Jelled coconut, anyone?

Well, I don’t know. It was suppose to be a panna cotta - but as I haven’t managed to prepare a proper panna cotta yet (as you can read from here), I don’t even know how a proper panna cotta should look and taste like. This time I ended up with something in between a jelly and a panna cotta, maybe because I changed the original recipe quite a bit… But I liked it though. As for J, this was apparently not his cup of tea. So I don’t know. Should do it again one day and serve it to more than two persons to get their opinion.

For two big or four small panna cottas you will need:

300 ml coconut milk

200 ml whipping cream

2 gelatin sheets and water for soaking

0.5 tsp rum extract or 1 tbsp light rum

about 2-3 tbsp sugar (depending on the sweetness of the coconut milk) + additional 4 tbps  sugar for the caramel

 

#  In a dry heavy saucepan cook sugar over moderately low heat, stirring slowly with a fork (to help sugar melt evenly), until melted and pale golden. Cook caramel, without stirring, until deep golden.

# Coat bottoms of 2 big or 4 small molds or ramekins with caramel. Set aside.

# Place gelatin sheets into cold water to soften.

# In a large saucepan bring coconut milk just to a boil, stirring. Add sugar - a few tablespoons (I added 2), until the mix is sweet enough for you (keep in mind that the caramel sauce will give you extra sweetness). Remove pan from heat.

# Remove excess water from the gelatin sheets and add it to the hot coconut milk, stirring until dissolved. Also stir in rum extract.

# Whip the cream until stiff. Carefully stir into the coconut milk and let cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes up to 2 hours. Why - read more at the bottom of this post.

# When cooled, stir the mixture well and divide among molds or ramekins which you coated with caramel. Chill desserts until firm, at least 4 hours, and up to 2 days.

# To unmold panna cottas, dip molds or ramekins, 1 at a time, into a bowl of hot water for 3 seconds. Run a thin knife around edges and invert desserts onto a platter. The caramel has been liquefied and will give you a nice sweet syrupy sauce.

I suggest to hold some crushed caramel at hand to sprinkle it on top for a garnish with nice texture.

So there you go. I liked that it was very light and that there was no need to start preparing extra sauce - everything was done in one go. But maybe I would use less gelatin the next time, so that it would be a bit less firm and more like a real panna cotta.

All in all, I was happy with it and a bonus was that I was able to use up the leftover coconut milk which I had from preparing curry for dinner.

Im getting all excited about different foodblog events…already found a second one to participate - Suganya is currently hosting fruit of the month and - you guessed it -  this lucky fruit is…coconut!

Pepper crêpes

Another kind of pancakes. This time with filling which has seasoned with pepper. I agree with Evelin - lemon and pepper are a combination magnifico. If you don’t like dishes with a lot of pepper - just be careful with pepper and taste the filling before adding all the seasoning.

If you have a food processor, a blender or a hand mixer, you are lucky. With any of those gadgets you’ll be able to prepare this dish super quickly. No stirring and mixing with your hand, just pushing the button (off topic - I just love my blender). So anyways, I was even that lazy that used the blender to mix the crêpes’ batter. But you see - it was a weekend morning and I was terribly hungry. Excuses, excuses…

Anyway. For the crêpes, just use the kind of recipe you have used to use. I have yet to find my very special fool-proof recipe, so I keep testing every time. This wasn’t very bad actually, I got nice and thin crêpes, just the way I like them. And exactly the amount I was aiming for - 5 crêpes. So I just write it down for myself to remember.

1 large egg (about 60 g)

100 ml warm milk

2 tbsp melted butter

0.25 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

0.5 tsp cardamon

3 heaped tbsp flour

 

# Combine all the ingredients in a blender and process for about 30 seconds, until smooth. Chill for at least 30 minutes during which you can prepare the filling and the sauce.

 

For the filling I used 250 g of ricotta, which was maybe a bit too much for five crêpes. Maybe next time I would use 175-200 g max. But you never know, one can not forecast how hungry she will be the next time she’ll prepare those crêpes…But in any case, here’s the recipe I used:

 

250 g ricotta

3 tbsp honey

1 tbsp ground black pepper

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp grated lemon rind

 

# Extra simple to prepare with a gadget - just combine everything and blend to smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking. Don’t make it too sweet, because the sauce itself is already pretty sweet. The filling can be made ahead of time as well, just keep it in the fridge until serving.

For the sauce you’ll need:

a handful of redcurrants

50 ml water

1.5 tbsp sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tbsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp cold water

# In a medium saucepan, combine currants, water, sugar and ginger. Bring to boil.

# In a separate bowl mix water with cornstarch and add to the sauce. Boil for about 1 minute and remove from heat.

# I suggest to keep it in warm and bring to boil again just before serving.

# When all that is done, you should be ready to prepare the crêpes. Keep them warm until serving.

And now a bit about the serving. The way I did it was the following: when the last crêpe was on the frying pan, I placed the serving plates into the microwave oven for about 40 seconds, just to warm them up. You know, warm plates keep the dish warm as well.  

For rolling I used another plate: just placed a crêpe on a plate (which does not have to be warm as this will go quickly), spread about 2 tbsp of the filling to my side of the crêpe and started rolling, also from my side of the crêpe. If you place the filling in the centre, it is not that easy to get nice rolls. But I guess you know it already anyway. So, when you have the roll ready, place it to the warm serving plate. Do the same with all the other crêpes. Easy as that. As I had 5 crêpes, I halved the last roll. To be fair and equal.  

And then I poured the rolls over with the hot sauce. And served immediately, otherwise there is no point in warming the plates.

J had a few bites and then went to the kitchen, brought a banana and sliced it next to the the crêpes. A good idea. But I liked it even without the banana. Especially this lemony-peppery filling,  which, using Evelin’s words, leaves the mouth sighing warmly in the most pleasant way possible.

Yesterday I found out that Susan is planning to hold a tribute to pancakes, hosting a deliciously sounding “Pancakes on Parade“. I think my crêpes would fit in perfectly. This will be my first ever food blog event, whopee

Cheese pancakes

That’s right, cheese pancakes. Very nice for the weekend breakfast. You’ll end up with about 15 pancakes if you use the amounts below - a pretty nice pile. Too much for a breakfast for two people, but leftovers will  be a nice lunchtime snack at work the next day. Or as a breakfast the next morning. Tastes good when warm or cold. Here’s what you need:

3 eggs

0.5 tsp salt

250 ml milk

150 g flour

150 g grated cheese

oil or butter to fry

# Separate the eggs.

# Whip the egg yolks. Add milk, salt, flour and grated cheese and stir.

# Whip the egg whites until stiff and gently fold in into the egg yolks and cheese mixture.

# Fry small golden cakes in a frying pan.

# Serve with tomato and cucumber slices, or without any side dish. Pretty nice and filling either way.

I guess you can play around with the batter, by adding some chopped and fried bacon or some salami for example. For me cheese was enough. Salami and bacon don’t seem as something you can put inside a pan cake. You can make an omelet out of them - but certainly not a pancake.

By the way. According to Wikipedia, cheese is a pretty ancient food. Proposed dates for the origin of cheesemaking range from around 8000 BCE (when sheep were first domesticated) to around 3000 BCE. The origin of the English word cheese appears to be the Latin caseus. Similar words are shared by other West Germanic languages — West Frisian tsiis, Dutch kaas, German Käse, Spanish queso, Portuguese queijo and Italian cacio.

I wonder, if people at that time knew how to make those tasty cheese pancakes?

Chocolate risotto

Who says that risotto has to be salty. You can actually make a lovely dessert using chocolate and risotto rice, which looks pretty qute and is very simple to prepare. Delia Smith has a recipe for preparing the dish in the oven. I have tried a different version - and was very happy with the result.

The only thing to recommend is that when you decide to serve it as a dessert, make sure you avoid a lot of rice, pasta or potatoes in your main course. Otherwise you’ll get an overdose from starch and your stomach will grow into a size of a huge beach ball.

Serves two:

90 g risotto rice

1 tbsp butter

100 g mascarpone cheese

200 ml milk

2 tbsp sugar

100 g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

fresh strawberries and strawberry jam to serve

 

# Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan. Add rice and stir, coating the rice evenly with the butter.

# Add milk and mascarpone into the saucepan and simmer at low heat for about 20 minutes, or until the rice is cooked. Don’t forget to stir, otherwise the dish might burn. In case the milk and cheese have evaporated but the rice is still not cooked, add some more milk (50 ml at a time) and keep simmering until the rice is ready.

# Season with sugar and add chocolate pieces into the saucepan. Stir, simmer for another few minutes and remove from heat. You might want to add some cinnamon or Baileys to taste - but for me chocolate with rice was already enough.

# Serve with some fresh strawberries and strawberry jam.

J told me that this dessert tasted like Kellogg’s Rice Krispies…And when I started to wear a sullen expression, he tried to cheer me up and gave some good words and finally admitted that it was a joke and that the dessert is great and I should do it again. Most likely I will. Suggest you to try it. Its a good way to use up this leftover risotto rice which is not enough to make a proper meal but is just enough for a dessert.

Chicken risotto with fresh basil and Parmesan

Thanks to one Estonian cooking forum I finally know what risotto is. Many people - including myself - tend to call any kind of rice dish “risotto” (even if you have boiled the rice beforehand in the water, drained it and afterwords mixed it with some cooked meat and vegetables) which is why I am glad to know now, that there are only a certain types of rice you can use and certain rules you have to follow, if you want your dish to be called risotto.

Rice forms an important part of the diet of a great many people worldwide. According to Wikipedia , rice is second-most consumed cereal grain and provides more than one fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by humans. There are more than 8000 different types of rice - can you believe it? Only a few years ago I only know two types of rice - white and brown. Now I know a few more, but still - I could not have imagined that there can be so many different types of it!

For risotto, the most common types of rice to use are Arborio (in the picture) or Carnaroli - rice types high in starch content, which is released gradually as you stir in hot stock, resulting in the creamy texture that, frankly, is the whole point of making risotto. You will not get that result with regular white rice. You’ll have a flavored rice dish that may be delicious, but it will not be a creamy risotto. So there.

After locating a few ingredients in my kitchen, I decided to go for this recipe, as I had ALL the ingredients it called for (it does not happen very often). Serves four:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

250 g Arborio rice

350 ml chicken stock 

150 ml white wine

150 g peas

150 g boiled and chopped chicken fillet

handful of fresh basil leaves

150 ml grated Parmesan

salt and pepper to taste

 

# Heat olive oil in a medium, non-stick saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir for 5 minutes, until onion is translucent. Turn heat at low.

# Add rice; stir, coating rice with olive oil and onions.

# Pour in broth and wine. Simmer covered until stock is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Stir while simmering. Make sure you simmer at low heat - otherwise the liquid will evaporate too quickly and rice will not cook thoroughly (you end up adding more and more liquid).

# When stock is absorbed, stir in peas, chicken, basil and Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Make sure you use fresh basil as it plays a key role in flavoring and coloring this dish. Dried basil won’t give you the best result!

And how did it taste? Honestly, for me it was a bit dry. I was expecting something more creamy and moist, but as I later on discovered - there was only me to blame, not the recipe. You see, I cooked the rice in the broth at pretty high heat (I was hungry  and wanted the dish to be ready sooner) and therefore most of the broth evaporated and I ended up with this not very creamy result…So next time I’ll be smarter.

I prepared it for 4 servings and as there is only 2 of us, the next evening J decided to give this risotto a nice makeover. What he did was the following:

Heated about 200 ml cream and 50 ml white wine in a saucepan and added about 8-9 cherry tomatoes. Seasoned the cream with some hot curry powder, nutmeg and ground paprika. Also sprinkled it over with a handful of love, as he told me.

He poured the hot sauce over the risotto, simmered and stirred it for a couple of minutes and served.

I don’t know weather it was love or the curry, but it did taste better than the dish we had the day before. I guess you can’t call it a risotto anymore, but…a tasty rice dish it was!