Having left Sardegna we sailed to Panza where we anchored off the island for the night before the guests ventured ashore for a stroll before a lunch of crab and prawn salad. Before we had coffees on the table the anchor was up and the request for sails had been made so the craziness had begun again. I know we only have a few days of cruising left but really let’s do it in a more leisurely fashion so we can enjoy it !!

We arrived in Capri in the dark so all we could see were the lights on the island. Fortunately it did mean I could serve dinner whilst we were flat as opposed to being on a rather a heavy heel whilst we had been sailing over from Ponza which proved to be a great fast sail… if only the wind was always in this direction ! I served them salt and pepper squid, followed by steak kebabs with a cauliflower and pecorino mash and roasted oyster mushrooms. The dessert was roasted peaches stuffed with crushed amaretto cookies served with peach sorbet and almond cookies. A little lighter than the previous nights dessert of lemoncello and raspberry tiramisu… ! that was a hit with not only the guests, the crew devoured it and have recommended I make it again !

Raspberry and Lemoncello Tiramisu

(this is an adaption of a recipe I saw in Zest Magazine)

syrup for dunking cookies in

1 cup water

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup lemoncello

1/4 cup lemon juice

Raspberry layer

2 punnets raspberries

1/2  cup water

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup lemon juice

zest of 1 lemon finely grated

Mascarpone layer

500gm mascarpone cheese

3 tablesp powdered/icing sugar

1/3 cup lemoncello

1/2 cup lemon curd (homemade)

2 egg whites whisked

I box pavese cookies or if you cannot buy these use sponge fingers, or home made biscotti

200 gm grated white chocolate


First of all make the syrup with the water, and sugar in the first list, slowly dissolving the sugar and allowing the syrup to boil for a few minutes before removing from the heat and adding the lemoncello and lemon juice and allowing to cool

With the next syrup stir the sugar with the water, lemon juice and lemoncello until the sugar dissolves. Add the raspberries to this syrup and slightly mash them before allowing them to macerate in the liquid whilst you prepare the rest of the ingredients

Whisk the mascarpone with the powdered/icing sugar until thick and creamy. Whisk in the lemoncello and lemon curd and then gently fold in the egg whites.

Dip the cookies, whether you are using pavese or sponge fingers or even biscotti  and line the base of a square dish. Spoon over some of the crushed raspberries and then  sprinkle on a layer of crated white chocolate.  Gently spoon on a layer of mascarpone and spread it over the base covering the cookies, raspberries and chocolate before creating another layer of cookies, raspberries and chocolate.

Finish the tiramisu with a layer of mascarpone and then top with a generous layer of white chocolate before covering and putting in the fridge. I always make a tiramisu whether it is the normal coffee, rum and chocolate one to an orange one or this one a day ahead as the flavours settle and the dessert just is so much better after a day in the fridge!

Cut into large square and serve with fresh raspberries

The bastardisation of tiramisu is unreal… there are just so many variations but one of the best is made by another chef friend of mine who works on another sailing yacht. He makes an orange tiramisu and even when I make it it can never taste as good as his !

Now as I am onto another day I have to work out what dessert I am going to bake today… ! As I have a supply of apples left over from the regatta I think I will make an apple strudel and serve it with fresh homemade custard, a very Autumn feel ! Gosh has summer really gone… the days are certainly shorter and getting cooler. The light in the mornings is different and today there is a greyish tinge in the sky… and I know the southerly winds are due to change the moment we are due to go back up north to Genova.

Breakfast calls, the guests are stirring so I am off to finishing prepping up breakfast …