Panna Cotta

This is one of the more nerve-racking culinary experiences I've had. 

The concept of Panna Cotta is pretty basic. Its essentially a custard, similar to Flan, but without the caramel. 

The "fun" comes right before serving. Usually Panna Cotta is made in ramekins, and can be served in the ramekins. But, if you want to be authentic and/or fancy, you can remove the custard from the ramekins. How? Read on. I found this recipe at here, but the picture is all mine.

 

1 envelope of unflavored gelatin (approx. 2 teaspoons)
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cups heavy cream*
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean or 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup fresh berries, gently washed, drained, and sweetened to taste**
6 sprigs fresh mint

*Half & half, buttermilk, whole milk, and/or sour cream may be substituted for part of the cream.

**Any assortment of fresh, seasonal fruit may be served with panna cotta, but berries are especially nice. To use other ripe, soft fruits, such as cherries, peaches or apricots, just remove the stones and peels as necessary and cut them into thin slices or bite-size pieces.

In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over 1/2 cup milk; let stand until the gelatin is softened, about 5 minutes.

In a large saucepan, combine heavy cream and sugar. Add vanilla extract or vanilla bean. If using a vanilla bean, slice the bean lengthwise and scrape out seeds into cream (add whole bean to cream for additional flavor). Bring cream just to a simmer (do not let it boil), whisking occasionally until sugar has completely dissolved; remove from heat and remove vanilla bean pod. Add the softened gelatin mixture and whisk to completely dissolve the gelatin.

Strain hot cream mixture into a large glass measuring cup with a pouring spout; pour into ramekins or custard cups. NOTE: Don't skip the straining step as it removes any bits of undissolved gelatin and insures a nice smooth dessert. Also, don't let the cream mixture cool before straining. If using a vanilla bean, lightly swirl the cream to distribute the seeds evenly. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

MY NOTE: 

This is where the stress came in for me. If the Panna Cotta hasn't fully set, and you unmold it, it will break apart and spread on the plate. Also, you only have one shot and unmolding, so make sure its set. I know the instructions say "Refrigerate for at least 3 hours", but I let it set overnight, just to be sure. I attempted to unmold one after 3 hours, but after I ran a knife along the edge, it still looked kind of soupy, and you only get one shot at this, so I waited.

To unmold and serve, carefully dip bottom of each ramekin in a baking pan of hot water briefly. Run a thin knife around edge of each ramekin to loosen it from the inside of the bowl. Wipe the outside of the mold dry and place on individual chilled serving plate (topside down). Invert the custard onto the plate and carefully lift off ramekin (shake gently to release). Garnish with berries or fruit of your choice. I just spooned some rum-soaked cranberries over it, and it worked fine.

Makes 4 to 6 servings (depending on size of the custard cups).

Thai Filet with Sweet Potato French Fries

 Did you know that beef tenderloin (aka Filet Mignon) is actually pretty cheap? Its about $5 per serving here at my local supermarket, even though the same filet will cost you about 20 bucks in a restaurant. I should start raising cows. Anyways...

I used frozen sweet potato fries for this recipe. After I cooked them, while they were still hot, I tossed them in a bowl with the honey sauce. To avoid "raw food" contamination, if you do this step, up the amounts for the sauce, and set some aside expressly for this, so you don't toss the french fries in raw meat juices.

2 Beef Tenderloins (8 oz. each)
1/2 cup honey, melted so that it has the consistency of water, but not so its hot.
1/2 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. chile powder
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. unsalted butter

Clean the filets, and trim any excess fat.

Combine melted honey, garlic powder, chile powder, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl.
Place each filet into the mixture, coating both sides.
Heat a skillet on medium heat.
Melt the butter.
Place the filets in the skillet and cook until desired temperature.
Serve with french fries and green beans.

Peppercorn Pork Loin with Balsamic-Mustard Gravy

2 lb. Boneless Pork Tenderloin, cleaned
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1/2 cup to 1 cup fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp. basil
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. garlic

Balsamic-Mustard Gravy

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Trim the tenderloin, and remove any unwanted pieces of fat.
Rub the mustard over all of the tenderloin, covering it.
Combine pepper, basil, salt and garlic in a shallow dish.
Roll the meat in the dry spices, until covered.
Place the tenderloin in a roasting pan in the middle of the oven.
Roast until the internal temperature is 160 degrees (about 45 minutes)
Remove the pork loin from the oven, and let it rest for about 5 minutes. (This lets the juices settle, and keeps the meat moist.)
Slice the loin on the diagonal, and plate.
Serve with root vegetables (I prefer carrots and potatoes) and gravy.
For presentation's sake, I put the gravy in a squeeze bottle, and add it to the plate that way, but spooning it over is just as effective. As long as it makes it to your stomach...

Balsamic-Mustard Gravy for a Roast

1/2 cup mustard
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup honey
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp. flour

Combine vinegar, mustard, honey and salt and pepper in a sauce pan.
Bring to a simmer.

sift flour into sauce, slowly, while whisking. This may take two people (it does when I do it)
If you have any pan drippings handy, you could add them at this point, or not.

Bring the sauce back to a simmer.
Pour the sauce through a sieve to strain out the solid bits, and serve with any kind of roast meat. I prefer my Peppercorn Pork Loin, but that's just me.

NOTE: My wife, Chrissy, has a unique way of adding flour to sauces: she combines the flour with some water (usually the same amount of water, so its a roughly a 50/50 mix of flour to water). She whisks them together, and then pours the flour mixture through a sieve into the sauce, so only the flour water goes into the pan. I like her way, because with the traditional way, if you add the flour too fast, it clumps up in the sauce pan. Or at least it does when I do it.

Rum-Soaked Cranberry Bread Pudding with Hot Spiked Milk

So, my wife comes home with a free loaf of bread from work (no she doesn't work in a bakery, yes its weird that she has a free loaf of bread). So what to do with a free loaf of bread that is quickly hardening. How about some bread pudding? Luckily, I had all the ingredients in the house. I used some cranberries that I have been soaking for the last few weeks in rum. I used them in the pudding itself, and in the sauce I poured over at the end, when I plated. You could probably use regular dried cranberries, but who doesn't like a little rum with dessert?

1 loaf of day old bread, cubed (free, if possible, because... well, its better than paying I guess)
1 cup + 1/2 cup soaked cranberries (or 3/4 cup + 1/4 cup dried cranberries)
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted
3 1/2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
6 eggs, beaten

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the bread cubes with 1 cup soaked cranberries in a large bowl. 
Put the bread cubes and cranberries in a 9 x 12 x 2-inch baking dish.
Pour the melted butter over the cubes.
Combine 2 1/2 cups of milk, sugar, cream, sugar, cinnamon and eggs.
Pour milk mixture over the bread cubes until all of the bread is covered. If you don't cover the bread entirely, the exposed edges will burn.
Put the pudding in the oven for approx. 35 minutes, or until the bread is springy to the touch.

FOR PLATING:
Heat through 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup cranberries, and approx. 1/2 cup of the cranberry soaking liquid.

Scoop out some of the bread pudding into a bowl or plate. Spoon the sauce over the pudding until it covers the bottom of the dish. Make sure to get some of the cranberries onto the pudding. Serve immediately.

Mackerel Cakes w/ Wasabi Mayo over Sauteed Edamame

1 cup prepared mayonnaise
1/4 cup wasabi powder
1/4 cup water
16 oz. shelled edamame
Olive oil
1 can (15 oz.) Jack Mackerel
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 egg

1 tsp. Salt
4 tsp. Pepper, separated
2 tsp. garlic powder

Mix together the wasabi powder and water, until a paste is formed.
Mix the wasabi paste with the mayonnaise and set aside.
Bring a salted pot of water to boil.
Add the edamame and cook for approx. 3-4 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Heat about 1/4 inch of oil in a skillet.
Put the mackerel and its canned broth into a mixing bowl.
Split open the mackerel fillets to remove the spinal columns. They are edible, but not very tasty.
Add in the cornmeal, egg, salt and 2 tsp. pepper. Mix everything together, and separate into four cakes.
Add in additional cornmeal if the cakes are too dry.
Fry the cakes in the hot oil until golden brown.
Add the cooked edamame to a skillet on medium heat with salt, 2 tsp. pepper and garlic powder.
Plate the cooked edamame on a plate, and top with two cakes and wasabi mayonnaise.

Penne Carbonara

1 lb. Penne Pasta
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
8 slices of bacon
1 egg
1 tbsp. heavy cream
Ground Black Pepper to taste

Bring a pot of salted water to boil.
crack the egg into a pinch bowl, and whisk the yolk and white together, with heavy cream. Set aside.
Fry the bacon until crispy. When cooked, crumble to bacon into small pieces. Drain the bacon fat and discard. Keep the pan handy.
When the water boils, cook the pasta until al dente.
Drain the pasta, and immediately pour the pasta into the hot bacon pan, after the bacon is cooked and the fat has been drained. Add in the bacon crumbles. Pour the egg over hot pasta, and mix everything together. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the pasta and serve immediately.

Peach Salsa

2 cups Frozen Peaches, thawed or 3 fresh peaches, sliced

2 tsp. fresh cilantro

1 tsp. lime juice

2 tsp. fresh grated ginger

1 Red Pepper, seeded and diced

Salt and Pepper to taste

Reserve ½ cup of the peaches, and cut them into 1-inch pieces.

Blend all the other ingredients until smooth.

Add in the reserved peaches, and combine by hand. This could be used as a dip for chips, or for a topper with chicken or fish.

Seared Tuna with Peach Salsa over Green Tea Soba Noodles

Serves 4

4 6 oz. Tuna Steaks (room temperature)
½ cup Soy Sauce
Fresh Grated Ginger
¼ cup Lime Juice
2 tbsp. Sesame oil
Sea Salt to taste
Ground Black Pepper to taste
Peach Salsa
1 package (7 oz.) Green Tea Soba Noodles
1/3 cup slivered almonds

Bring a pot of water to boil.
Rinse off the tuna steaks.
Place tuna in a shallow dish with soy sauce, lime juice and ginger.
Let sit refrigerated for about 1 hour.
Remove the steaks from the marinade.
Discard the marinade.
Sprinkle each side of the tuna with salt and pepper.
Heat a skillet with the sesame oil.
When the oil is hot, place the tuna in the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side.
Put the noodles in a pot of salted boiling water. Cook until al dente, about 5-10 minutes. Drain pasta and toss with toasted almonds.
Place a ¼ of the pasta on the plate, place one steak on the noodles, and spoon some of the salsa over the tuna.
Serve immediately.

I recently discovered the wonderful world of soaking dried fruit. I can't believe I didn't think of it before. And its so easy. Now I just need to come up with some recipe ideas for them. So far I've done it twice: Sake-Soaked Cherries and Rum-Soaked Cranberries. Basically, I take a sterilized jar (I used old jars from various foods, and then boil them in water to remove the label, and then run them through the dishwasher a couple times to clean them), fill the jar with whatever dried fruit I have on hand, and pour in the alcohol. The best part is, the longer they sit, the more they soak up, and as long as they are submerged in the alcohol, the fruit won't spoil. So many options....

Sake-Soaked Cherry Burgers with Garlic-Herb Cheese

Garlic-Herb Cheese

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. dried basil

2 tsp. dried oregano

2 tsp. dried sage

2 tsp. parsley

Salt to taste

White Pepper to taste

Hamburger

1 lb. Lean Ground Beef

½ cup Sake-Soaked Cherries

1 clove Garlic, minced

2 tsp. Balsamic Vinegar

1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce

¼ tsp. Sea Salt

¼ tsp. Fresh Ground Pepper

2 tsp. mustard

Mix all garlic herb cheese ingredients in a bowl. Use a spatula, not a hand mixer. Set aside.

Mix all hamburger ingredients gently in a bowl. Form the meat into a ball.

Score the ball in a “cross” pattern, and separate into 4 equal parts.

Form each part into a patty, about ½ inch thick. Put a small impression in the center of each patty.

Cook burgers on a grill or frying pan, until desired temperature (I prefer well done for burgers, but that’s me.) If you fry them, be sure to use a spatula to press them down as they cook, or they round out like meatballs.

Spread the cheese onto one side of the hamburger bun, and place each burger on the cheese. Top the burger, and eat it. :)

Full Disclosure: This recipe is an adaptation I found here. I used my own soaked cherries, in place of their cherry puree, and added an herb cheese spread.