Something light and tasty from Italy

For me, panna cotta has always been something jelly-like, something…a bit boring I would say. I have never ordered it in a restaurant and I have never tried to prepare it. Prejudices I guess. And I don’t know where they came from. So, what made me to rethink my prejudices. Nami-nami called for cooking panna cottas together, and when many members showed their nice desserts and raved about its taste, I decided to try. I mean, it is literally cooked cream, what is there to jump about? It has history, okay. As you know, panna cotta comes from Italy. Traditionally the cream is very slowly cooked until reduced by 1/4-1/3. Then you should add gelatin. As you want it to be more creamy and soft than a regular jelly, you shouldn’t use a lot of it. 2 sheets for 500 ml of cream should give you the best result. So, prepare gelatin, stir it into the cream, pour the mixture it into dessert bowls and let cool in the fridge. Seems like an easy task, right?

Guess again. Mine did not come out that nice. The first one I made tasted like strawberries as it was suppose to, was creamy and all, but something wasn’t right. I think it didn’t looked as good as I wasexpecting. And I blame my ramekins, because it was oh so hard to get the panna cottasout of them. As if they decided to be stuck in the ramekins and laughed at my face when I tried my hardest to get them out. And also, I guess I should have pour the strawberry puree through strainer like the recipe suggested, to get rid of the seeds. It would have made the panna cotta more tasty.

Here’s the recipe:

400 g strawberries

200 ml milk
200 ml whipping cream
4 tbsp sugar
2 sheets gelatin
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp honey

 

# Puree 250 g strawberries in processor until smooth. Pour puree through strainer, pressing with rubber spatula to extract as much puree as possible; reserve strained puree and discard seeds.

# Whisk milk, whipping cream and sugar in a heavy saucepan. 

# Soak gelatin sheets in cold water, let stand until gelatin softens, about 5 minutes. Drain the excess water and place the gelatin into the cream-and-milk mixture.

# Whisk mixture constantly over very low heat just until gelatin dissolves and mixture is lukewarm, about 3 minutes (do not boil). Remove from heat.

# Whisk in pureed strawberries and vanilla extract. Divide mixture among six small or four big ramekins or custard cups. Refrigerate until panna cotta is set. 

For the sauce, I sliced some strawberries with the egg cutter (very useful invention) and placed them into a small bowl. Added some liquid honey and let it set at room temperature for about 20 minutes.

When ready to serve, run small sharp knife between panna cotta and ramekins  to loosen. Dip bottom of ramekins into bowl of hot water for a few secons. Invert each panna cotta onto plate, shaking gently to unmold. Spoon strawberry-honey mixture over and serve.

So what went wrong. Nothing much I think, only that I used very stupid ramekins and it was very difficult to get the panna cotta out. The recipe suggested to hold the bottom of the ramenkins in hot water for 30 sekonds and that’s what I did. Way too long of course, because the panna cotta started melting, as you can see from the picture. Stupid me.

The second time I used different kind of bowls which I got through a lucky chance. You see, there were some sunny days in Belgium. Heaven. And we went to the seaside and enjoyed the kite show. Of course one has to buy some ice cream at the seaside and that’s what we did. They sold the ice cream in plastic cups. Not very environmental friendly, huh? People coming, buying two balls of ice cream, then throwing the cups somewhere near the trash cans, and after an hour going to buy another bowl. What I did, was that I brought the cups home with me. Perfect for panna cottas, I thought. Actually, not that perfect because they were rather big…but at the same time it was super easy to get the panna cottas out of them, no need to dip it into hot water, they just slided out perfectly.

I tried this recipe:

500 ml single cream (I used 20% fat)

5 tbsp icing sugar

100 g white chocolate, chopped

50 ml water

2.5 gelatin sheets

2 perfectly ripe peaches

 

The original version suggest to place thin apricot slices into the bottom. I used canned apricots and somehow couldn’t cut the right sized slices and decided to fill the bottom of the dish with small apricot cubes. What and excellent idea I thought and congratulated myself in my mind. But it was all wrong. After I poured the cream over perfectly placed apricots, the apricots decided to arise on top. Very unevenly. You can imagine the look in my face. So much for panna cotta. It is going to be an apricot jelly.

So, I don’t know, you can try placing apricot slices into the bottom of the dishes and see how it comes out. And let me know. Now to the cream:

# Place the icing sugar and the cream in a saucepan and simmer over medium heat until slightly reduced.

# Add the white chocolate, and stir until smooth.

# Meanwhile, soak the gelatin sheets in cold water. Drain and place them into 50 ml hot water and stir until gelatin dissolves. Add carefully to the cream mixture. Simmer for a minute.

# Pour the panna cotta mixture over the peaches, and place in fridge until set. When it’s time to serve, loosen the edges and invert the molds over a plate.

For the sauce I placedchopped apricots and some raisins into a saucepan. Drizzled some honey on top and simmered for a couple of minutes. Cooled and served with set panna cotta (or whatever this dish is called).

After those adventures I found this page which gives you some tips on how to do a perfect panna cotta. Of course you only find the best sites and best information AFTER you think you have tried everything. But at least the next time I am smarter. And maybe it helps some of you as well.

First of all - use sheet gelatin. The quality of the granulated gelatin varies but is usually lower than the quality of the gelatin sheets. The powder can contain a high amount of broken protein which means they will create uneven stronger and weaker gels. So, with the powder, you might end up with a panna cotta which is soft on one side and firm on the other side. You shouldn’t have this problem with the sheet gelatin. Plain and simple, the powder gelatin is inconsistent.

Secondly, once you have stirred the dissolved gelatin into the cream, you should let it cool until at least room temperature, for about 1-2 hours. If you place the warm cream into dessert dishes and immediately into the fridge, the protein chains bond to each other immediately, and randomly, causing bulky and weak cross sections. With these weak bonds, the gelatin will progressively continue to firm over a period of time, thus the texture you gained the first day will be softer than the texture you have in 3 days. For example, you’ll make 3 bowls of panna cotta and place them into the fridge, immediately. And for the next three days you’ll eat one dish every evening. The one you’ll eat at the end, is the most firm. But ideally you would like your panna cotta to taste the same regardless of how many days it has been in the fridge, right? By cooling the gelatin slowly, at room temperature, the proteins are allowed to mingle with each other, forming a tighter and more structured bonds and as a result you’ll have a panna cotta which will taste the same tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.

This post was actually very informative for me, so I suggest you to read it in case you are interested in perfecting your panna cotta. First thing to notice - it takes hours to prepare a perfect panna cotta. Not at all that easy as I thought at the beginning!

Zucchini boats

There are probably thousand different ways on how to do filled zucchinis or courgettes - with cheese, mushrooms, meat, etc. I had a zucchini, a bit of Gorgonzola and some corn, so those recipes weren’t good enough for me. Luckily I did find something with those ingredients in one of the Estonian sites. Pretty interesting and definitely something for people who like blue cheese. Serves two.

1 zucchini (about 20 cm long)

some lemon pepper

0.5 tbsp butter

1 small onion, chopped

125 g frozen or canned corn

1 garlic glove, crushed

0.5 tsp pepper

150 g blue cheese

3 tbsp chopped parsley

 

# Place zucchini into boiling water for about 3-5 minutes. Drain. Peel, if you think it is necessary - I didn’t because the zucchini was young enough for me. Cut in half.

# Using a small spoon, scoop out the zucchini flesh and cut into cubes. Sprinkle lemon pepper into the zucchini shells.

# Heat butter in a saucepan. Add onion, corn, garlic and zucchini cubes. Simmer until softened (but don’t burn!). Season with pepper.

# Transfer crumbled blue cheese into the saucepan, also add the parsley. Stir thoroughly and simmer until the cheese has melted.

# Flip the filling over the zucchini shells. Bake at 200 degrees C until the filling is set (for about 15 min).

Serve without any side dish or with some meat. The best side dish would probably be a steak or some grilled sausages. I only had pork cubes at hand, so I prepared a sauce. As the blue cheese gives pretty strong flavour to the zucchini boats, I tried to make a milder sauce. For that, I fried the pork cubes with chopped onion until not pink anymore. Seasoned with salt and pepper and poured over with some light cream. Added some mustard as well.

I would call it a success. In terms of taste anyway.

Roast pork with creamed corn and apple-raisin chutney

Nice title, huh? I wanted to try something new and as this recipe had some raving comments, I decided to go for it. Its a bit labor-intensive, but the good thing about it is that you can prepare it ahead and spread the work over a few days. I had a day off, so I did everything in a row - a lot of work, but definitely worth it. I served it as the main course after the creamy broccoli soup.

I was not very sure about this creamed corn - Estonians are used to eat meat with potatoes - but I’m glad I tried it. I know now that mint flavoured pork and acidulous sauce can successfully be partnered with creamed corn - did not miss the potatoes at all!

I adjusted the recipe according to what I felt was necessary. Serves two.

Pork

a handful fresh mint leaves, chopped 
4-5 garlic cloves
3 fresh rosemary sprigs or 1.5 tsp dry rosemary
1 onion
1 tsp salt 

1 tsp ground black pepper
150 ml olive oil
300-400 g pork tenderloin slices or pork chops

 

# Combine first four ingredients in processor and chop finely. Season with salt and pepper and blend in oil.

# Transfer marinade to bowl and add pork tenderloins, turning to coat evenly.

# Cover dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (can be prepared 1 day ahead - keep refrigerated). I marinated pork for about 6 hours, but I guess you’ll get the best result when marinating overnight.

   Creamed corn
   150 g corn kernels 
   2 tbsp olive oil
   half onion, chopped
   1 garlic clove, minced
   3 tablespoons all purpose flour
   100 ml low-salt chicken broth 
  100 ml whipping cream    

  salt and pepper  

 

# Cook 1 tbsp of oil in heavy medium pot, add onion and garlic and sauté until soft.

# Transfer flour into the pot, stir until even (about 2 minutes). Slowly whisk in chicken broth; whisk until mixture thickens and boils. Stir in cream and bring mixture to simmer.

# Transfer 100 g corn kernels into the mixture and simmer until it is thick, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Cool slightly.

# Use a stick blender or transfer the mixture to processor and puree. Stir in the rest 50 g corn kernels (can also be prepared 1 day ahead - chill).

In the meantime prepare apple-raisin chutney. When you are ready to serve, you obviously need to cook the meat:

# Heat 3 tablespoons oil in heavy large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat.

# Remove pork from marinade. Add pork slices to skillet and sauté until brown on all sides, about 5 minutes.

# Transfer tenderloins into an ovenproof dish and roast  at 180-degrees C for about 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit covered with foil for 7 mins. The meat should then be ready.

# Bring corn to simmer. The orginal recipe suggests to spoon corn onto plates and place pork tenderloins atop corn. Everything should then be topped with apple-raisin chutney and dish is ready to serve.

The next time though I wouldn’t spoon hot corn cream under the tenderloins but would leave it next to it, because I figure it would look better. Or maybe I should reduce the amount of cream and broth in the corn mixture, to get more firm cream. Will try and let you know.

I love the combination of flavours and texture of this dish - the tastes of juicy and flavorful pork and smooth creamed corn balance each other very nicely. Apple-raisin chutney compliments the flavors perfectly, so I definitely suggest not to omit it.

Apple-raisin chutney

This is wonderful served with pork but would go well with chicken as well. Or any kind of meat I assume. I found the recipe from here, reduced the amounts and got about 250 ml of sauce.

100 ml apple cider vinegar

50 ml water

2 tbsp sugar
1  Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
a handful of  raisins
4 whole cloves
0.5 tsp salt 
1.5 tsp ground ginger

 

Stir vinegar and sugar in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Boil without stirring until syrupy, about 15 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Add all remaining ingredients. Simmer until apples are tender, liquid is absorbed, and mixture thickens slightly, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. You might want to add 1 tbsp of cornstarch as well, to thicken it a bit.

The sauce can be prepared up to 2 weeks ahead (cool completely and refrigerate in airtight container).

Schnitzel with cheese and bell pepper topping

My mum often makes schnitzel at home and somehow my younger brother started to call it big meat (probably because the slices of meat she used were…well, big I guess). Now, every time I visit home, my mum usually makes big meat and it always tastes very good. One day I decided to try how my big meats come out. One Estonian blog (Sille blogi) gave me an idea for the topping - to make the meat a bit more juicy. And it was good…

4 slices of pork tenderloin

1 egg, beaten

couple of tbsp breadcrumbs

salt, pepper

100 g grated cheese

1 bell pepper, chopped

 

# Using a meat mallet, pound pork slices down and dip into the egg mixture.

# Coat each slice on both sides with crumbs and set aside on a clean plate. When all slices are evenly coated, place them gently in a single layer into a hot frying pan.

# Fry until browned, then turn and season the fried side with salt and pepper. When the other side is browned, place it in a pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper (my mum always taught me than if you season meat before frying, the juices will run out).

# When slices are all browned, seasoned and placed on a cooking pan, top each slice with the mix of chopped bell pepper and grated cheese. Bake at 200 degrees C until cheese starts to melt, about 5-7 min.

Serve in a hot plate with boiled vegetables and a sauce of your liking.  I tried a simple bechamell:

# In a small saucepan, melt 1 tbsp butter.

# Stir in 1.5 tbsp flour, salt and white pepper.  

# Add about 150 ml warm water, stir well. Cook at medium heat, stirring frequently, until thick.

# Adjust seasoning, I usually stir in a handful of grated parmesan and some dried parsley as well.

A simple dish, very easy to make. You can play around with the seasonings - use chilli powder or rosemary, and maybe marinate the meat before for a few hours…I have never done it though, but maybe in the future.