Cranberry pannacotta

I have a thing for pannacotta…. ever since I tasted the first (the first homemade version that is) pannacotta I am sort of addicted. It’s not that I make this dessert every week or even every month for that matter, but no matter what flavor I make; I love it every single time… From the lemon buttermilk pannacotta, to the cinnamon apple pannacotta, to this seasonal variety. They’re all good… Not so good for the waistline though; lots of cream in there…

While we initially wanted to make the Italian icecream for dessert (and don’t worry, we will be making that before the year is over.. ) we figured a little lighter then that would be advisable. It’s weird really that most christmas dishes are rather heavy on the stomach; we had to really make adjustments from our original menu to the current one to make sure that we didn’t have to roll every one out the door. I don’t know about you but I don’t particularly like the overly full feeling that you get after eating too much. I do – in fact – hate that feeling and while I am the only one to blame for that feeling when it happens to me, I would like to think that I try to avoid it as much as possible. So we made a few adjustments to the final menu; some things were cancelled, other things were added. No potatoes at the main course; the cream leek tart will be more then enough even without potatoes. And a nice fresh salad to go with the ham and the tart and then for dessert a pannacotta. While the pannacotta is arguably not exactly leaner then the Italian icecream when you count it in calories; it does feel lighter due to the smaller portion and the fact that I will be changing the recipe that I followed for the above cranberry version. I am going to add the buttermilk in.

Dare we hope for a white christmas??

The lemon buttermilk pannacotta that I made before is perfect in that sense; due to the tartness of the buttermilk it looses some of it’s rich creamy texture making it fresh and light. And then I will add the cranberries to it for that seasonal feeling (and because I love cranberries too ofcourse) I will make them a little sweeter then the ones we use for the ham to counter balance the lemon and buttermilk. Hmmm, lovely… and that then is our christmas menu complete!

I will give you below the recipe for the original cranberry pannacotta which I made yesterday. If you make it I would advise adding a little lemon or some other sour tasting flavor to pick it up a little.

Yesterday it has been snowing almost the entire day resulting in a big pile of white fluffy snow today and when the sun broke through the clouds this morning I just had to go for a little walk in the park across from our house. Isn’t it beautiful?? Too bad that it will probably not last until christmas. It’s gonna be melting starting tomorrow… O well, we had fun while it lasted, although it’s a nightmare for traffic ofcourse. Our little country is not equipped to deal with things like heavy snow or frost; everyone is in  a state of panick, trains, trams and buses no longer operate due to frozen tracks, or whatever else happens and let’s not talk about the traffic jams!! Yesterday, a sunday no less, we had a total of 1200 minutes traffic jam and 90 traffic jams altogether. On a sunday! Imagine what would’ve happened if yesterday had been a monday.

Thanks to christmas holidays the traffic was bad but not as bad as it could have been on a regular working day. I was supposed to have a photoshoot with two kids wanting a portrait for their parents, but they had to come from far and well… the trains didn’t run so…. I had the morning off to enjoy the sunshine and the snow.

Here is the recipe for the pannacotta!

PANNACOTTA WITH CRANBERRIES (serves 4)

80 gr white castersugar

100 gr fresh cranberries

1 vanillabean

375 ml whipping cream or double cream

2 leaves of gelatine

100 ml yogurt

4 forms (150 ml each) or one large form (0,5 ltr)

1. In a saucepan heat 50 gr of castersugar with 5 tbsp of water en add, once the sugar is melted, the cranberries. Simmer on low for about 3 minutes.

2. Cut the vanillabean open lenghtwise. Heat the cream in a saucepan and add the vanillabean and the rest of the sugar. Leave to simmer but not really boil for 5 minutes en make sure all sugar is dissolved. Remove the vanillabean from the cream and scrape the marrow from the vanilla with a sharp knife and add the marrow to the cream.

3. Soak the gelatine leaves for about 5 minutes in cold water. Squeeze them and add to the hot cream. Stir until dissolved. Leave to cool and add the yogurt. Divide the yogurtcream over the forms and spoon 1 teaspoon of the cranberries into each form. Put into the fridge for at least 3 hours. To remove the pannacotta from the forms, shortly keep them under a hot tab and put them on plates. Serve with the rest of the cranberries.

Cinnamon pannacotta

It had been a while since I last made panna cotta and I think the last flavor I tried was the lemon buttermilk pannacotta which was absolutely fabulous, but I wanted to try something different this time. I used the Panna cotta book from Camilla Saulsbury again and picked the cinnamon variety. The original recipe called for caramel sauce on top but since I am not a huge caramel fan I figured apple would work great with the cinnamon flavors and it did!!

The making of the pannacotta was pretty simple as usual and very quick too. I had bought Kanzi apples which had a lovely sweet and tart flavor that worked really well in the compote. I added only one little bag of vanilla sugar and didn’t need to add anymore as the pannacotta itself was quite sweet so the combination with the tartness of the compote worked fabulously. In terms of color; it’s not the most appealing color for a pannacotta I think, but who cares if the flavor is soooo delicious!

CINNAMON PANNACOTTA WITH APPLE COMPOTE (adapted from Panna Cotta by Camilla Saulsbury)

2,5 cups heavy whipping cream

2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin or 3,5 leaf gelatin

1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 cup sour cream

1 vanilla bean or 1,5 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Apple compote (see below)

What I love about Camilla’s recipes is that they are really easy to follow and the flavors are amazing. I have not nearly made all the panna cotta’s in the book since they would kill my waistline, but ok on to this particular recipe. lovely cinnamon flavor!!

Place the cream in a heavy saucepan. Either sprinkle the gelatin over the cream and let stand for 5 minutes or – if you are using leaf gelatin as I was – put them in a bowl with water until they are submerged and let stand for a couple of minutes till the gelatin is softened, squeeze them to remove excess water and then add to the cream.

Add the brown sugar to the saucepan and cook and stir over low heat until both the gelatin and brown sugar are completely dissolved. Make sure not to bring the mixture to a boil. Whisk in the sour cream, vanillaseeds or extract and cinnamon until well blended and smooth.

Pour the mixture into whatever form you fancy. I’ve used regular molds as well as tiny round glasses which I thought looked kind of cute. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and  chill for 4 hours or up to overnight.

Cut around the edges of the panna cotta to loosen. Set each cup in shallow bowl of hot water for 10 seconds. Immediately invert onto a plate. I find that it helps if I then grab the plate and while holding the cup and plate together tightly give it one firm shake which then loosens up the panna cotta nicely. Spoon the apple compote (recipe below) onto the panna cotta and serve with whipped cream if you like.

APPLE COMPOTE

Apples that are not too sweet and not too sour but basically just use whichever you prefer.

Applejuice about 250 ml

lemonjuice

cinnamon

1 packet of vanillasugar or to your taste

You can really add lots of things to the apple compote if you like, such as raisins, cranberries and alcohol. Whatever you feel like. I like mine plain so didn’t add much more then that.

Peel and core the apples and cut them into slices or chunks. Put them in a saucepan and sprinkle with some lemon juice to prevent browning of the apples. Add applejuice and vanillasugar to the pan and bring to a boil. Cook them as long as needed to break down the apple pieces but make sure you still have some pieces left which creates the chunkiness that you want with apple compote. Add cinnamon and taste to see if the apples are sweet enough. If not you can add a little more sugar. enjoy!

Plate of antipasti

It’s been months in the planning; I think we have been talking about doing an Italian dinner with friends since christmas! But tonight it is going to happen!!

I started the morning with a good old spinning class, so I don’t have to feel so guilty when enjoying the delicious food tonight and after a shower I went on to grocery shopping. Our menu is:

Antipasti

Spaghetti Tetrazine

Rigatoni with homemade sauce with catalan sausage

Insalata caprese

Pannacotta with lemon and buttermilk

Antipasti

Initially we were going to make various crostini, but we figured it would probably be too much food. M. and P. will be the ones coming tonight and I know that M is very picky when it comes to food. Well, that is maybe an understatement; there is not much she likes at all! She likes plain spaghetti with ham and cheese….. that is her favorite meal… So it’s going to be a challenge if she likes this or not. But to be honest; she never complains, just doesn’t eat it! So maybe not the best people to make a meal for in the first place, but they are very good friends and in theory she likes “Italian” (not sure if her favorite ‘Italian’ meal deserves that name though..:)) Anyway, we cheated with the antipasti, as I got them from the Italian catering company in the

Antipasti

city. They have fantastic stuff, so a little cheating is ok. And let’s face it’; it’s not as if I am going to make my own sausages anyway! And it looks good doesn’t it?

I’ve chosen some garlic shrimps, black marinated olives (without the garlic as there is plenty of garlic in some of the other stuff!), manchego cheese with membrillo, vitello tonato and some pepperdews filled with cheese. To go with that we will have some Italian toast. It’s probably already too much.

For our main course we will be having two variations to pasta. One with spaghetti. It’s from Jamie Oliver’s book ‘Italy’ and it is called spaghetti Tetrazine. It’s basically chicken, mushrooms in various types and lots of cream. Put it in the oven with some good parmezan and done. So we have prepared the sauce for that and will finish it later, so we can pop it in the oven and forget about it.

Next one is a creation of our own, so I don’t know yet what we’re gonna throw in but the base is tomatoes and spanish sausages that we rolled into small balls. (split the skins and roll the inside into small balls) We will probably ad zuchini to it, oregano, basil, garlic and for the rest we will see how it tastes by then and if it needs anything extra. The balls are made, which is the biggest job, so it’s basically tossing in the pan and should be done in no time.

Next to that we will have my favorite Italian salad; insalata caprese with home made basildressing. I bought a lovely piece of buffela mozarella at the Italian deli this morning and various shapes of tomatoe and ofcourse lots of fresh basil.

And for dessert we will be having lemon buttermilk pannacotta.

Ingredients for lemon buttermilk pannacotta

I’ve made that a while ago as well, so the recipe you can find already here via the link above. It’s very simple and lovely. Instead of the raspberries, which are really not good right now, we’re having blackberries. I’m gonna crush them, add some sugar and leave it for a while and then put it on top of the pannacotta. They are done and in the fridge to get firm.

Lemon juice and zest

So all in all… lots of food to eat, so we’ll probably be eating the same tomorrow… And with pasta, it always seems to taste better the next day anyway, so no punishment really…:)

Lemon Pannacotta with buttermilk

I don’t really know what it is with pannacotta. Ever since I photographed the first one about a year ago, it seems to have grown into some sort of addiction, with the notable exception that now I have to make them first. The first pannacotta was made by Claudia, a real Italian lady, with whom I sometimes do some cooking. Well, let’s say it differently; she does ALL the cooking and I shoot the food and afterwards we eat it all… together! How’s that for a great arrangement?

Anyway; talking about my pannacotta addiction I have bought a book at Bol.com which was called “Pannacotta” by Camilla V. Saulsbury. When it finally arrived in the mail I was very disappointed to find out that there were no (real) photographs in the book!! How can you make a cookbook and not have lovely colorful and glossy photos in there??? I just don’t get it. But then I am one of those people that buy a book based on the photos and not so much based on the recipes. Possibly something to do with the fact that I am a photographer..Lol… The photos in the book where all tiny and all stacked in two pages in the front of the book. Half of the photos in black&white and all either lacking in color or in composition or with horrible shadows or… well, you get the picture. I mean, I see lots and lots of foodphotography on Flickr everyday by people who are so called “amateurs” and those photos are incredible and stunning, so I cannot understand why you make a cookbook and then put such uninspiring pictures in there. With the exception of the nice photo on the cover, all are made by the author, so forgive me Camilla, but…. next time… please ask someone else…:) I do feel though that part of the problem here is the size…. The tiny photos just do not do justice to the dishes!! And the recipes are great, so still a good reason to try this book if you love Panna Cotta!

Having said that; it is a reason for me to try the recipes and then take photos… I am building my own personal cooking book with recipes that I like and photos that I took. Just for myself and just for fun, but it is nice to do and all those pannacotta’s are just waiting for me to take better photos. Now, the problem with any pannacotta is positioning the sauce and making sure it stays on the – wobbly- top.

Not the best look as you will probably agree. I did struggle here, because I felt the sauce was a bit too heavy. I had made two types of shapes of this pannacotta and the flatter one made it easier to put something on top but I do like the higher shape better, but then it was slowly sliding towards the end and we had eaten all the other ones already, so I had just the one left and two flatter ones. It’s not perfect at all, but it was very tasty!!
The buttermilk gave it a different kind of flavor then one with just cream and the lemon gave it a lovely sour twang…Definitely worth a try this recipe!!

LEMON BUTTERMILK PANNACOTTA
WITH CRUSHED RASPBERRY SAUCE
(From the book; Pannacotta by Camilla V. Saulsbury

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin

1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
1,5 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
2 cups lowfat buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 recipe Crushed raspberry sauce (see below)

Place lemon juice in small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over lemon juice. Let stand 5 minutes to soften gelatin.
Meanwhile, bring the cream, sugar, and lemon zest to simmer in heavy, medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring untill sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Add gelatin mixture and whisk untill dissolved. Whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla until blended.
Ladle or pour mixture into 8 3/4 cup custard cups, ramekins, or small molds. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and chill 4 hours or up to overnight.
Cut around edge of each panna cotta to loosen. Set each cup in shallow bowl of hot water for 10 seconds. Immediately invert each onto a plate. Served with the crushed raspberry sauce. Makes 8 servings

CRUSHED RASPBERRY SAUCE
2 cups of fresh or frozen, thawed raspberries, undrained
3 tablespoons of sugar
Place raspberries and their juices in a medium bowl. Crush lightly with back of spoon. Stir in 3 tablespoons of sugar.