Vanilla Panna Cotta with Strawberry Coulis

Panna Cotta or "cooked cream" is a northern Italian dessert with different versions found in Greece & France. My best description is that it is a distant cousin to custard without the eggs. Panna Cotta is simple and quick to prepare, looks impressive, tastes light and smooth. It can be made in many flavors; chocolate, mocha, vanilla, strawberry, and more. It can be chilled in a glass then served or chilled in a bowl then inverted onto a dish for serving. You can serve it with a fruit coulis or fresh fruit or on its own. If you have never tried it I highly recommend it.

This week I decided to make a simple Vanilla Panna Cotta and top it with a fresh strawberry coulis, since it is still strawberry season and I love strawberry anything!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole Milk

1 1/2 tsp powdered Gelatin

1 1/2 cup Heavy Cream

1/4 cup Sugar

Pinch Salt

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla

Coulis or fruit as desired

Instructions:

Place the milk in a heavy saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin over the surface and let stand for 5 minutes to soften (a.k.a.- bloom) the gelatin.

Stir over medium heat just until the gelatin desolves, but the milk does NOT boil, about 2 minutes.

Stir in the cream, sugar, and salt. Remove from the heat.

Divide equally into desired vessels, place a small piece of plastic wrap directly to the surface (to prevent skin). Chill until set (several hours). Remove plastic, serve as desired with or without fruit.The possibilites are limited only to your imagination.

Coulis is a sauce make with fruit puree. I took some strawberry jam that I made a couple of weeks ago along with some fresh strawberries and gave them a whirl in the food processor. This lucious sauce was spooned over the chilled and set panna cotta. Topped with some fresh sliced strawberries and done! That easy and boy oh boy does this make a hit!

I hope you give it a try.

Red Jewels

Well, its' Tuesday again and the assignment this week from the "Tuesdays with Dorie" (forever to be known as "TWD") group was a beautiful, jewel like and refreshing summer tart. The La Palette's Strawberry Tart is on page 374 in "Baking From My Home To Yours" by Dorie Greenspan.

The sweet dough or pate sable in this case, was buttery, tender, and sandy just as it should be. Since this dough tends to crumble easily I chose to make single serving tartlets (3 3/4 inches) instead of the 9 inch tart. However, I can easily imagine this dessert even smaller, perhaps a single bite size (2 1/4 inch) as well. What a nice presentation that would make on any dessert platter. I made the dough two days earlier since I never know how the work week will go and stored it in the refrigerator. This also gave the dough plenty of time to rest and firm up since the weather in this neck of the woods was sweltering all week.

The dough is pressed into the tartlet pans and docked, to help prevent shrinkage and puffing. I then pre-baked half the batch until they were golden. The other half I just had to play around with! I took a tablespoon of Creme d'amandes (almond cream) and spread it over the pate sable (heavenly all on it's own). Then I baked it in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

The shells without the almond cream are spread with a layer of a good quality strawberry jam. Now the shells are ready for assembly. I tossed cut up strawberries with cherry brandy and spooned them over the shells. A little sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and viola! I'm sure some sweetened whipped cream or fresh churned icecream would be a perfect side.

Simply sublime!