Panna Cotta with Balsamic Berries

While going through some magazines, my wife found a recipe, in House Beautiful that she thought looked good.  It is a recipe for Panna Cotta with Balsamic Berries by Ina Garten the Barefoot Contessa.  A few days after she gave me the recipe, we were having some friends over for to share a BBQ dinner, and my wife asked if I would make this recipe for dessert.

After a quick trip to the store for whipping cream, one vanilla bean and some fresh berries, I was ready to make the dessert.  I started the day before our BBQ and made the cream portion of the dessert.  I read the directions and quickly decided that while the dessert looks complicated, it is quite easy to make.

I started by cutting a slit the length of the vanilla bean and using the blade of a knife to scrape out the seeds.  I was expecting seeds I could see, but instead the seeds looked like black tar as I scraped out the bean.  Next, in a large mixing bowl I added 1 1/2–cups of the whipping cream, a pint of whole milk yogurt, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract, the vanilla bean seeds and then used a whisk to mix all the ingredients.

Into a medium saucepan, I deposited another 1 ½-cups of the cream, and ¾-cup of sugar and stirred the sugar into the cream.  I set the saucepan over a burner on the range and set the heat to medium to bring the cream to a simmer.  While the cream heated, I added one package of unflavored gelatin powder into 1 ½ tablespoons of cold water and mixed.  The gelatin had to sit and soften for 10 minutes, which is about the time it took for the cream to simmer.  I didn’t want to mix the gelatin too early because I learned in another recipe that if it is left too long, it becomes a hard mess that is virtually unusable.

Once the cream mixture began to simmer, I removed it from the heat and whisked the gelatin into the cream.  Next, I slowly added the hot cream mixture to the cold cream in the mixing bowl and combined the two cream mixtures using the whisk.  I set out eight ramekins, poured the cream mixture into the ramekins, filling seven of the eight.  I could have poured less of the mixture into each ramekin and prepared all eight, but seven was fine for our dinner and gave a larger portion of the cream to each guest.

I placed the ramekins on a cookie sheet and placed them in the refrigerator to cool.  Once the cream mixture was cool, I covered each ramekin with plastic wrap and I finished for the night.

On the morning of the BBQ, I did some more preparation of the dessert by slicing two pints of fresh strawberries into a large bowl.  Next, I added a pint of fresh raspberries and a pint of fresh blueberries.  I sprinkled three tablespoons of sugar over the berries and mixed the sugar into the berries.  The recipe calls for two tablespoons of sugar, but the raspberries were a little sour so I added more.  I covered the berries with plastic wrap and put them in the refrigerator to stay cool.

Thirty minutes before it was time to serve the dessert, I added five tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and a touch of black pepper to the berries and stirred to mix.

Next came the trickiest part, the directions say to run a small knife around the sides of each dessert and then dip the bottoms in hot tap water to loosen the cream and then turn over on a plate and tap the bottom and the cream should fall out.  I did all this and the cream remained stuck in the ramekin.  I found that while having the ramekin inverted, I insert the knife blade along the side of the dessert to make a small opening to allow air to enter, and then the cream drops out of the ramekin onto the plate.

All that remained was to spoon some of the berries around the cream and then grate a little bit of fresh lemon peel onto the cream and serve.

Everyone enjoyed their panna cotta dessert.  The cream portion was very light and the little bit of lemon zest added just a little enhancement to the flavor.  I would never have thought to use balsamic vinegar with fresh berries, but the vinegar added just a little bite to the sweetness of the berries and was delicious.

This is a dessert that I will make again; the hardest part will be waiting until all three types of berries are again in season.  At first glance, the dessert looks very difficult to make, but in the end I found it very easy to make.  When I looked for the recipe on-line, I was initially surprised that some of the measurements of the ingredients were different, then I quickly realized that the on-line version is makes 4 servings instead of 8, so all the measurements are one half of the recipe from the magazine.

Find the recipe at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/panna-cotta-with-balsamic-strawberries-recipe/index.html

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Cheryl’s Fresh Berry Surprise

A few days ago, my wife asked if I would like to have some berries for dessert. I was in the other room and I said that some cool berries sounded good. When she returned, I was quite surprised to see what she brought, and that is how we came up with the name.

Recently I made the Lemonade Pie recipe, and as a result, I had a large container of raspberry sauce left over. For several nights, I used a spoonful of the raspberry sauce with vanilla ice cream and enjoyed the raspberry flavor with the vanilla.

For my surprise, my wife washed about a cup each of fresh raspberries and blueberries, drained them, and split the berries into two serving dishes. Next, my wife took the remainder of the raspberry sauce (about two tablespoons) and mixed it with about a cup of Cool Whip whipped topping. She applied the resulting topping to the top of the berries and served.

We enjoyed the treat of fresh berries with the creamy raspberry topping. The vanilla flavor of the Cool Whip extended the raspberry sauce and gave it a smooth texture, which made a surprisingly flavorful topping. The only problem now, is that we are out of the raspberry sauce, so now I will have to make some more sauce.

Find the recipe for the raspberry sauce here: http://adventuresinfood123.blogspot.com/2010/07/lemonade-pie.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+http%2Fadventuresinfood123blogspotcom+%28Adventures+In+Food%29

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Saturday Market

Today I took an early trip to the Hillsboro Saturday Farmers Market with the goal of watching the Chef Live demonstration, getting some berries, and a bunch of cut flowers for our house.  We had a visitor coming to our house at 10 am and it was necessary that be back by that time, so I arrived at the market around 9 am.

I walked the length of the market reviewing the offering of fresh berries and their mentally noting the prices.  I looked at the pre-made bouquets offered at the four different flower stalls checking out the colors and types of flowers available.  As I walked to the area where the Chef Live demonstrations take place, I met Ellen that performs the Chef Live demonstrations.  She noted that I was very early today, and that she was just heading out to gather the ingredients for her demonstration of making fruit salad in seconds.  Ok, scratch my first goal of seeing the Chef Live demonstration.

I walked back through the market to pick a bouquet of flowers.  After considering all of the options, I chose a vendor where we have purchased flowers in the past because she offers hardy flowers in a wide variety of colors.  The woman who operates the stand was also kind enough to let me come in to her stand and get down on my hands and knees to take some of my favorite type of photography: close-up photos of flowers.  I am glad that wore shorts to the market, as once I finished taking my photos, I just quickly wiped the flower stems and petals from my knees and I was off to continue my shopping.

With my bunch of flowers in hand, I was headed to purchase some berries, but I was sidetracked by the stand where we occasionally purchase fresh Oregon cherries.  I tried a sample cherry and found it to be very sweet and plump.  Now I headed to my car with a handful of flowers and two pounds of cherries.

Once I dropped off my load, I headed back to the market to pick up a flat of berries.  As raspberry season is just about over, I decided to pick up ½ flat of raspberries and ½ flat of blueberries.  That should hold us over until next week.

I see on the Chef Live blog site that there will not be a demonstration next week, but the last Saturday of the month, Ellen will demonstrate Super Veggie Wrap, so I plan on stopping by and sampling the wraps.

In the end, I was very satisfied with what I accomplished at the market.  I purchased flowers, cherries, raspberries, and blueberries.  I took some excellent photographs of the flowers, but I missed seeing the Chef Live demonstration.  I did make it home in time to store all my purchases and to be ready for the meeting.  I have learned that the best selection of fresh produce is available earlier in morning when the market opens, but to see some of the demonstrations, plan to arrive after 10 am.  Now I must wrap up my writing for today because I have quite a few blueberries to freeze.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

First Summer Blueberries

Last night my wife and I attended the Hillsboro first Tuesday art walk.  I looked at a couple of the galleries then headed off to the Farmers Market because I know that it is now blueberry season – Finally!

I walked through the market and looked at all the booths offering different food cuisines and enjoying the smell of the different foods cooking.  I walked along and admired the classic cars on display, and then went to find the blueberries.  There were about six different vendors offering strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries by the pint, half-flat or full flat and I carefully weighed the attributes of the blueberries at each booth.

I chose to purchase from Van Dyke Farms, one of the local Hillsboro producers because they offer full flats (with large pints) priced at several dollars less than other vendors.  I was interested to overhear a conversation about the blueberries and how some of the berries have small brown puckered areas caused by hail damage earlier this spring.  These damaged areas don’t affect the taste, but just the appearance of the blueberries.

By the time we returned home, I had already eaten about ½ a cup of berries.  My wife washed a pint and I had about another ½ cup over about two tablespoons of vanilla ice cream.  The berries are very firm with a good taste, but they are not as sweet as some years, this is probably due to the lack of hot weather (that should not be a problem next week as we are entering into 90-degree weather).

This morning I had about a cup of blueberries on my morning cereal, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I have several blueberries recipes to test and I am looking forward to sharing the results over the next few weeks.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell