Basil panna cotta バジルパンナコッタ

This is one of my wife’s panna cotta projects. Actually this is the second try making this basil panna cotta to use the basil forest growing on our kitchen window sill. The first time she made it, she followed a recipe she found on the internet. There was way too much gelatin. The panna cotta came out solid and rubbery—like a rubber ball.  It would have bounced if dropped. We declared it a failure. So this is her second try. This time she used the tried and trusted ratio of 2 cups of liquid to 1 tsp of gelatin and it was a resounding success. It has a subtle but distinctive basil flavor and the texture was just right and melted in your mouth.

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Ingredients:
1/2 cup cream
1/4 cup fresh basil crushed (or more to taste)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup milk
1 tsp gelatin

Directions:
Put the cream, basil and sugar in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil then remove from the heat, cover, and let steep for 30 minutes. Pour through a fine mesh sieve to remove the solids. Press the solids to release as much flavor and liquid as possible. Bloom the gelatin over 1/2 cup of the milk. Put the bloomed gelatin in the top of a double boiler. Heat until it fully melts. Stir in the still warm basil/cream. Then the rest of the milk. Distribute it into the containers that are going to be used to chill the mixture. We used mini milk jars. Refrigerate until set.

What a major improvement over the previous attempt. The sweet, creamy, basil taste was a bit of a pleasant surprise. The texture was perfect. It was firm but very smooth and melted in the mouth. Overall this was a rather sophisticated desert just the right size to finish a dinner.

Avocado Panna Cotta アボカドパンナコッタ

 My wife is into panna cotta and aspic. She has been collecting panna cotta recipes and some days ago, she made basil panna cotta based on one of those recipes since we have a small forest of basil on our kitchen window sill. Although she followed the recipe, it called for way too much gelatin. The end result congealed all right—in fact it solidified. It tasted pretty good. The basil flavor really came through. But it was extremely hard in texture and would have bounced like a tennis ball if dropped.  After struggling with it for a while we declared it inedible and threw it out. Somewhat in despair over the less than successful basil panna cotta she went back to the collection of recipes and decided her revenge panna cotta would be the one that  featured avocado. (Even this recipe called for too much gelatin. After the experience with the basil panna cotta and consulting the panna cotta recipes that were successful, my wife has decided the “rule-of-thumb” she will use is 1 tsp of gelatin for every 2 cups of liquid. So she reduced the amount of gelatin for this dish accordingly.)  It came out perfectly. The consistency was very creamy and with a good flavor of avocado. She made this in a small glass jar with cork lid and it was just the right amount. This is a perfect light dessert.

This recipe is from on-line but as usual, she made significant modifications.

Ingredients: (made enough for 6 small jars)
500 ml.milk
75ml cream
1 tsp. gelatin
1 ripe avocado
23 g. Sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions:
Bloom the gelatin in the cream. Put the bloomed gelatin in the top of a double boiler and heat until it melts. Slowly add the milk and sugar. Allow the mixture to come close to boiling stirring constantly until all the gelatin and sugar are dissolved. Allow the mixture to cool. Add the vanilla. Pour all the mixture in an immersion blender tube container together with the avocado meat. Blend until smooth. Sieve the mixture to ensure smooth and creamy texture. Then pour the mixture into a mold or ramekin. (In this case small jars as shown in the picture below.) Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

This panna cotta was the perfect consistency. It was congealed but very tender and smooth. It just melted in the mouth. The flavor was very subtle and sophisticated. The taste of avocado came through and went well with the subtle vanilla. My wife felt very relieved and vindicated. From here on out: 1 tsp gelatin for every 2 cups of liquid. 

Mint panna cotta ミントパナコタ

 Now that my wife is making buttermilk she has to come up with ways to use it. It is an heirloom culture so it can be used over and over again but it has to be used every week or so to stay healthy. So she is experimenting with different variations of dessert panna cotta. Or as she refers to it “variations on a theme by Paganini*”. No hardship for me. Keep them coming.  

*  This expression refers to a work by Johannes Brahms based on the caprice No. 24 in A minor by Niccolo Paganini. The work consists of two books. Each opens with the theme Paganini’s caprice No. 24 followed by fourteen variations. Hence variations (of panna cotta) based on a theme. 

Ingredients:
1 tsp gelatin
1 1/2 tsp water
1/2 cup 4 % milk
1 cup fresh mint leaves bruised with a meat pounder or torn into pieces (to release more flavor)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup buttermilk

Sauce:
1/2 cup water
1 cup fresh mint bruised
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:
Bloom the gelatin in the water. Add the milk and mint to a sauce pan and gently heat to infuse the milk with the mint flavor. Continue gently heating until mint flavor is to taste (as shown in the second picture). Strain the milk mixture and put it back in the pan. Add the sugar and gently heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Let the milk mixture cool to room temperature. Add the buttermilk and vanilla. Distribute to the serving jars. Chill in the refridgerator until the mixture is firm.

For the sauce:
Put the water and mint in a sauce pan. Heat until the the water has a mint flavor to taste. Drain and return liquid to the sauce pan. Add the sugar and heat the mixture until the sugar has melted. When it has reached room temperature top off the serving jars with the mint sauce.

Again, this a very nice dessert. It is very creamy in texture. The mint flavor infuses throughout and very refreshing. Another good way to finish a meal.

Strawberry panna cotta いちごパナコタ

 My wife is into making panna cotta in some small jar we cam across recently. The amount is perfect for us as dessert. This time she made strawberry panna cotta. When we get fresh strawberry, I usually wash the strawberries, hull, cut into small pieces (small one quartered and large ones quartered and then halved). I place the strawberries in a sealable container, add some sugar (depending  on how sweet the strawberries are) and and triple sec  to taste. Then marinate them for a while in the refrigerator. This makes even not-so-good strawberries palatable and we eat as is or add it to the yogurt.  She used these marinated strawberries for panna cotta.

Ingredients:
1 tsp gelatin
1 1/2 Tbs. water
1/2 cup 4 % milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup strawberry puree (marinated strawberries as described above pureed)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

Sauce;
Strawberry puree to top off the jars

Directions:
Bloom the gelatin in the water. Warm the milk and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved. Use the hot milk mixture to temper the bloomed gelatin until it is completely dissolved then add it back into the warm milk mixing to thoroughly combine. Add the strawberry puree and vanilla to the buttermilk and stir completely. When the milk sugar mixture has cooled to room temperature add the buttermilk mixture. Distribute to the serving jars (or containers). (Fills about 6 of the small jars). Put in the refridgerator until it becomes firm. When it is firm top with the rest of the strawberry puree.

This is a lovely refreshing dessert. The texture is very creamy. The bright slightly sweet strawberry flavor completely infuses the milk mixture and is very nice with the slight tang of the buttermilk. A perfect way to end a meal.

Panna cotta from homemade buttermilk 自家製バターミルクでパナコッタ

After my wife made buttermilk using the culture from "The culture for health" we were quite impressed with the quality of the buttermilk. My wife decide to make something using the buttermilk. Since we had some leftover blueberries she decided to use the newly made buttermilk to make panna cotta with blueberry sauce as shown in the first picture.

Ingredients
1 tsp. gelatin
1 1/2 Tbs. water
1 cup 4% milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

For the blueberry sauce:
1 cup of blueberries
1 tsp. Of sugar

Directions:
For blueberry sauce:
Put the blueberries and sugar in a small ceramic dish and cook them at 350 degrees for 30 minutes in the toaster oven until they form a thick type of blueberry jam.

For panna cotta:
Bloom the gelatin in the 1 1/2 Tbs. of water. Put the milk and sugar in a sauce pan and heat until the sugar is melted. Remove from the heat and use several tablespoons of the warm mixture to “temper” the gelatin until it is completely dissolved. Add the tempered gelatin into the rest of the milk mixture and stir completely. Let cool to room temperature. Add the buttermilk and vanilla. Pour the mixture into the containers. Tip the containers using a muffin tin to support them in order to get the beveled appearance. Cool in the refridgerator until the mixture becomes firm. Just before serving spoon in the blueberry mixture on top of the buttermilk mixture to bring the contents of the container even with the top.

This panne cotta turned out well. It was very creamy, slightly tangy and sweet with a vanilla flavor. The blueberries added a nice fresh blueberry flavor that went very well with the vanilla.

Chocolate vanilla panna cotta チョコレート、バニラ パンナコッタ

As I mentioned before, my wife grew up with desserts as the end to a dinner. It was a kind of parental bribe, "eat all your dinner or you won't get dessert." So for a little kid the dessert was almost the goal of the meal. As I also mentioned I did not grow up with desserts so if my wife wants one usually she has to make it. (I, however, am not the least bit averse to helping her eat any dessert she may come up with) She makes a buttermilk panna cotta that we really like. With this success and after cruising several recipes on the internet, she was inspired to try a variation. She came up with this two layer, chocolate and vanilla panna cotta. She served it in a small double walled espresso glass. This makes a nice dainty dessert that is perfect for us. The recipe, however, can be scaled up for larger servings. 

Ingredients:
1 tsp. gelatin
3 Tbs. water
3/4 cup 4% milk
3/4 cup cream
1/4 cup sugar

for flavoring:
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 Tbs. cocoa powder

Directions:
Bloom the gelatin in the water and set it aside for a few minutes. Add the milk, cream and sugar to a sauce pan and heat gently until the sugar melts (don't boil). Take a ladle of the warm milk mixture and add to the gelatin mixture until the gelatin is completely melted into the milk. Add the melted gelatin into the rest of the milk mixture. Divide the milk mixture in half. Add the vanilla to one of the halves. Pour into a glass container that has been tipped on its side. See picture below.

Put into the refrigerator until it becomes firm. Meanwhile put the cocoa powder in a small bowl. Scoop in some of the milk mixture and stir to form a paste. Add back into the milk mixture. Stir to fully incorporate. When the vanilla mixture become firm add the chocolate mixture on top. Put back into the refrigerator until everything becomes firm.

This is a lovely little dessert. The texture is very creamy and smooth with a nice chocolate flavor contrasted with the vanilla. Just a few sweet bites to round out any dinner.

Buttermilk panna cotta バーターミルクパンナコッタ

My wife likes to use buttermilk for many dishes. She even likes to drink it (especially the high-octane kind from Harrisburg farms in Pennsylvania). We have never seen buttermilk in Japan. Originally buttermilk was leftover from churning butter out of cream and as a result had some small chunks of butter floating in it. This type is known as traditional buttermilk. The buttermilk used today is known as cultured buttermilk and is produced from cows milk fermented using one of two species of bacteria; Lactococcus lactis or Lactobacilliu bulgaricus. The fermentation creates lactic acid which is what gives buttermilk its characteristic tart taste.  The fermentation also means it lasts a long time. (My wife found, for example, that buttermilk marked with a due date of Jan 30 was perfectly good in April of the same year). In any case, one day, she decided to make this buttermilk panna cotta (She first called this "pudding" but since there is no egg involved this is more like panna cotta).

I myself would never like to "drink" buttermilk by itself, even though I have tasted it,  but using in baking or this type of dish it is quite good.

Ingredients:
2 tsp. powdered gelatin
2 tbs. water
1/2 cup half and half plus 1/2 cup milk (or you could use 1 cup of heavy cream instead for a really luxurious pudding).
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups buttermilk

1/2 recipe ingredients:

1 tsp. gelatin

1 Tbs. water

1/4 cup 4% milk

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup buttermilk 

Directions:
Bloom the gelatin in the water. Put the half & half, milk and sugar in a sauce pan and heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add the gelatin stirring until it is dissolved. When the milk mixture has cooled to room temperature add the vanilla and the buttermilk. Mix thoroughly. Pour into small ramekins or Pyrex dessert bowls. Put into the refrigerator until set.

This is a lovely panna cotta. It is not too sour or too sweet. It has a nice fresh tangy taste and smooth texture. It is also fairly easy to make.

English Pea panna cotta イングリッシュピーパンナコッタ

Previously, when my wife wanted to make this dish, we ended up making cauliflower-spinach panna cotta. This time, we made English pea panna cotta. It was based on a recipe in the Washington Post. As usual, we made some changes. The original recipe used agar-agar making it a vegetarian dish but, not being vegetarian and not having any agar-agar, we used powdered gelatin instead. We also infused this dish with fresh French tarragon as we do with our pea soup. Our panna cotta came out deep green; much deeper green than one in the picture contained in the recipe.

Instead of using cold sauteed vegetables around the panna cotta, I just placed watercress, thin slices of carrot, small cubes of tomato which were then dressed with my usual honey mustard dressing and fresh grinds of black pepper.

The pannacotta was smooth and creamy.

This time we made sure we had all the ingredients. We used frozen petite green peas from Hanover brand. (Over the years, my wife tried many different kinds of peas for various dishes and this is one instance when, generally, the frozen variety is better than fresh.  We even tried fresh peas which we bought at the roadside stands but they were too starchy. Among the frozen brands, she likes Hanover the best. I guess unless you grow the peas yourself, frozen are better than fresh. Oh-oh, maybe, I shouldn't give my wife ideas about growing our own peas).

Ingredients (about 12 servings using small Pyrex ramekins):

Frozen petite pea (Hanover brand petite pea, 12oz bag), 2 bags, thawed using running hot water.

Spinach, 2 bags, cooked without adding any liquid, turning occasionally, until well wilted. Let it cool down and squeeze out excess moisture.

Onion, one medium, halved and thinly sliced, sweat with olive oil until semi-transparent

Fresh tarragon, leaves removed and finely chopped (about 1 tbs)

Milk, we used 1% milk, added as needed while pureeing the peas (about 1/3 cup per one bag of frozen peas (#1) and also for infusing tarragon and dissolving the gelatin, about 2 cups (#3 and #4).

Butter, unsalted, 3 tbs

Gelatin, powdered, unflavored, 3 envelopes

Salt

Directions:

1. Add half of the peas, onion, spinach and tarragon in the blender* (#1). We did this in two batches. Add milk and puree. Add more milk until peas are totally smooth and pureed (#2).

*Do not use a food processor. We learned that using a good blender in "Puree" mode gives the best result.

2. Heat 2 cups of milk with 3 tbs of butter and tarragon (#3).

3. Just before boiling, sprinkle powdered gelatin on the top and whisk to dissolve (#4)

4. Put the milk mixture through sieve and put into #2 in the picture above, mix well. Taste and season with salt.

5. Pour into individual small glass ramekins.

6. Refrigerate until firm (at least several hours).

7. Remove from the ramekin by passing a thin bladed knife around the perimeter of the ramekin, inverting the ramekin over the plate and use the tip of the knife held against the side to introduce air to the bottom of the ramekin. The panna cotta should drop onto the plate with a "plop".

This was an unconditional success! The panna cotta has nice deep green color with creamy texture and an intense fresh pea taste with a hint of fresh tarragon. The salad around the panna cotta was also great with some bitterness of watercress and slightly sweet and tangy dressing. We really liked my wife's original cauliflower puree spinach panna cotta, but this is definitely a nice fresh pea and tarragon flavor variation on the theme of panna cotta. This is a perfect salad/appetizer in hot summer season.