Coffee Panna Cotta with Frangelico--Super Easy

Today it will be about panna cotta, coffee panna cotta, precisely. And I like it so much that this will be the second time I'm showing a panna cotta dessert on my blog.

I would like to convince those who have never made panna cotta to challenge themselves and try, as it is in fact an unbelievable easy culinary task. And the result is undescribably rewarding.

I know that some people can be scared by the use of gelatin in it, which can make things messy and turn a culinary experiment into a disaster, and you may be afraid that this beautiful panna cotta can turn into a huge curd cottage cheese, rather than a smooth dessert. I assure you though that with a little bit of effort this disaster is utterly avoidable. I make many fantastic desserts and cakes based on gelatin, and I hope soon enough also you will.

Moreover, for many other reasons, panna cotta is so easy that it is the best way to start working with gelatin. And there is no way this recipe will not work, because gelatin is dissolved in a large amount of milk which prevents it from forming lumps.

Basically, all you need to do is to put all the ingredients in a pot, heat it, pour it in the molds, let it chill, and six hours later you will never regret the risk you took. The secret lies in the right proportions, so the dessert is not too liquid or too stiff.

I have always used white sugar to make it, but this time I used the brown variety to strengthen the "burned" taste of the coffee extract itself. On top of that, it created an additional visual layered effect, as the heavy sugar stayed at the bottom of the molds. This time, I also added an extra tbsp of Frangelico liqueur, to make it a more of a grown-up treat.

The biggest challenge though is to take panna cotta out of the container, as it is rather wobbly. If you are afraid of this, make it simply in nice elegant glass goblets and serve it like that.

Coffee Panna Cotta

Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk,
2 cups heavy whipping cream,
2/3 cup brown sugar,
3 tbsp coffee extract (I used simply Nescafe Instant coffee)
2 tsp gelatin,
1 tbsp Frangelico liqueur,
pinch of salt.

Preparation:
1. Pour milk over the gelatin in a medium pot and let it stand for about 10 minutes.
2. Heat the milk over the medium heat until warm and the gelatin dissolves. Add cream, sugar, coffee extract, and salt, and heat everything until very hot--but do not let it boil.
3. Set aside and cool. Add Frangelico liqueur.
4. Divide the whole mixture among 6-8 small small bowls and chill for minimum 6 hours.

Serve decorated with grated chocolate.

Peas and Herbs Pasta--Before I Go

This weekend I am leaving on an almost month-long, and probably rainy and cold vacation in Poland and I am desperately trying to empty my refrigerator and freezer. Although I have known about that for weeks and not been buying much food, my refrigerator is still packed. For some, this could be an extra food stock, for me this is a minimum, survival supply.

I hope that there would not be a major storm that will cut power for hours and unfreeze all the frozen goods. But I also have quite a lot of fresh produce that will not survive my three-week absence. So I have been experimenting with all that is left and if I had been in the mood I should have organised a party to make that stock disappear. But I was just too busy.

Last week I made a pretty good progress in emptying shelves, but yesterday I found a piece of ricotta salata that will turn into blue cheese if I do not use it now. I had no fresh vegetable to make salad of it, but still had a bag of frozen peas, and I thought about a pasta dish that once I read about in Gourmet magazine. I still had one lemon that was needed and all the herbs that are growing in my yard. Without much cooking, a fresh and summery pasta was ready in minutes--a proof that pasta can be made from anything.

Peas and Herbs Pasta

Ingredients:
1 box farfalle,
8 oz (1/2 lb) fresh peas or one bag of frozen,
1/2 lb ricotta salata,
1 lemon,
1/2 cup basil leaves,
2 tbsp fresh tarragon,
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil,
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Cook pasta in a large pot with a tbsp of salt. When it is almost al dente add peas and cook for a couple of minutes, until they become soft but still bright green. Strain everything on a colander.
2. Grate ricotta salata on a large grater into a large bowl. Grate a peel from one lemon and squeeze the juice into a bowl. Add fresh chopped herbs, olive oil, freshly ground pepper, and salt if needed.

3. Add hot pasta with peas, mix and serve.

Tomatoes with Burrata--In Tomato Season

There is nothing special in this post beyond my provocative saying "If you like mozzarella and never tried burrata, try it, and I am sure you will fall for it as well."

For many years one of my favorite summer dishes, when truly good sweet tomatoes are available, was mozzarella with tomatoes and basil. I could have eaten it every single day. Until the day I discovered burrata--an even more guilty pleasure.

Burrata means buttered. And it is. On the outside it looks like mozzarella but inside is soft, creamy, buttery. Ever since I tried burrata ,I became addicted to its taste but even more the texture. Now I buy mozzarella only if burrata is not available. Although fresh mozzarella is nowadays quite popular in the US, burrata not so much yet. Whenever I see its much smaller supply at Whole Foods or TJ I buy a couple of boxes.

Like in many so simple dishes the secret lies in the quality of the ingredients--fresh cheese, extra virgin olive oil, and most of all in the tasty, sweet tomatoes, topped with fresh aromatic basil leaves.

Last Friday, I made a trip to my local farmers market in search of perfect tomatoes for my burrata. I looked for tomatoes like those we have in Poland and Italy--fleshy and sweet, grown under the local sun. I bought two types: red and orange. Red, heirloom tomatoes were sweet and fleshy. But the orange ones, advertised as low on acid, tasted as perfect as if they grew in Poland, during a particularly hot summer, or if they ripened under the Tuscan sun. I used both of them, layering with burrata and drizzling with oil. It was a truly summery feast...

Tomatoes with Burrata

Ingredients:
2 tasty tomatoes,

1 ball of burrata,

See burrata on the left and mozzarella on the right:

extra virgin olive oil,
fresh basil leaves,
freshly ground pepper,
coarse sea salt.

Just arrange the slices of burrata and tomatoes, drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with spices and basil and enjoy