Cooked Cream and Balsamic Berries

On Panna Cotta.



Panna Cotta (literally translated as "cooked cream") is one of my favourite desserts. Deliciously creamy and rich, it goes well with a tart berry sauce. The most basic version of the dessert is a combination of cream, milk and sugar, boiled together with gelatin; I usually add orange zest and vanilla to mine as I think these flavours really lift the whole dish. Obviously, a dessert comprising of dairy and gelatin is not all that friendly to The Vegan, and so to keep my lovely and loyal reader happy, I've also included a recipe (and photograph, below) of a vegan panna cotta.

Panna Cotta - Makes about 6 Large Panna Cotta

1.2 litres Double (heavy) cream
150 ml Milk
60g Caster (superfine) Sugar
2 Vanilla Pods
The zest of two oranges
4 Leaves of Gelatin

1. Place the gelatin into the milk to soak, and set to one side.

2. In a large heavy bottomed pan, heat about 800ml of the cream with the sugar, vanilla pods and orange zest, and simmer until the cream has reduced by roughly one third.

3. Add the milk and soaked gelatin to the hot cream, stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved and the strain into a large bowl to cool. Preserve the vanilla pods.

4. Split and de-seed the vanilla pods, and place the seeds into the remaining cream. Whip the cream until thick, and fold into the boiled mixture.

5. Pour the mixture into ramekins, and leave for at least 3 hours to set.

Vegan Panna Cotta (adapted from here)

300ml Soya Milk (unsweetened)
150ml Soya Cream
1 Vanilla Pod
40g Caster (superfine) Sugar
1 ½ tsp Vege-gel
Zest of one orange

1. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod, and reserve.

2. Place the pod into the soya milk, and warm through, but do not boil. Leave to one side to infuse for about an hour.

3. In a separate pan, whisk the vege-gel into the soya cream, then add the vanilla seeds, orange zest and sugar. Strain the infused milk into the cream, and slowly bring to the boil, stirring continuously.

4. Allow to boil for about 30 seconds, and then remove from the heat. Allow to cool slightly, then transfer the mixture to ramekins and leave to set for at least 2 hours.

Balsamic Berry Sauce

100g Raspberries
100g Blueberries
50ml Good Quality (3 leaf+) Balsamic Vinegar
25g Icing (confectioners) Sugar

Put all the ingredients into a food processor, and blend until smooth. Pass through a sieve or muslin cloth, and it's ready to serve.

The above photograph is the non-vegan, and below is the vegan version of the pudding.



Enjoy.

Cheesy Puns and Cheese-Free Bread

On Bread.



Bread is the food.

Bread is somewhat of a basic human right. It is one of the foods which is pretty much universal around the globe, and as such I think it is high time I devote some column inches to it. Baking my own bread is one of my favourite things to do in the kitchen, as it is always delicious and satisfying.

There's lots one can do with bread, and the recipe below outline the basic method of baking a traditional risen loaf.

Basic Bread

500g Strong White Bread Flour
20g Fresh Yeast (or 7g Dry fast-yeast)
60g Olive Oil
Pinch of Salt

1. Rub the oil and salt into the flour. If using fresh yeast, crumble it into the flour and rub through with your fingers.

2. If using dried yeast, mix with a little warm water and a pinch of sugar, then add to the dry ingredients.

3. Add about 150-200ml of warm water, and mix the ingredients to a dough. Add a little more flour if it is too wet, or a splash more water if it is too dry.

4. On a clean, floured surface, knead the dough thoroughly for about 10 minutes. Put the dough into a covered container and allow to rise for about an hour. If you're not adding anything else to the bread, you can allow it to rise on a tray or loaf tin and bake directly after it has risen.

5. Take the risen dough, and knead it once more. If you are adding something to the bread, add it now and knead it in.

6. Put the dough into your loaf tin or on a baking tray, allow to rise for roughly an hour, and bake at 200C/390F for about 35 minutes.

7. Allow it to cool , and serve warm with lots of butter (or margarine for our Vegan friend)

Possible additions to the dough are caramelised onion, olive or sundried tomato (all of which are shown below).






Happy baking!