Italian Custard (Zabaglione)

As a small child the sound of whisk rapidly beating against a metal bowl meant only one thing in my house..... Zabaglione! This is the way My Dad taught me to make it, " Whisk a the egg yolk, a little zugar, and some sweet wine over water..... that's it honey...... there is no recipe ahh!" But I was able to get it down to a written recipe.
Zabaglione or Italian Custard is a very versatile recipe to have in your repertoire, it can be prepared as a drink or as a custard. As a custard it is runnier than a mousse more like a thick sauce and is usually served over fruit (strawberries) or used in layering recipes similar to the English Trifle. If you want to prepare the drink version go here Zabaglione Drink

~Zabaglione Drink~

Ingredients (Serves 6)
8 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup liqueur (I like Amaretto), Marsala, or cooled espresso
Directions
I like to use my hand held electric mixer or Kitchen Aid for the beginning part.
1) Set a water bath in a pot of water that the mixing bowl will fit on top of without touching the water, just above the water line, and bring it to a simmer.
2) Whip the egg yolks and sugar on high (start out on low and build up to high for less mess) until pale and creamy.
3) Now with the mixer on high slowly add the liquid while the machine is running. Whip until blended and thickened up a bit.
4) Now place the bowl of egg yolks on top of the water bath and continue to whip (constantly) until it is thicker, It will be ready when you scrape across the bottom of the bowl and some sticks to it about 10 minutes of good whipping by hand, it will thicken up more in the fridge. Keep whisking or else the eggs will scramble and if it gets too hot remove from heat still beating for a few seconds.
5 ) At this point I like to run the custard through a strainer juts in case any eggs did scramble.
6 ) Now place the custard in a bowl with plastic wrap right on top touching, this prevents a skin from forming, and place in fridge several hours to thicken and cool. You can also place in individual cups with plastic wrap if you want to serve it that way.
If you want a thicker more mousse like Zabaglione simply fold in 2 cups sweetened whipped cream to the chilled Zabaglione.