.
"Rice pudding - it never gets old. It comforts your soul. It's warm, it has texture and sweetness." Annarosa Petrucci Grazioli. Photo / Babiche Martens
If I am entertaining, there is one single dish I will always make – eggplant parmigiana. In Italy, because we are Catholic, we had to go to church every Sunday. So my mother would make us help prepare the Sunday lunch. First she would have us roll the homemade gnocchi, and we had to prepare the eggplant the day before which meant salting, slicing, frying and assembling. I was part of assembling the parmigiana. So now I feel confident to make this for friends for Sunday lunch. I love cooking. If we have people over Giapo and I sit down a week ahead and prepare a menu, talk about what new thing we will do. It's never last minute. Then there's the shopping and preparing. I love spending the time and I cook with love. It makes me so happy.
New Zealand has so much to offer. The best produce – the best milk, but it's not just about the milk, it's the avocados, the stone fruit from Hawke's Bay, and the agria potatoes. But what is most beautiful about New Zealand and the ingredients that have the biggest impact on what we do - ingenuity and imagination. The are the main things.
For this dessert, we have been trying to think of a winter menu – what would it be like? Rice pudding never gets old. It comforts your soul. It's warm, it has texture and sweetness and its perfect with plain icecream because it cuts through the coldness. It balances it. So then of course we add the pears poached in red wine, spices, vanilla bean and lemon zest.
My favourite Italian dessert is torta caprese - a rich, dark chocolate cake made with almonds and chocolate. You can find it on any menu where I come from in Napoli.
Giapo rice pudding with icecream and poached pears
We use arborio rice because the shorter the rice size, the creamier it gets. The rice is spiced up with a hint of cinnamon and sweetened with golden syrup. To create a lovely balance of delicate taste and winter warmth we have topped the rice pudding with spicy poached pears. The wine we have used to poach the pears is the JK14 Malanotte a rich and complex wine made from dried grapes. But you could use any complex rich red wine. We have finished off the whole dish with a scoop of golden syrup ice cream in a cone to add an element of crunch to the dish.
RICE PUDDING
1.3 litres whole milk 100g sugar Scooped-out beans from one vanilla pod 1 tsp cinnamon ½ tsp salt 180g arborio rice
1. In a large saucepan combine milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. 2. Stir in rice and reduce heat to low so you bring the mix to a gentle simmer. 3. Cook for approximately 40 minutes, making sure that you stir it constantly so the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. 4. Let cool and then refrigerate.
POACHED PEARS
½ cup of water, approx 150g brown sugar 1.5 cups red wine (we use JK14 Malanotte) Juice of half a lemon 1 tsp cinnamon 540g bosc pears, peeled and halved
1. In a large saucepan, heat the water, sugar, wine, lemon juice and cinnamon until warm and the sugar is dissolved. 2. Slide in the pears and let them cook on a gentle heat for approximately 30 minutes. While they are poaching, every so often gently push down the pears to make sure they are submerged in poaching liquid. 3. When translucent and a paring knife inserted into the pears meets no resistance, remove from heat and let the pears cool in their liquid. 4. Remove the pears once they are cooked and reduce the liquid by about half, and pour that over the icecream.
The rice pudding dessert is available at Giapo today and tomorrow.
