Mango Panna Cotta with Strawberry Coulis

What to do with left over mango…make panna cotta.  Well at least in our house.  This isn’t my first post on panna cotta and probably won’t be my last.  It’s one of Rob’s favourite!

So here’s the thing, it didn’t set completely which would normally piss me off and then I’d have to start all over, but today, it was not a problem.  It’s not one my favourite desserts and not because it doesn’t taste divine, it’s the texture.  I’ve never been a fan of anything gelatin.  Jell-o grosses me out but I make it all the time for the kids (yes that includes Rob).

Today’s panna cotta was a little looser and it was more like pudding than gelatin.  I didn’t use heavy cream, just milk so that might be it.  The mango puree was thin-ish, that also could be the reason. But whatever it is, it works for me!

Now to make it really yummy, I added a strawberry coolis on top.  Strawberry-Mango is one of my favourite fruit combos!

Recipe:

1. 2 1/2 cups milk
2. 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
3. 1 cup pureed mango
4. 1/2 cup sugar

Directions:

1. Put 1/2 cup of the milk in a 6- or 8-cup saucepan, and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let sit for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, blend together the remaining milk, cream, mango, and sugar.
2. Turn the heat under the saucepan to low, and cook the milk, stirring occasionally, until the gelatin dissolves. Pour in the cream mixture, and turn the heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until steam rises. Turn off the heat, and ladle or pour the mixture into ramekins or whatever you have.
3. Chill the panna cotta until firm, and serve.

Strawberry coulis: blend 6-8 large strawberries with some lemon juice and sugar.  Pour over panna cotta and enjoy!

Thanks for looking!

Treat Day Wednesday–Strawberry Ice Cream

What to do, still so many strawberries.

I SCREAM

YOU SCREAM

WE ALL SCREAM FOR …

ICE CREAM!

Now I’ve never made proper ice cream before.  I made chocolate ice last year that was beyond amazing but I’ve never taken the time to make a proper custard.  So with all these strawberries, it was time to take the time!  I went on the hunt for the easiest recipe and let me tell you that was no easy find.  They were all a bit different, with slight variations.  I decided to use one of my go-to recipe sites, Epicurious.com.  The only thing I would change would be to add bigger pieces of strawberry to the mix.

Recipe: adapted from Epicurious.com

• 1 3/4 cups heavy cream
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 lb strawberries (3 cups), trimmed and quartered
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1. Combine cream, vanilla, and salt in a heavy saucepan and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat.
2. Put eggs with sugar in a bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until combined, then add hot cream in a slow stream. Pour back into saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened and an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F (do not let boil).
3. Immediately pour custard through a fine sieve into a metal bowl. Chill, covered about 2 hours, and up to 1 day.  You can also place bowl in a ice bath to speed up the cooling process.
4. While custard is chilling, purée strawberries and lemon juice in a blender until smooth, then force through fine sieve (to remove seeds). Stir purée into custard.
5. Freeze in ice-cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.
6. Enjoy!

Now I’m so not a fan of strawberry ice cream, at least bought from the store. There is just something so icky about strawberry flavouring, it always tastes so phony.  Now this ice cream tastes just like the berries we picked right off the vine.   It’s so fresh and if you make it, I can guarantee it won’t last long.  Especially if your husband’s favourite ice cream flavour is strawberry.

Thanks for looking!

Linking with:
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Taking a Time Out

Cherry Panna Cotta

So what do you do with all this cherry juice?  Well you make cherry panna cotta, that’s what!  Ok maybe it’s not a usual suspect but cherry flavour is so versatile that I thought why not make a few fan favourites with cherry juice.  Yesterday I made Cherry Chocolate Fudge Brownies.

You’ll also notice that I’m avoiding my favourite of all time recipes because then that’s just means I’ll eat them all and therefore going against the “trying to be good” idea I’ve got going on here. (this weekend was not a good example of trying to be good).

Panna Cotta is such a simple dessert with a hoity toity air about it.  I’m not really sure why, it just does.  I mean it’s only four ingredients, sometimes five.  So what’s so snotty about that?

Recipe:

• 1 cup cherry juice
• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 1tsp vanilla
• 1 package gelatin

1. Stir gelatin into cherry juice and let sit for 3 minutes
2. In saucepan, heat cream and vanilla until just boiling.
3. Add cherry juice to cream and stir until dissolved.
4. Pour into desired ramekins/dish
5. Place in fridge for 4 hours, until set.
6. Enjoy!

{Nutrition Data per serving: Calories: 133; Carbs: 24g; Fat: 10g; Protein: 2g}

These are quite tart, which is what I like about it but if you feel the need to add some sweetness, a couple of teaspoons of sugar to the cream mixture should do the trick!  I love the way the juice separated out a bit and gave the two-tone look.  So pretty.

Also, the awesome looking cookies you see were made by Rowan.  She made them with grandma who’s been visiting this week :)  I felt they needed to be highlighted as well.  She’s the next great baker, so look out!

Thanks for looking!

Linking with:
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Treat Day Wednesday - Balsamic Strawberries with Whipped Mascarpone Cheese

Rowan has decided that her new favourite store is Whole Foods.  I know, weird right?  Well she loves their classic chicken salad, like she would eat it every day.  She also likes to try all the different cheeses and whatever else they have as tasters.  Once we’ve tried everything, we are now allowed to check out and that means she can do to the kids corner.  In our local store they have a wagon full of kid friendly snacks, Whole Foods style.  Organic Raisins, fruit rollups, apples and oranges and Rowan loves it!  I love Whole Foods too but for their prices, it ain’t cheap that is for sure but the food is tasty, especially their food bars!

So in one of my recent visits to Whole Foods as I was in the fruits and veggie section, they had a special display for their Mascarpone Cheese.  I love Mascarpone cheese, it tastes so completely different than traditional cream cheese.  It’s lighter with a richer flavour, in my opinion.  So I grabbed a container, some strawberries and some mini angel food cakes and voila, dessert is served!

I made balsamic strawberries last summer and just loved them.  So I thought why not add some whipped mascarpone cheese and pour it over mini angel food cakes.  I also love mini desserts!

Recipe:

• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

• 1/2 cup chilled mascarpone cheese
• 1/2 cup chilled whipping cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 package strawberries, hulled, halved
• mini angel food cakes

1. In small saucepan, heat vinegar, 2 tsp sugar and lemon juice.  Bring to boil to dissolve sugar and let simmer until reduced to about 1/4 cup.  It was also get thicker. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
2. In small bowl, combine cheese, cream, 2 tbsp sugar and vanilla.  With hand blender, whish until mixture forms soft peaks.  Chill in fridge covered up to 4 hours.
3. Hull and half strawberries, pour vinegar mixture over strawberries.  Coat strawberries and let sit for 30 minutes.
4. Plate cake and cover with strawberries and cheese.
5. Enjoy!

This is a nice fresh dessert for the spring and summer. 

I do hope Rowan’s recent upscale tastes in food doesn’t transfer to other aspects of life.  She’s expensive enough without the highbrow tastes!

Thanks for looking!

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Gallery of Favourites

Pumpkin Panna Cotta

Day 5 of Pumpkin week and I bring you Pumpkin Panna Cotta!

This is probably one of my husbands favourite dishes, at least the plain one, oh all time.  But I thought why not add a little something…how about pumpkin?

I had never heard of panna cotta before it became a President’s Choice product.  You American’s are probably wondering what the hell is that?  Well it’s the name brand for a food company in Canada and they make all kinds of prepared foods, including desserts.  Ask any Canadian what is President’s Choice and they all will know and if they’ve moved away, it’s what they miss most from the grocery store.  At least I do!

As I made these I also thought of my bloggy friend Callye at Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle.  When I interviewed her for Sugar Cookie Day she mentioned that Panna Cotta was her favourite dessert.  I may have taunted her with a tweet that I was making these LOL.

Panna Cotta is light, refreshing and oh so easy, and when in the small ramekins it’s a perfect size.  I added chocolate trees and spider webs for a little something extra.

Recipe: Pumpkin Panna Cotta

20 minutes (plus time to chill) .

1. 1 1/2 cups milk
2. 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
3. 1 cup heavy cream
4. 1 cup pureed pumpkin, squash or sweet potato
5. 1/2 cup sugar
6. 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Put 1/2 cup of the milk in a 6- or 8-cup saucepan, and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let sit for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, blend together the remaining milk, cream, pumpkin, sugar and cinnamon.
2. Turn the heat under the saucepan to low, and cook the milk, stirring occasionally, until the gelatin dissolves. Pour in the cream mixture, and turn the heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until steam rises. Turn off the heat, and ladle or pour the mixture into ramekins or whatever you have.
3. Chill the panna cotta until firm, and serve, with chocolate decals.

To make the decals, melt chocolate and place into small piping bag.  On wax paper pipe designs you like but make sure they are thick enough so they won’t crack.  Stick into fridge to firm up.  Remove from wax paper and place on dish.  Make sure your hands aren’t too warm or they will melt quickly.

They taste like little pumpkin pies.

Thanks for looking!

Up next on Pumpkin Week is Apple Pumpkin Muffins with Apple Caramel Struesel

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Pumpkin Crème Brûlée

Day 4 of Pumpkin week and I’m bringing you a fancy restaurant favourite, Pumpkin Crème brûlée.

It’s always been kind of a snooty dessert that you could only get at the fanciest of restaurants but I wanted to show you that you can make this dessert at home.  You just need a little more patience with the amount of time required.  Lots of waiting!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 pinches nutmeg
• 1 pinch ginger
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup coarse sugar or raw sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat the cream, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves over medium heat, stirring occasionally, just until it comes to a boil. Immediately turn off the heat and set aside to infuse at least 15 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the granulated sugar. Whisking constantly, gradually pour in the hot cream mixture. Whisk in the pumpkin puree. Pour the mixture into 4  to 6 ovenproof ramekins and arrange in a hot water bath.
4. Bake in the center of the oven until almost set but still a bit soft in the center, 40 minutes. The custard should move a bit when you shake the pan; it will firm up more as it cools. Remove from the water bath and let cool 15 minutes.
5. Tightly cover each ramekin with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic does not touch the surface of the custard. Refrigerate at least 2 hours, and up to 24 hours.
6. When ready to serve, preheat a broiler to very hot (or fire up your kitchen torch). Uncover the chilled custards. Pour as much coarse sugar as will fit onto the top of 1 of the custards. Pour off the remaining sugar onto the next custard. Repeat until all the custards are coated. Discard any remaining sugar. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet or in a roasting pan and broil until the sugar is melted and well browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Let cool 1 minute before serving.

So I guess I didn’t cook it long enough, so it was a bit runnier in the middle.  My smaller ramekins were perfect.  Another 10 minutes in the oven should have done it.  The taste however, fabulous!

See, you can make anything with pumpkin!

Thanks for looking!

Next up: Pumpkin Panna Cotta

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Zucchini Muffins and a 72 hour kit!

I have a problem…

Every time I go to the grocery store I buy zucchinis and most of the time they are eaten, as both my girls love them.  Rob not so much.  But lately I haven’t been using them and I found nine of them in the crisper.  OOPS!

It’s Saturday morning and Irene has come to visit.  It’s just raining and windy, but not much to worry about unlike those on the coast.  We did all the appropriate things to get ready!  When I worked for the National Office of St. John Ambulance Canada we put together, with the Government of Canada, the 72 Hour Kit.  It’s funny, when we lived in Ottawa and I worked at SJA we never put one together, but now that we are in Raleigh, it’s a must.  What with having a hurricane and an earthquake in the last week and not to mention that “small” tornado that swung by in April.

So what’s a 72 hour kit?  It’s a box full of stuff that you put together (or buy)  and will need if there is an emergency and you can’t get anywhere for 72 hours.  There are so many sites you can go to on the web and if you honestly put all the stuff in the checklist into a box, the box would be the size of 10x10 room.  So here are some essentials that we pulled together, just in case Irene decided to venture inland more.

1. potable water (that’s the stuff you can drink).
2. batteries (AA, AAA, 9V and D).
3. non-perishable food (just in case your power goes out completely and you don’t have a generator).
4. matches and candles.
5. flashlights with new batteries in them.
6. first aid kit; get a new one if you can’t remember when you bought yours, that way you are guaranteed that it’s complete.
7. charge your phones and computers completely.
8. if you think you may have to evacuate, put all important docs and pictures into a waterproof container prior to the storm hitting, so you can grab and go.
9. if you have pets, make sure their leashes or carriers are readily available so you can package them up quick.
10. get cash, don’t rely on plastic.
11. fill the cars up with gas.

Here are some other things you can do:

1. if you have a BBQ, make sure you have an extra full propane tank so you can cook if the power goes out (ours is natural gas)
2. fill a bathtub with water, so you can use the water to flush the toilets.
3. pull out all your board games and decks of cards because  if you have to hunker down, it helps pass the time!

Now since Irene downgraded to a category one storm and is heading up the east coast, I thought let’s use the zucchinis!  (see how they tie together :))

I like this recipe because it doesn’t use oil (I hate using oil if I can avoid it) and as it turned out they were really quite good!

Recipe – Zucchini muffins (adapted from Simply Recipes)

Ingredients

• 3 cups grated fresh zucchini
• 2/3 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• Pinch salt
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

1. Combine sugar, eggs and vanilla in bowl.
2. Add shredded zucchini and butter.
3. Add remaining ingredients and combine until just mixed.  Don’t mix too much as I always find zucchini bread gets tough with more mixing.
4. Scoop into prepared muffin tins
5. Back at 350 for 25 minutes
6. Enjoy!

So if Irene came to visit you too, I hope you were safe and sound.  Now before there is a next time, get yourself a 72 hour kit and make yourself these muffins.  Both are winners!

Thanks for looking!

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Muffin Monday
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Hot Day Cool Treat - Lemon Panna Cotta with Balsamic Strawberries

Who’s hot??? I am I am!!!! 

Seriously, what’s with 100 degrees on the first day of June????  I knew when we moved here that the summer’s were hot, what I guess I didn’t realize was that summer started in May and not in July like back in Ottawa.  Baked goods are just not such a great idea when the oven just makes it feel that much hotter. It’s way too hot outside to do anything.  So today I pulled out the box of cook books and started to flip through the pages.  I was looking for cool treats to beat the heat and found a couple of things that would be great together.  Today’s combination are separately two great cool treats, at least I think so!

First, Rob loves Panna cotta, so I used Lucy Waverman’s recipe:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 tbsp gelatin
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp grated lemon rind

1. Combine 1/4 cup milk with the gelatin and heat over low heat until gelatin is dissolved.
2. Combine remaining milk, cream, sugar and lemon rind and bring to boil, simmer for 5 minutes
3. Remove from heat and combine gelatin mixture.  Cool to room temperature.
4. Strain and pour into individual ramekins.  Chill until set

and second, my girls love fresh strawberries and I thought to combine balsamic for tang and sugar for sweet.

• 2 cups cut up strawberries
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1. Stir together and let sit, then pour over panna cotta.

The combination of the two, for someone who loves chocolate and cake, loved this!  The lemon of the panna cotta and the sweet/tangy of the strawberries make this cool treat a recipe to remember!

The hardest thing in the recipe is removing the panna cotta from the ramekins.  Remember to grease the ramekins and just before serving run hot water over the bottom of the ramekins to release.  Be careful not to drop the panna cotta into the sink ( I didn’t do it but I so could see it happening!)

Thanks for looking!

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