At Osteria Brooklyn, Chef Raffaele Solinas holds court in a pressed chef uniform.
In the dining area, the pizza oven warms the room and the terracotta plates hanging on the wall seem to twinkle like Sardinian suns. Chef Raffaele, a Sardinian chef trained in the French method, keeps an immaculate space. On the pizza counter, a stand holds a porcelain-colored meringue cake that looks brushed with gold.
That cake, the Veneziana, has been eaten by actor Al Pacino, hundreds of guests, and almost every Italian chef in New York. (Chef Raffaele co-founded the Association of Italian Chefs in New York, a network of culinary artists he continues to lead today.)
The first time Chef Raffaele tried the gooey frosting and lush layers of vanilla chantilly custard, he was visiting Venice on a class trip. They stopped at Harry’s Bar for a taste, and he fell for the dessert.
Chef Raffaele cooks with only three ingredients in every recipe… or so he says. But for his signature dessert, there is an essential fourth ingredient: air.
“Air is so important, especially in a pastry product, because it gives you lightness and you want to dig in more,” he says, referencing other Italian desserts like gelato, where air makes the difference in flavor, texture, and allure.
“But when you have butter, for example, you need to get the consistency right, and you have no air helping you, so by the second spoonful, you’re not ready for another bite.”
Or to sum it up like a New York restaurateur in a pandemic, “With air, you can make money, because it’s free,” says Chef Raffaele, laughing. “You don’t have to pay for that!”
It’s been just three months since Chef Raffaele opened his new restaurant in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, and he has already expanded, constructing a covered terrace on the street and a new greenhouse in the back courtyard.
He cruises in and out of the newly opened restaurant, flowing from table to table, greeting guests by name, passing through the kitchen, stopping at the bar, and leaning (briefly) against the tiled pizza station, guided by the groove of bossa nova music in the background and a love of hosting.
Behind Chef Raffaele’s cheerful demeanor you understand the source of his passion. After decades of cheffing in New York City and around the world, he has arrived at a place of independence and freedom to cook what he wants, when he wants, and where he wants.
“I never worked for a big chef like Daniel Boulud or Thomas Keller”, he said, “because I knew I was born with the spirit of a mercenary.”
And we are all the better for it!
Veneziana Meringata by Chef Raffaele Solinas
“Pan di Spagna” or four-layered Sponge Cake:
Tools: large springform cake mold, cooling rack
Ingredients:
250 grams of 00 flour (1 and 2/3 cups)
250 grams of white granulated sugar (1 and ¼ cups)
7 eggs (room temperature)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 320 F.
Beat room-temperature eggs and sugar for no less than 25 minutes with a stand mixer such as KitchenAid, so that air is incorporated. Eggs should turn yellow.
Remove the eggs and sugar from the mixer and add the flour, sifting it little by little with your hands. Pour the batter into a large springform cake mold.
Bake for 38-42 minutes at 320 F /180 C
Take the cake out of the oven and place on a cooling rack.
When the cake has cooled off completely, place the cake on a pedestal, so that it can be easily cut. Rotate the cake in a circle with one hand while using a serrated knife to cut four even layers about a half-inch each.
Vanilla Creme Anglaise Filling & “Bagna Rum” with Lemon (Approx 20 minutes)
Tools: paintbrush
Ingredients:
For the “Bagna Rum”:
1 lemon
6 oz White Bacardi Rum (room temperature)
For the Creme Anglaise filling:
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 2-inch piece vanilla bean, split
3 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
Method:
Mix lemon juice and White Bacardi Rum together.
Prepare the Crème anglaise by mixing milk and cream in a saucepan. Scrape vanilla bean seeds. Bring milk to a simmer then remove from heat. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl for blending. Slowly whisk hot milk mixture with the egg yolks and sugar. Then, pour the custard into the saucepan, stirring on low until it thickens, about 5 minutes, make sure not to boil it. Pour into a bowl, cover, and chill.
Place a cake layer into the bottom of the springform cake mold. Take a paintbrush dipped in bagna rum and paint the top until moist. (Note: do not drench the cake, it should be mildly wet.) Then take a large spoonful of chantilly cream and spread across the cake, making a smooth even layer about ¼ inch high. Take the next layer of cake and place it on top, making sure to firmly press down on the new layer. (This is to bind them together.)
Repeat until you have reached the final layer. Cover this layer with extra creme anglaise, so that it’s slightly raised like a dome. Set in a cool place until the meringue is ready.
Meringue (Approx 20 minutes)
Tools: KitchenAid, candy thermometer
Ingredients:
250 grams of egg whites (5,3 oz)
125 grams of granulated sugar (4,4 oz)
Simple Syrup
400 grams of granulated sugar (14 oz)
175 grams of water (6 fl oz)
Method:
Whisk eggs and sugar on high with a balloon-style whisk, (the larger the better!) to aerate it in a KitchenAid. The meringue will begin to peak and turn porcelain white. (Chef Raffaele likes to test the consistency by waiving the whisker - the meringue should dangle like a turkey gobble without breaking.)
While eggs and sugar are being whisked, prepare the simple syrup in a small saucepan. Cook until the temperature reaches 250 F.
As the eggs continue to be whisked, slowly drizzle the hot simple syrup. When the meringue looks shiny and gluey texture, turn off the mixer.
Then for a final airing session, make a cup shape with your hand and whisk the meringue for another 30 seconds. Rinse off your hands and scoop the meringue– at this point, it should be thick and structured like stucco– into a piping bag to frost the cake.
Once you’ve frosted the top, take a torch and lightly roast the meringue to a golden color. Make sure to keep the flame 4-5 inches from the cake.
When you finish the cake, Chef Raffaele recommends toasting with a Select Spritz!