Panna Cotta

Panna cotta in Italian means "cooked cream" and comes from the Northern region of Piedmont in Italy. It's made by simmering together cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatin, and letting it cool until set. Panna cotta is often served topped with caramel, strawberries or other wild berries or chocolate sauce. Have I mentioned that this dessert is Italian yet? My new favorite cuisine.



Panna Cotta is incredibly easy to make. If you're not a baker and are one of those people who always avoids making desserts, then this is a treat for you. It takes no more then 10 minutes and uses minimal dishes and fuss. And I guarantee your kitchen will not be covered in flour by the end.

This month's issue of Bon Appetite (December 2009) has a recipe for buttermilk panna cotta with cinnamon caramel sauce. It's refreshing twist to the classic caramel panna cotta. The recipe uses buttermilk in place of cream which adds a nice tangy flavour to the custard. It's still smooth and creamy in texture but with less calories. And who doesn't like that.

I found the Bon Appetite instructions for the gelatin a little confusing, which is rare because their recipes are always dependable. I've made the instructions below easier to follow provided you buy a box of Knox unflavoured original gelatin.


Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Cinnamon Caramel Sauce (serves 6)
Adapted from Bon Appetite, this dessert is incredibly simple to make. Plan for 10-15 minutes preparation and 3-4 hours cooling and setting in the fridge.

Ingredients
1 package Knox unflavoured gelatin
1 cup heavy whipping cream, divided
1/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions
Prepare one package of gelatin according to package.

Combine 3/4 cup cream and 1/3 cup sugar in heavy small saucepan. Stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves and mixture just begins to simmer. Remove from heat. Add gelatin; stir until gelatin dissolves. Cool until warm, stirring occasionally. Stir in buttermilk and 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla. Divide among six 1/2-cup ramekins. Cover and refrigerate until set, 3-4 hours.

Just before serving, combine brown sugar and remaining 1/4 cup cream in small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and caramel sauce is smooth. Remove from heat; stir in cinnamon and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Spoon slightly warm caramel sauce over each panna cotta and serve.

Marinated Eggplant Antipasto

A recent trip to Italy has left me with a nearly daily craving for eggplant. Can someone please help me?! I don't no why. I certainly didn't have it everyday, unlike the varying quality of red table wine or endless bowls of pasta. And I didn't crave every day before I left either. What I think I'm trying to say is that if you have a favorite recipe with eggplant, I'd love to hear about it.


Antipasti or appetizers are authentically Italian. A plate of antipasti is often served before dinner or a formal lunch or as an afternoon or evening snack. They are characteristically tasty, light, appetizing and often served cold. Most of the antipasto plates I had included cured meats, grilled artichokes, eggplant, roma tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, seafood and sliced ciabatta. But sometimes they were as simple as bruchetta or sliced salami and olives.

I came across this lip-smacking recipe on Delicious Days for marinated eggplant that has every quality a good Italian antipasto should have. Simple ingredients and olive oil, tasty and delicious.



Marinated eggplants à la Ottolenghi
Recipe source: adapted from Ottolenghi - The Cookbook, p. 26

Ingredients
3 medium sized eggplants
olive oil for brushing
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Marinade
5 tablespoons olive oil
5 tablespoons lemon juice
1 small red chili
3-4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs (parsley, cilantro, basil or Italian parsley)
1-2 garlic cloves
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350° and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Trim both ends of the eggplants, then cut each in two equal sized halves width-ways. Now cut each piece into six to eight wedges, depending on the eggplants' size. Key is to obtain (almost) equally sized wedges.

Generously brush the wedges with olive oil, place on the tray (skin side down) and season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven (middle level) for 20 to 25 minutes or until the tips have turned brown and the wedges feel soft to the touch.

Meanwhile prepare the marinade: In a medium bowl mix together the olive oil, lemon juice, chopped red chili (discard seeds, if you like it less spicy), chopped herbs, chopped garlic, salt and pepper. Set aside.

As soon as the eggplants are done, transfer them into the bowl of marinade while still hot and carefully stir (the wedges should not be mashed) until everything is well covered. Serve after an hour at room temperature, or keep in the fridge (in a container) for some days. Enjoy with bread and cheese.

Sweet Potato Gratin with Coconut Milk and Chipotle Chile

With the cold and rainy weather blowing in, I always turn to warm, comforting meals to help combat the stormy weather. There's nothing like a delicious casserole or gratin hot out of the oven to warm both your house and belly. And there will also (almost always) be leftovers for lunches.



This recipe for sweet potato gratin with coconut milk and chipotle chile contrasts the naturally sweet flavours of the potatoes, maple syrup and coconut milk with citrus and spicy flavours. Using coconut milk is often used in Thai and Indian cooking. It adds a wonderful flavour and is a healthy alternative to using heavy cream or salty stocks.

The recipe is from Healthy and Green Living, of Care 2, a healthy and green lifestyle website with vegetarian and vegan recipes and health information.


Sweet Potato Gratin with Coconut Milk and Chipotle Chile
This recipe makes a great side dish to just about anything. I served this with grilled chicken breast and asparagus.

Ingredients
2.5 to 3 pounds of sweet potatoes (about 6 medium), peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
1 can (13.5 ounce) unsweetened coconut milk
1 tablespoon of pureed chipotle chile in adobo sauce
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
salt to taste

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix together the sliced sweet potatoes, coconut milk, chipotle chile, lime juice, salt, maple syrup and garlic. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish (8 x 11-inch or similar).

Cover with aluminum foil. Bake 45 minutes to one hour, until the sweet potatoes are just tender. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes, or until golden.

Recipe excerpted from The Healthy Hedonist Holidays by Myra Kornfeld (Simon & Schuster, 2007).

Clayoquot Oyster Festival

If you like food then chances are you LOVE oysters. A dozen freshly shucked oysters and a glass of crisp, white wine.

This weekend is the annual Clayoquot Oyster Festival in Tofino. Is there a better reason to pull out your warmest sweaters, pack the car and head out on a road trip? The festival includes a variety of events this Thursday, Friday and Saturday including an oyster farm tour, an oyster pairing and cocktail reception and a gala on Saturday night.


When: November 19-21, 2009
Where: Tofino, B.C. (various locations)
Tickets: Ticket prices vary from free to $75 for the grand finale oyster gala.


About Oysters

Oysters are high in omega-3 fatty acid and taurin, known to clear the arteries and benefit the central nervous system. Oysters contain essential minerals such as calcium, iodine, magnesium, iron, potassium, copper, sodium, zinc, phosphorous, manganese and sulfur, as well as vitamins A, B B², C, and D.

Oysters contain very little fat. Seriously ladies, eating a dozen raw oysters is about 100 calories. Which helps to offset the calories you comsume as you wash down your suculent, plump, fresh oysters with delicious wine or better yet, champagne.

Because oysters can contain harmful bacteria, people who have low immunity systems, cancer or chronic liver disease shouldn't eat raw oysters.

My favorite spots for fresh oysters in Victoria? Brasserie L'ecole and Ferris' Oyster Bar& Grill.

Polpettone (Italian meat balls)

I'm home! I just got back from an amazing three weeks in Italy. Seriously. Everyone should go to Italy at least once in their life. Everyday was full of amazing experiences and breathtaking views. And how do I begin to describe the food? Pesto and olive oil, cured meats and pasta sauces, red wine and cappuccinos. Artichokes, eggplants and tomatoes. Every city or town I visited had food markets and cool little snack bars where you can get a glass of wine and pick out a plate of cicchetti, which are little snacks or side dishes.

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One highlight from my trip was a cooking class in Florence (Firenze). The class included a market tour, cooking lesson and lunch at a little cooking school called in Tavola. The class started with a shopping trip at San Lorenzo Market- the central food market in the heart of Florence- with sections for vegetables, meat, seafood, cheese, olive oil and vinegars, wine, dried goods, spices, and flowers. A circular maze of fresh, local, seasonal food.


One of the things that going to Italy reminded me of is just how important using local, seasonal ingredients is and what an extraordinary difference it makes to the flavour. Juicy, ripe tomatoes in the summer and pumpkins and squash in the fall for example. It's hard though. I've been craving eggplant all week but it's not in season locally. But they are somewhere.

After a tour through the market, stopping to chat with vendors, we picked up a few ingredients for our lesson and walked through town and across the bridge to the cooking school. One of the dishes we made for a secondi was polpettone, large meat balls that are also sometimes called Italian meat loaf. The polpettone was seared in olive oil and then finished in a sauce of caramelized red onions, reduced balsamic vinegar and tomatoes.



This is such a flavourful sauce. The trick is to give the onions time to caramelize and then drizzle in the balsamic vinegar and let that reduce. I had friends over for dinner last night and the hit of the evening was serving the polpettone as the final course (after antipasti and pasta) on small plates with generous spoonfuls of the sauce. So put on some music such as Vivaldi, pour yourself a glass of wine and try this recipe for yourself!




Polpettone (Serves 6-8)

Ingredients
2 to 2.5 cups of ground beef
1 cup bread, torn into pieces
1 cup milk
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 medium red onions, thinly sliced
5 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
1 egg
pinch of nutmeg
flour
796 ml/28 oz can of tomatoes

Directions
Remove the crust of the bread and tear the bread into small pieces. Cover with milk and let it soak for about 30 minutes. Drain the milk and squeeze the bread in your hands until it's it has a soggy, paste-like consistency.

Combine the ground beef, bread, grated Parmesan cheese, egg, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Knead into a ball and divide into portions of six to eight. Roll each ball in your hands, lightly cover in flour and then shape into ovals.

Heat a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add olive oil and meat balls, turning and brown each side.

In a separate pan, add olive oil and red onions. Pan fry for 15-20 minutes until they begin to caramelize. De glaze with balsamic vinegar and simmer for a few minutes until the vinegar reduces a little. Puree the can of tomatoes and add into the pan and stir. Add the meat balls, cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Enjoy.

Italian vacation!

I apologize for my lack of postings the past few weeks. I'm in Italy and am having the most amazing time! ever. It's hard to believe it took me so long to get here. Since access to the Internet is sparse and kind of hard to find, I haven't been blogging along the way but I'll more then make up for it when I get back mid November. I promise.

I did a cooking class in Florence and have been enjoying amazing meals everyday. Pastas and sauces, pesto and bruschette. And bottles of vino rosso.

Olive oil is one of the Italians many secrets. Spend as many as you can afford on a good bottle and use it liberally. I'm bringing two bottles home with me.

Another tip that I'll share with you now as a tie-over until I get back is sun-dried tomatoes. I bought a big bag of roma tomatoes from Rome. And one thing I use to do, that I won't be doing again is soaking the dried tomatoes in hot water for an hour or so. Nooo. Put them in a small bottle and cover in olive oil. Let the jar sit in the fridge for three weeks and then open and enjoy- in pasta sauce or on grilled bread. Then use the oil for salads or drizzling on everything.

Enjoy reading through previous postings and remember to check back mid November for and Italian fest. Ciao for now!

How to make White Grape Jelly

I have to say that I'm feeling pretty victorious today. Canning your own preserves, jams or jellies isn't difficult. It's not. But it is on a different level of culinary skill then tossing up a stir-fry or making a big pot of your favorite chili. It's more like baking. You need a little patience, a little precision and you need to follow the recipe.

For the past seven years, Jeremy and I have lived in a beautiful little duplex with grape vines growing along the fence that wraps around one side of our house. And every year I promise that I'm going to make something with all these grapes. But I never have, until this year.

Inspired by all the amazing foodies I've met and events I gone to this summer, I decided not to let another year slip by. And while it took three full days of concentrated effort, I've achieved success! And it wasn't really that difficult, thanks to one box of Pomona's Universal Pectin.

On my first attempt (day one) I picked, washed and removed the stems from 3 1/2 pounds or about 10 cups of grapes. I pulled out the canning kettle and jars, filled the kettle with water, brought it to a boil, sterilized the jars and using a box of Certo Pectin Crystals I began to make my first batch of grape jelly.

What went wrong

I used Canadian Living Cooks Elizabeth Baird's recipe. Now these recipes are usually extremely reliable and foolproof but they do actually require one thing, that you follow them. Using Certo pectin, this recipe calls for four cups of juice to five cups of sugar. I just couldn't bring myself to add this much sugar so I halved it, and as a result my jelly did not jell. At all.

Second attempt...

For my second attempt, I used Pomona's Universal Pectin which says right on the box that it jells with low amounts of sweetener. In comparison, the Pomona recipe uses four cups of juice to only 3/4 cup of sugar. I used the recipe for Concord Grape Jelly that came with the box and followed it to the tee. The recipe requires two days: the first day you make juice from 3 1/2 pounds or about 10 cups of grapes and let it sit in the fridge overnight, the second day you pour off the juice and make the jelly. Following the recipe works like magic!



Tip!

My advice for any kind of preserving is do a little research and find a recipe that you're comfortable with. If your fine with using a lot of sugar, use Certo pectin or skip pectin all together. If you want a low sugar recipe, try Pomona's Universal Pectin. With whatever recipe you choose, use patience, precision and follow the recipe.


White Grape Jelly (makes 8 - 125 ml jars)

Ingredients
3 1/2 pounds or 10 cups of grapes
1/4 cup lemon or lime juice
1/2 to 1 cup honey or 3/4-2 cups sugar
1 box of Pomona's Universal Pectin

Directions
To make the grape juice, wash grapes, remove stems and mash in a large pot. Bring to a boil with 1/2 cup of water and then simmer covered for 10 minutes. Pour the mixture into a jelly bag, strainer or a colander covered with cheese cloth and let it drip until the juice stops. To avoid crystals, let the juice sit overnight in the fridge. The next day, pour off the juice while being careful not to disturb the sediment.

Wash and rinse jars; let stand in boiling water in a large pot or canning kettle. Bring the lids and rings to a simmer in a separate, smaller pot.

Measure four cups of juice into a large pot and add in 1/4 cup of lemon or lime juice.

Add proper amount of calcium water and stir well. Measure sugar or cold/room temperature honey into a separate bowl. Thoroughly mix proper amount of pectin powder into the honey or sugar.

Bring fruit or juice to a boil. Add pectin-honey or pectin-sugar and stir vigorously for 1-2 minutes while cooking to dissolve the pectin. Return to a boil and remove from heat.

Fill jars to 1/4" from the top. Screw on the two-piece lid until "finger tight." Put the filled jars into the large pot or canning kettle. Boil for 10 minutes. Remove from water and let the jars cool in a protected area. Don't move the jars until they are completely cooled, over night is best.

Put any unsealed jars in the fridge to enjoy first. Sealed lids should be sucked down.