Inspired by a recipe found on Epicurious, I gave our very own basic recipe for panna cotta a little colorful twist. Some weeks ago I bought frozen blueberries, didn’t have immediate use for them and was looking for a suitable recipe since. Quite a few possibilities crossed my mind, blueberry-muffins for instance could have been an option or a blueberry-banana-smoothie, but I was looking for something else; it had to be a different challenge…a new panna cotta. A smoother, fruitier version, with a different hue.
Said and done. The process is in principle the same as for the original panna cotta, except for the fruit puree.
Heat the cream, add the sugar and a lengthwise sliced vanilla bean (and the scraped out vanilla seeds). Let it lightly cook for about 15 minutes and stir every now and then. Remove the vanilla pod from the pot and the pot from the heat.
Meanwhile soak the sheets of gelatin in some water (for about 10 min). Squeeze well. Add them to the cream mixture and stir thoroughly until the gelatin has completely dissolved.
Put the blueberries together with the buttermilk in a blender, mix until you get a smooth puree, then pour the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. Finally add the puree to the cream, stir well and divide up the cream-fruit-mix into four molds. Chill for at least 8 hours, better over night.
To unmold the panna cotta, briefly dip the form in hot water and carefully flip it over on a plate. Decorate either with melted white chocolate or some chocolate flakes (scrapped from a bar of chocolate) – we found the chocolate to be the perfect companion.
Annotation: This is a very nice variation of panna cotta, the color is so rich and extravagant. It’s taste is perfect for a summer dessert, mild and creamy on the one hand, fruity with a little tartish aftertaste on the other hand. The unmolding part wasn’t as easy as with the regular recipe, probably due to the modified composition (with fruit puree). But I rather have problems unmolding it than using too much gelatin, the creamier the panna cotta, the better. And if the panna cotta refuses to come out of its mold at all costs – where’s the problem, you can serve them in nice little pots as well ;) Definitely a recipe to keep.
Blueberry Buttermilk Panna Cotta
Recipe Source: mix of various recipes, inspiration from Epicurious
Prep time: about 25 min., chilling: at least 8 hours
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Ingredients (serves 4):
200 ml cream
4 tsp sugar
1 vanilla bean
100 ml buttermilk
150g blueberries
2 sheets gelatine
for decoration: white chocolate
How to win kids hearts over? Easy. What “did the trick” last time we went over to a long time friend and his family with two kids, was to bring waffles & strawberries. Although we can’t claim to have our own kids yet, we understand that especially when they’re in their rambunctious age, it’s helpful to start off on the right foot :) Needless to say, the kids loved it -there was plenty for everyone- and we had a great afternoon. Our recipe for the waffles is a mix of various other waffle recipes, we usually like them to be more on the dense side. O.
Encouraged by so many other patients participants in this recently initiated meme exercise, I found enough support and momentum to finally come out and admit: My name is Nicky, I’m 31 years old and I am a cookbook addict, too.
For more background to this interesting meme please see Anthony’s original post.
1. Rationale behind what we’re seeing?
Apart from the stacks of post-it like notes (food magazine ripouts, printouts, handwritten recipes) the cookbooks photographed are only the ones that ganged together, single ones that are scattered all over the place were not considered for the shooting – most of them are constantly relocating, even to most unexpected places. Yes there are also a few next to the bathtub…
And not to forget food magazines…give me a convincing coverpage (and some interesting topics, too!) – your mine.
2. Most recommended?
I have a great short term memory, I guess that is why I typically recommend the last ones purchased. The one I’d pick right now is “Stylish India” by Monisha Bharadwaj, it has a great design, delicious food images in contrast to some original and old Indian pictures.
As we still have lots of rain, wind and cold temperatures, I really was in the need for some warming up dish after rushing home from work. This weather is really annoying me and probably everyone else around. Ok, there is a cliché about grumpy Bavarians, but these days, it’s not so much a cliché! Ha! The tram conductor shuts the door, despite clearly seeing this older man trying to catch the ride, the girl at the bakery barely manages to take notice of me, let alone saying Hello… Can someone – pretty please – give us some sunshine?
‘Didn’t want to invest much time, so I thought of my quick all-time favorite soup, made out of potatoes and zucchini.
