White Gazpacho

Even before cucumbers are in season, one of the first things I think of making with them is gazpacho. So when they do come in season—and right now my garden is producing some of the best cucumbers—it's only natural that I make one of my favorite cold raw soups. Gazpacho is very popular this summer and it seems to be on many restaurant menus. In New York, restaurants like 10 Downing and Bar Artisanal both offer the very unique white gazpacho. An Andalusian specialty, gazpacho was originally made with only stale bread, garlic, oil, and vinegar. Nowadays the most well known gazpacho is with tomatoes, but white gazpacho instead has cucumbers, white grapes, and almonds.

It may sound unusual to have a soup with bread and almonds, but actually they are often used as thickeners in the soups and sauces of many Mediterranean cuisines. Marcona almonds are a specialty of Spain, and I love using them in this traditional way. In this soup, cucumbers lend a refreshing note and the grapes, a slight sweetness. In Spain this soup would traditionally be made in a mortar, which is a great way to finely grind the almonds. But I take all the ingredeints and purée them in a blender. Whichever method you use, make sure to get the soup very smooth. Serve up the finished gazpacho in bowls or glasses as an appetizer—it's sure to whet everyone's appetite at your next outdoor party.


I'm happy to announce that this summer I'm participating in A Way to Garden's Third Annual Summer Fest. Every Wednesday starting tomorrow, there will be a summer produce (a fruit or vegetable) as a theme. To participate all you have to do is something as simple as leaving a comment or linking to a favorite blog post of yours or to another site. You can share gardening tips, recipes, and/or pictures. For example, this Wednesday is cucumbers and zucchini, and I've just written this post about my favorite way to use cucumbers. For more information, please visit the Summer Fest link. Many other blogs are participating and it would be great to see how far the conversation goes.

More cucumber recipes:
Tabbouleh
Gratinéed Cucumbers
Gazpacho
Cherry Tomato Salad

White Gazpacho

4 thick slices stale bread, crusts removed and cubed
2 cups vegetable stock, heated
2 garlic cloves
1 cup blanched slivered almonds
2 English cucumbers, coarsely chopped
1 pound seedless white grapes
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
sliced grapes, for garnish
finely chopped almonds, for garnish

In a blender, combine stale bread and heated stock. Let sit until bread absorbs stock. Add garlic and almonds; purée until smooth paste forms. Add cucumbers and purée. Add grapes and purée. Season with salt and pepper. Add vinegar and oil. Purée until smooth. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before servings. Ladle into bowls and drizzle with additional olive oil. Garnish with grape slices and chopped almonds. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

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Mango Lassi

This hot weather has had me craving countless summery foods and refreshing drinks, more than I can count. To keep cool I've been snacking on fruit and drinking iced teas and smoothies. Recently I was reminded of the popularity of mangoes while walking in the city on an extremely hot day. Everywhere I noticed vendors selling mangoes carved into flowers. I couldn't help but feel transported to South America where that custom is prevalent. Mangoes are a celebrated fruit throughout the world with hundreds of varieties grown in tropical climates, particularly in India from where they originate. Mangoes can be enjoyed as desserts and snacks or in savory dishes like Indian chutneys and pickles. But one of the most popular ways to enjoy a mango is with a lassi, a traditional Indian yogurt smoothie.

Lassis are very popular in India, where there are both sweet and savory versions with some including spices. Mango lassis are more common outside of India and are specialties of Indian restaurants. I always order one at any Indian restaurant because the yogurt always helps cool off my taste buds by counteracting the heat of the spicy Indian dishes. But even when I'm not eating spicy food, I still crave a refreshing lassi. It's very quick and easy to make right at home. My version combines mango pulp with the traditional yogurt, but instead of regular milk I use coconut milk to enhance the tropical feel. I also add a dash of ground cardamom for a real Indian flair.



Most mangoes that we get in the States are grown in Mexico. Varieties available include the Haden, Kent, Keitt, Tommy Atkins, and the Champagne a.k.a. Ataulfo. The Champagne variety is my favorite because it's intensely sweet, buttery in texture, and not at all fibrous. You will recognize it as yellow in color and paisley in shape. (In fact the paisley design is an ancient one based on the mango.) When choosing a mango, it's fine to buy firm, unripe ones and let them ripen at home. Ripe mangoes will smell sweet, be slightly soft, and have sap around the stem. The best way to open a mango is to slice cheeks from either side of the pit, then use a spoon to remove the flesh from the halves and scrape the flesh from the pit.

Mango Lassi

1 cup mango pulp (about 1 large mango or 2 Champagne)
1 cup whole-milk yogurt
1/2 cup whole milk or coconut milk
2 tablespoons honey
pinch of ground cardamom, plus more for garnish
mint sprigs, for garnish

Combine mango, yogurt, milk, honey, and cardamom in a blender. Purée until smooth. Pour into glasses. Garnish each glass with a dusting of cardamom and a sprig of mint. Serve immediately. Yield: 2 servings.

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Bar Artisanal

It’s that time of year again when you can enjoy a great three-course restaurant dinner for a fraction of what you might pay otherwise. It’s summer restaurant week. This is the last week, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was extended as it has been in the past few years. For some restaurants it’s almost impossible to get a reservation at this time of year. I tried and tried but could not get a reservation to Alain Ducasse’s Adour. But actually I was very excited to try Bar Artisanal instead, which was opened a little more than a year ago by Terrance Brennan, the chef who also runs the very popular uptown French restaurant, Picholine.

What Bar Artisanal offers is a little taste of Spain in Tribeca and a venue for showing off the country's cuisine in new and different ways. And plain and simply, it's a great tapas bar too. The food reinterprets the cuisine of Spain for an American market that craves reinvention. Some of the tapas that are offered are pretty much classic, but others are a bit more modern. Main course dishes are also modernized, for example what in Spain is a traditional soup might be made into a sauce as an accompaniment to fish or a traditional beverage may be turned into a dessert topping. Many of these dishes can be hits or misses, but I’m foremost excited to see that this interest has been turned toward Spanish cuisine here in New York.

My fellow blogger, the Undomestic Amanda, who I’ve just promised to teach to cook, was once again my dining companion for the evening. I trust her palate and judgment since she has a keen interest in food and an understanding of flavor. On arriving at the restaurant I noticed immediately that there were already a smattering of people—mostly at the bar, and by the time we left the venue was almost entirely filled with diners who seemed to be all businesspeople enjoying a Friday night out after work. When making reservations—and later modifying them through OpenTable—I noticed that the restaurant had plenty of openings for the next few weeks unlike so many of the restaurant week participating restaurants. I was surprised that it wasn’t booked solid, but I can presume that it gets enough clientele from downtown that it never has to worry about its business being slow.

To start off the very hot evening, Amanda and I both agreed on ordering sangria, an idea to which I had long ago warmed up to, literally and figuratively. The restaurant offers five different sangrias, the traditional red wine with apple, orange, and lime; a white wine with peach, orange, and mint; a white wine with pisco, mango, and pineapple; and a white wine with jalapeno and lime. We ordered the tropical-sounding sangria with mango and pineapple, which the restaurant has coined the Latino. The little jug was a bit overpriced and unfortunately it soon became watered down from the ice. Despite that it was a very refreshing and strong drink. The pisco liquor added a kick that we could feel by dinner’s end. But here I must tell you not to make the same assumption I did: The same small jug costs $10 at the bar yet $20 at our table. Later I learned that only at the bar is happy hour pricing available, so no half-off drinks for diners!

In my usual preparation for dining out at a new venue, I always check for menus online and in the case of Bar Artisanal, I was very intrigued by the many unique offerings, beginning with the squid pasta. The fideos negros is a very popular dish in Spain and a specialty of the restaurant. Fideos is the name for the thin vermicelli-like pasta, which is here tossed with squid ink and dressed with slivers of pickled piquillo pepper and a dollop of traditional garlic aioli. It was a complete first time for me trying squid ink. At first the color of the dish does not make it seem appetizing, but there is something most interesting about the glistening onyx color. I was prepared to try it and I went for it wholeheartedly. It was salty, briny, and very creamy. It was very unique and tasty—to say the least. But you must realize that there are a few side effects, first black mouth, and a warning: don’t be surprised the next day when you find that something else is black too.

Amanda avoided my dish but enjoyed hers immensely. The white gazpacho reminded me of the one from 10 Downing a summer earlier. It was just as good, frothy, and refreshing. It is made with cucumbers, grapes, and almonds, among other ingredients, which are all blended together. There really isn’t anything better than a classic Spanish gazpacho on a hot summer day. I’m vowing to re-create this dish at home very soon.

For our main courses, the waiter had highly recommended the skate and chicken. So I went with the skate and Amanda, the chicken. If I haven't said it before than I am saying it now: I truly believe that ordering chicken is a good way to gauge the quality of a restaurant. If they can’t mess up simple chicken then you know they’re pretty good at what they do. The skate comes with samfaina and salmorejo sauce. The samfaina was a vegetable sauté of mostly diced zucchini and eggplant. In Spain it is a vegetable dish much like ratatouille from the south of France. But in this dish it was just a simple sautéed side. The salmorejo, which is a traditional cold gazpacho-like tomato soup in Spain, was here used as the sauce. The skate was nice and crispy, but somewhat fibery. The sauce was silky but not as flavorful as I would have imagined it to be. The sautéed vegetables were good but I think they were lost on the dish.

What I enjoyed even more than my own meal was my Amanda’s dish: a roast chicken with lemon, olives, and a pimentón picante—a smoked paprika sauce. The meat was juicy and citrusy and the sauce was smoky and much more flavorful than mine. I continuously stole olives from Amanda’s dish to make up for the lack of salt in mine. In the battle of main course dishes, the chicken won hands down. A side dish was provided with the chicken, a skin-on boiled potato dish with mojo verde, a chimichurri-like sauce of cilantro and garlic. It was a very nice foil to the chicken. The potatoes are also on the tapas menu. I can see it making a nice complement to chorizo.

Sadly for us dessert lovers only two options were offered for dessert, a cake called Santiago, which was an almond cake accompanied by a scoop of ice cream drizzled with a caramel-like reduction sauce made from Pedro Ximénez wine. The cake had a texture of pound cake and was tender and moist. The other dessert was coffee granité with horchata cream, or as the menu called it, a “cloud.” Horchata is a Spanish beverage made of ground uncooked rice and almonds. It tastes sort of like a sweet and frothy version of almond milk. In this dessert it functioned as the sweetened whipped cream for an unsweetened coffee ice. I was very pleased with both desserts, but wish that more options were offered for restaurant week, like classic churros.

At Bar Artisanal I was very much interested in seeing and understanding the chef’s unique way with dishes. Unfortunately I think that without explanation, the uniqueness of each dish pretty much goes unnoticed for diners. You won’t learn much about your food without asking questions from your server. But than again the business crowd that dines here might not even care. The restaurant's name does say a lot about what it stands for, and that is artisanal products, like cheeses, charcuterie, and French-style pizzas, which are baked right in a wood-fired oven. Beyond that there are wonderful tapas and main courses that give due attention to old and new Spanish cuisine.

With just a few misses, but more hits, I can recommend the restaurant as a great place to enjoy a meal with friends, colleagues, or family. It's the type of venue where you want to go in a large crowd and try a bunch of tapas and get buzzed on overflowing pitchers of sangria. I know that if I'm afforded another opportunity to dine at Bar Artisanal, next time I will try countless tapas, cheeses, pizzas, and most definitely I will not leave without ordering churros. That will be my only regret this first time. If you are still interested in restaurant week, make your reservations now for the most popular restaurants. But at Bar Artisanal you can have an enjoyable meal any time so don't worry if you miss out on restaurant week this summer, because there will always be time to try the many tapas.

Bar Artisanal
33 Avenue of the Americas, one block south of Canal Street
New York, NY 10013
212-925-1600
Open daily for dinner, Monday through Wednesday, 5:00 to 10:00 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday, 5:00 to 11:00 p.m. Open Sunday for brunch, 11:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Tapas range in price from $4 to $15, appetizers from $10 to $15, and entrées from $22 to $29.

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Asian Eggplant Stir-Fry with Thai Basil

Eggplants are some of the most unique and interesting vegetables. Many of us in the States are only familiar with the large and bulbous globe variety. But there are many more to be found elsewhere in the world. Eggplants, also called aubergines, are native to Asia with many different varieties found throughout the continent. Asian eggplants come in many different shapes, colors, and sizes. Some berries—as they are botanically referred to—are thin and long, others short and spherical. Colors range from white and green to purple and almost black with some even striped. A thinner skin and milder flesh make the Asian varieties much more prized than the oftentimes bitter globe.

You don't have to go all the way to Asia to find some amazing specimens. Many are available in Asian markets, farmers' markets, and even as plants in garden nurseries. I've found many in my local international market, such as the small Indian variety, which I used in this green curry. For this stir-fry recipe I use the long Japanese variety. I quickly toss chunks of eggplant in a hot wok and add a sweet-tart sauce, chile pepper, and Thai basil. The dish makes a wonderful appetizer or vegetarian main course when served with rice. A fast meal with fresh vegetables is the best way to enjoy the bounties of summer.



This year I am growing two long Asian eggplant varieties, the Japanese Ichiban (pictured) and the Taiwanese Pingtung. Both are beautifully colored, the Japanese being the darkest. I love all the different types, but what makes the slender ones so special is their near absence of seeds and sweet, tender spongy flesh. They work great in curries and in stir-frys. If you can't find them, substitute the Italian variety, which is stouter and thinner than the globe but with the same deep color. Give any of these unique varieties a try and, if you're so inclined, plan to grow some in the garden next year. There's nothing more pleasing than cooking with a freshly picked vegetable.

Eggplant Stir-Fry

3 tablespoons rice wine
3 tablespoons coconut water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice-wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon lime juice (about 1/2 lime)
3 tablespoons canola oil, divided
2 Asian eggplants (about 1 pound), sliced lengthwise and cut into half moons
fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon grated ginger (about 1/2-inch piece)
1 garlic clove, grated
1 red chile pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 cup Thai basil leaves, torn, plus more for garnish
2 scallions, julienned, plus more for garnish
lime wedges, for serving

In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine rice wine, coconut water, soy sauce, rice-wine vinegar, honey, and lime juice.

Warm 1 tablespoon oil in a well-seasoned wok or nonstick sauté pan set over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot, add half the eggplant and sauté, moving around the pan quickly until softened and skin is blistered, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove to a plate. Add 1 tablespoon oil, sauté remaining eggplant, season, and reserve on plate.

Warm remaining 1 tablespoon oil in wok. Add ginger and garlic, sauté 1 minute. Pour in sauce and cook until thickened and sticky. Return eggplants and stir until sauce is absorbed. Add chile, basil, and scallions; toss to incorporate. Divide stir-fry among bowls and garnish with additional basil and scallion. Serve with wedges of lime. Yield: 2 to 3 servings.

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Fava Bean, Herb, and Avocado Salad on Bruschetta

Since eating fava beans for the first time last year, I've come to love the legume as much as the bean-eating crowd. Italians love their beans and Tuscans in particular are known as mangiafagioli or bean-eaters. Among their favorites are cannelini or white beans and fava beans, which are even more popular in Puglia. Favas, or broad beans as they are also known, are prized in their raw or near-raw state, but they are an unusual bean to shell. Each bean is encased in a slip or skin and grouped together in fuzzy pods. So yes, peeling them and blanching them to remove the extra skin may be a chore, but it's really a labor of love.

Here I take my favorite fava beans and combine them with a very herbaceous salad atop a crusty slice of grilled bread lined with wedges of avocado. Texture, flavor, and aroma are very much at play: creamy avocado, granular favas, crunchy bread, and pungent herbs all enrobed in a tangy dressing. To eat this bruschetta, pick it up like an open-faced sandwich and bite right in. It's a fun and casual summer appetizer that will refresh the palate and stimulate the appetite.

Note: Bruschetta refers to the bread and not the topping. For some reason Americans call the topping bruschetta, a mistake that seems to be perpetuated by large grocery chains that sell toppings under that name. Bruschetta (broo-sket-ta) translates to grilled bread and is traditionally a slice of bread rubbed with a clove of garlic, drizzled with olive oil, and grilled. Common toppings in Italy are prosciutto or tomatoes.

Fava Bean, Herb, and Avocado Salad on Bruschetta

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 cups shelled fava beans
4 ounces mixed baby greens
1/4 cup parsley leaves
1/4 cup mint leaves
4 slices French country bread
1 garlic clove
1 avocado

In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine oil, lemon juice, vinegar, maple syrup, and shallot. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk to emulsify.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add fava beans and blanch for 2 minutes. Drain and shock in ice water. Remove outer skins and place beans in a large mixing bowl. Add baby greens, parsley, and mint.

Heat a grill pan set over high heat. Rub bread slices with garlic clove and brush or drizzle with olive oil on both sides. Grill until charred with grill lines, about 2 minutes per side. Set grilled bread onto a platter or individual plates.

Cut open avocado. Use a large spoon to scoop out flesh halves. Place on cutting board and slice lengthwise. Top each piece of bread with a few slices of avocado.

Whisk dressing to reincorporate. Drizzle over bowl of favas, greens, and herbs. Toss gently to combine. Divide salad among each piece of bread with avocado slices. Serve immediately. Yield: 4 appetizer servings.

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Pan-Seared Sole with Sautéed Chanterelles and Frizzled Parsley-Butter Sauce

Oftentimes simplicity is the answer to most everything. Simple recipes with ingredients cooked in an unadulterated way yield very flavorful and inspiring results. For me that's always the case when cooking fish. Here I'm always reminded of the story of Julia Child's culinary revelation, when she is presented with a sole Meunière at a restaurant where she and Paul are dining after arriving in France. Most of us has read about this or has seen it in the movie Julie and Julia. Can it be so simple that a dish of sautéed fish with butter sauce inspired her to cook? Yes!

Here is my take on that sole dish but served with woodland mushrooms. On a recent Greenmarket trip I purchased a handful of beautiful chanterelles from Honey Hollow Farm, which forages its mushrooms from the wild in Middleburgh, N.Y. These mushrooms are one of the more pricey varieties, but their delicate flavor is worth it. That flavor is best maintained with simple cooking methods. That's why I sauté them in butter. Pair them with a seared mild fish such as sole along with a buttery sauce and it makes for a very nice meal. I bet Julia would have loved this dish for dinner any day of the week.



Chanterelles are among the most popular wild mushrooms in the world. They can be found throughout Europe, especially in France, as well as North America. Here on the east coast they are available all summer long. You won't find them in supermarkets, so look for them in farmers' markets. They're golden in color, like egg yolks, and they smell slightly of peaches. Stay away from ones that have brown bruises or are slimy. After buying them, store in a paper bag in the refrigerator. Once ready to cook them, clean with a soft nylon brush. If you can't find chanterelles, oyster mushrooms are a good substitute.

Pan-Seared Sole with Sautéed Chanterelles and Frizzled Parsley-Butter Sauce

for the sautéed mushrooms:
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 ounces chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned
fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

for the pan-seared fish:
2 6-ounce sole fillet pieces
fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil

for the sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
lemon wedge

For the mushrooms, warm butter and oil in a sauté pan set over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook until their liquid releases and evaporates, about 5 minutes.

To prepare the fish, liberally season sole pieces with salt and pepper. Warm oil in a large nonstick skillet set over medium-high heat. Add fish and sear 2 minutes per side. Use a long flexible spatula to remove fillets to two plates. Top with mushrooms.

Wipe out pan and return to medium heat. Add butter and melt. Just after the foam subsides and before it starts to brown, add parsley and let it sizzle. Squeeze a few drops of lemon into the butter. Drizzle the sauce over the plates of fish and mushrooms. Serve immediately. Yield: 2 servings.

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Sour Cherry Soup

For me there is nothing more refreshing on a hot day than a bowl of cold sour cherry soup. Sour cherries are revered in Hungary, where they are made into pies, strudels, tarts, and soups. Since sour cherries are in season right now, I picked up a quart last week at the Greenmarket specifically to make this soup. Cold soups, mostly savory, are enjoyed throughout Europe in the summertime. Sour cherry soup is technically a sweet soup, but because of its tartness it works well as a first course. I prefer it as a dessert but I just eat it whenever I feel like cooling off. I grew up eating my mom's cherry soup, so for me it's something that I love and I can't imagine my summers without it.

Hungarian cherry soup can also be made from dark sweet cherries, but sour cherries are preferred for their zing. The soup is traditionally made with the pits intact, so that is how I make it here. But if you would rather pit your cherries, that's fine too. I always provide guests with little bowls as spittoons. I think leaving the pits in adds to the fun and enjoyment of eating the soup. No one wants to cook in the summer, but trust me, this soup's ten-minute cooking time is worth the trouble. After having a big bowl of chilled sour cherry soup, you will be singing its praises and adding the recipe to your summer repertoire.

Sour Cherry Soup

2 pounds sour cherries
4 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 whole cloves
1 small cinnamon stick
1 lemon slice
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup flour

Combine cherries, water, sugar, salt, cloves, cinnamon, and lemon in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile combine sour cream and flour in a mixing bowl. Mix until smooth.

Ladle 1 cup of soup into cream-flour mixture. Mix until smooth. Pour into soup and stir to combine. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Set the saucepan into an ice-water bath to cool. Chill completely in the refrigerator. Serve cold. Yield: 4 servings.

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Raspberry and White Chocolate Trifle Flag Cake

The Fourth of July—or Independence Day as it is more officially known—has always been a celebratory day in my family. It's partly because my birthday is on the 2nd and the local Barnum Parade always takes place around that date. As a kid I remember getting up early and excitedly readying myself for the party and parade. My cousins would come over and we would spread a blanket on the sidewalk to watch the parade. My mother would stay home to prepare fried chicken and potato salad. My dad would grill hamburgers and hot dogs once we got back. And of course the celebration always ended with a great big birthday cake.

For me any celebration, party, or simple gathering cannot end properly without dessert. Dessert may come last in the succession of a meal, but it should never be considered the least important. Even after filling our bellies to the brim with wonderful food, there's always room for dessert. A sweet concoction like cake or ice cream is the ideal ending to an old-fashioned backyard barbecue. You don't want something heavy, but also not something too light. Still it should be rich yet refreshing. I always take the opportunity to make a special dessert for a special occasion, such as this flag cake.



This recipe is a twist on trifle, the classic British no-bake dessert, but assembled like an Italian tiramisu. What could be funnier on a day that celebrates independence from Britain? I can't help but think about all the different cakes I ate every single birthday. This one is probably the most festive. This trifle has everything going for it: soft lady fingers doused in raspberry syrup, layered with mascarpone and white chocolate filling, and finished with a whipped cream frosting studded with fresh red raspberries and blue blueberries. It's red, white, and blue in a cake.

Raspberry and White Chocolate Trifle Flag Cake

12 ounces white chocolate chips
16 ounces mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup seedless raspberry jam
1 cup hot water
40 store-bought ladyfingers
2 cups heavy cream
1 pint raspberries
1/2 pint raspberries

On medium heat, melt white chocolate in a heat-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Once white chocolate is glossy, stir until incorporated and smooth. Let cool slightly.

Combine mascarpone with 1/4 cup sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Blend until smooth. Add melted white chocolate and beat until smooth.

Combine raspberry jam and hot water in a shallow bowl. Dip ladyfingers into syrup and lay in rows in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch dish. Spread half of the mascarpone and white chocolate filling on top. Make one more layer of ladyfingers and the remaining filling.

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat heavy cream and 2 tablespoons sugar until stiff peaks form. Spread two-thirds of the whipped cream on top, reserving the remaining third for decorating.

Decorate the cake with blueberries and raspberries to form a flag design. Fit a pastry bag with a star tip and fill with remaining whipped cream. Pipe stars into white spaces. Let rest in the refrigerator for two hours or overnight before serving. Yield: 10 to 12 slices.

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