Panna Cotta

Have you ever had panna cotta? Please try it some time. If you like creme brulee, you'll like this. If you like vanilla, you'll like this. If you like food, you'll like this. Please note: Some people think the texture of panna cotta will be the same as creme brulee. It isn't. Instead of being thickened by eggs, it's thickened with gelatin, so it feels more like gelatin. However, a good proportion of cream in the mix keeps things tasting and feeling creamy.
Here are the ingredients. I'm giving measurements in grams and milliliters. If you can't measure that, well, tough nuggets.

100 gm sugar

10 gm powdered gelatine

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Then you need 600 total milliliters of liquid, split by any proportion between cream and milk. I think the ideal is 300 mls of cream and 300 mls of milk. Keep it relatively low on calories and fat, but keep up a nice texture and flavor.

I also added a packet of my vanilla sugar from France so that I ended up with lots of tiny vanilla flecks in the final custard.

Take a bit of the milk and put it in a separate bowl. Sprinkle the gelatine on top and swirl/stir to dissolve it.
In a saucepan combine the milk and cream mixture, the sugar and I added the vanilla sugar. Bring that mixture to a boil.
In the meantime, the gelatine should have sort of dissolved into the milk.
I like to make the panna cotta in individual ramekins. I get 8 ramekins with this recipe.
Once the milk mixture is boiling, add in the gelatine mixture and stir to combine and dissolve the gelatine. Bring the mixture to the boil again and boil for about 1 minute.

After that, take off the heat and cool for a few minutes. Add the vanilla.
In order to get the cream mixture into the individual ramekins, I pour it back into the measuring jug first. It gives you more control when pouring.
Fill the 8 ramekins (or you could do one large shallow dish) and leave to cool to room temperature. Then cover and put in the fridge overnight.
Once set, they look like this and are firm but yielding to the touch.

You can eat them like this, but they are really good when you top them with some fruit, especially fruit that has a sharp edge, such as passion fruit pulp or my favorite, raspberries.
You can add the raspberries right on top and dig in, but I like to crush the berries up first. Put them in a bowl with a tiny bit of sugar and just mash with a spoon. No need to make them perfectly smooth as long as they're crushed and juicy.
Spoon on top of the panna cotta and dig in. It's a lovely combination of sharp and fruity and creamy and sweet. Try it!

Easy Vegetarian Spaghetti with Garlic Bread

This is a very satisfying meal for me, makes me think of home. And for some reason it is the one dinner with which I have to have a tall glass of cold skim milk. Normally I don't drink plain milk.
This is an easy vegetarian spaghetti sauce, so here are the easy ingredients. Adjust to your tastes

onion

bell peppers

zucchini (here in the UK they're called courgettes, don't ask me why)

garlic

tomato sauce

pasta of some sort--spaghetti here--it is, after all, a spaghetti sauce

dried chili pepper flakes

fresh basil

Start by chopping all the veg. Throw them in a pot with some olive oil. Start with the onions and zucchini to soften them first. Once they're half-way cooked, throw in some garlic along with the dried chili pepper flakes, salt and pepper.
Once they're about halfway cooked, throw in the peppers and cook for only a few minutes so that they keep crisp.

Pour in the tomato sauce and stir it up. Then cover with the lid slightly ajar and simmer until everything else is ready.
Get the water boiling and put the pasta on.
Now make the garlic bread using the above ingredients.

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp roast garlic puree

salt

fresh basil or any other herb

Mix the butter and garlic up together.
Add the herbs and salt.
Mix it all up and prepare to smooth on to bread.
I'm using plain old sandwich bread.
I toast the bread on the first side under the broiler (called a grill here, in Her Majesty's realms). Spread the butter on the other side of the toast.
Put the garlic bread, butter side up under the broiler until it's not brown but sort of toasted. This is so as not to burn the garlic.
The sauce should be a bit thickened.
At this point I like to throw in a bit of fresh basil.
Plate it up! Some people like parmesan over the top. I don't. That's just me.

Pancakes!

Normally I wouldn't make these silver dollar pancakes, I would make regular sized ones, put them in a stack, pour maple syrup over the top and cut straight down, eating the whole stack like this. There is a famous internet clip of the comedien Jim Gaffegin talking about the fact that when you eat pancakes, you're pretty much declaring it's a no-shower, staying-in-your-pajamas day. I decided to start making these silver dollar pancakes because I like all things miniature and cute. And also because I find when I make them small I eat less overall and therefore avoid that ball-of-cement-in-the-stomach feeling. I also think it's essential when eating sweet carby pancakes to have alongside something salty and meaty. The combination is perfect. It simply must be done, if you're not vegetarian.
The recipe itself is easy and I'm going to include it here from memory!

1 cup flour

1 cup milk

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 large egg

lemon juice

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt
Okay, this part is weird. The first thing you do is squirt some lemon juice into a measuring jug. Even just a tablespoon will do. This is to sour the milk. If you have buttermilk use that, but I never have it around. Sour milk works well too. Squirt the lemon juice into the measuring jug and fill up to the volume of 1 cup. Leave there for about 5 minutes.
Now mix up the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Crack the egg right into the milk and mix up thoroughly. Add the oil and mix in well.
Now add the liquid ingredients to the dry and mix gently. There will be some lumps.
Heat the pan and dollop the batter out one tablespoon at a time.
If the pan is hot enough, the pancakes will be ready to flip really quickly.
Stack them on a plate and cover lightly with a piece of foil to keep them warm.
Once all the pancakes are done, I do the breakfast meat in the same pan. This day I had bacon. Otherwise I'd have some sausage. Cook until crisp and brown.
I like the arrange the silver dollar pancakes on a plate like this, for maximum maple syrup absorption.
Add the bacon. The meat juices mix with the maple syrup and make everything sweet and salty. The perfect combination.
Yummy yummy yummy in my tummy!

The High Life

I've mentioned before that The Economist and I don't use organic produce. Briefly, we prefer to support developing world agriculture; organic is not as environment-friendly as it is perceived to be; and we have never noticed a significant difference in taste that cannot be accounted for by more gentle handling of less produce. I don't think this is going to start any fireworks, because so few people read this blog.

What I do want to talk about is this: when does paying more for a more chichi product pay off? There are a lot of people who will tell you that this particular product is better than others and don't even bother using the cheaper, more common one because it's foul. I'm not trying to say one should not be discerning when deciding what to eat. For example, I do think it's best to eat things in season because that's when they taste the best. The most illustrative example is strawberries--flavorless but expensive in winter; juicy, fragrant and reasonably priced (I don't say cheap) in summer. And location is important--some things just don't travel well.

Then there are the things you can't do anything about. For example, Darina Allen in the Ballymaloe Cookery Course cookbook breaks my heart once in a while. It's one of my favorite cookbooks ever but sometimes it is just really, really discouraging. Darina gives a recipe for a good-looking hot salad with bacon--but, she says, don't bother making this unless you have the finest bacon available to humanity (do you know what movie that's from?). If you use regular grocery-bought bacon, the salad will be vile and so will you. At another point she gives a recipe for shepherd's pie, which is one of my favorite homemade dishes. Her recipe uses leftover roast lamb from a whole leg, which I suppose they make regularly at Ballymaloe House. I would never, ever try to roast a whole lamb leg except perhaps for a very special occasion, so I know my only option is going to be ground lamb, which Darina dismisses as 'nothing like so delicious' as her leftover roast lamb. It's so disappointing when you get excited to try a great new recipe, and are then told you do not have the means to make it properly (and by means, I mean financial means and access), so you shouldn't bother trying. And to this day I have never tried either Darina Allen recipe.

Then there are the preferences I don't understand or think are merely foodie pretentions. For some reason, Mark Bittman of the NYTs has something against iodized salt. Don't really know what that's about. Isn't salt iodized because people don't get enough iodine in their diets? I like my sea salt too, but I don't think it's necessarily better than regular iodized table salt and I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with iodized table salt.

When is it worth it to seek out and pay more for a certain product over another? When is the difference negligible? I have been testing a few comparative products the last few weeks since we got back from Paris.

For example, when we went to Paris we came back with fleur de sel, which is highly prized among foodies. I've been using it for some time, alongside my usual coarse sea salt and table salt. The conclusions I've drawn are these: I can tell the difference between table and sea salt when it comes to texture but not flavor. Unfortunately I can't discern any difference between sea salt and fleur de sel except that fleur de sel has smaller crystals. Fleur de sel is supposed to taste faintly minerally, like the sea marshes from which it's gathered. I don't taste it. This probably says more about my palate than the salt but quite frankly, if you're on my level, you won't notice the difference in flavor either so don't bother spending the extra money unless you're interested in the finer texture.

Another item we brought from Paris was Valrhona Chocolate. Everyone claims Valrhona chocolate is the best. And, yes, they are correct. Valrhona chocolate is worth paying more for because you really can tell-it is a cut above the rest. I won't stop eating cheaper chocolate, but now I know--Valrhona is a special treat to be eaten plain and simple.

UPDATE: I just told The Economist I was writing about Valrhona chocolate and he, the real chocolate fiend and connoisseur in this house, started researching where in London we could find more. He's demanding that we buy some more TOMORROW.

I can also come down firmly on the side of good quality vanilla extract. Imitation vanilla extract is just bad--don't do it! It doesn't taste good and you always have to use a ton of it, which makes things go liquidy and also colors it all a dingy brown. I prefer to use real vanilla extract because you use so little of it at a time that it isn't that expensive in the end, and it's so good; it's also really important to use a good vanilla extract when it's the predominant flavoring as with creme brulee, or panna cotta (which is a recipe I will be making and posting soon!). Come to think of it, it's also good to use a good vanilla extract when it's not a predominant flavor, like in chocolate things (chocolate is nothing without vanilla).

I had read that shallots are the Rolls-Royce of onions. I've been using them for several weeks and let me tell you, they're great. They're small, which means it's easier to dice them really, really small, if that's what you want. They are also sweeter and more flavorful than regular yellow onions, especially when you slice them very thinly and caramelise them in a pan until they're slightly crispy. I wouldn't use them if I was making something really highly flavored like a curry, but when you want the flavor of caramelized onions, they're delicious.

Baguettes are better than sliced bagged bread. Sorry, it's the truth. I've been spoiled by living in a place where I have ready access to them. When I move back to the States, I'll think about becoming a more serious home baker.

There was an article in the NYTs a few years ago about cooking with wine. They reached the same conclusion I have reached: it isn't worth it to cook with an expensive wine because you can't tell the difference in the end. Drinking, that's another story. But then I don't drink very expensive wine.

I don't see any difference in taste between organic eggs and non-organic eggs. I do buy free-range because they have become readily available, are not that much more expensive, and I like to think of the hens running around in the sunshine.

Anything else?

North African Cous Cous, Two Ways

In Paris The Economist and I had north African cous cous twice and they were our favorite meals. If you've never had it, it's basically a stew served over cous cous, a very tiny piece of wheat pasta. I'm making it two ways--a vegetarian version, and a lamb shank version. The idea here, especially with the meat, is to let it roast slowly in the oven for a long time on a low heat so the meat ends up tender, juicy and melting off the bone.

For the meat version, start with an oven-proof dish and enough lamb shanks to fill it loosely. I had never cooked lamb shanks before I made this stew for the first time, but I must say they are a very satisfying thing to cook and eat. You also need onions, a can of chopped tomatoes, some garlic and chicken (or lamb if you can it) stock.
There is a mix of spices that goes into the stew. Don't worry too much about quantities or the exact mix. Whatever you've got works, just make it spicy if you want. I used ginger, cumin, paprika, ground coriander, nutmeg, cinnamon, dried red chili pepper flakes and cayenne pepper.
The vegetarian cous cous the Economist had in Paris was called cous cous sept legumes--7 vegetables--but I couldn't think of a 7th, so my version is cous cous six legumes. For this version use whatever vegetables you have around. I like to use sweet potato, zucchini, onions, carrots (here little baby chantenay carrots--so pretty!), a can of chick peas and a can of chopped tomatoes. You also need more garlic and vegetable stock, as well as the spice blend from above.
For the cous cous you need cous cous, obviously, some boiling water, and I like to add raisins for a sweet burst.
So let's start the lamb stew. Put some olive oil in the bottom of a large saucepan. Once it's really hot, put the lamb shanks down into it to sear the outside of the meat. (I think I should have trimmed the fat off these lamb shanks, but I forgot to.)
This accomplishes the goals of giving the meat color (otherwise it will be hideously white and raw-looking), rendering down the fat and connective tissues on the outside and giving a bit more flavor by caramelising and crusting the outside. So I'm told.
When that's done, remove the shanks and set them in your oven dish to rest for a minute while you do the vegetables for the meat stew.
In the bottom of the saucepan, you'll get all the caramelized, concentrated meat juices and a bunch of rendered liquid fat. It's probably a good idea to skim the extra fat off, because you don't really need it. Leave a little bit there though, to cook the onions in.
Toss in the onion halves and minced garlic and give it a stir. This is not to cook the onions really, just to get them going so they roast/braise slowly in the oven later.
At this point, add the spices. A little bit of each one, but go easy on the nutmeg and if possible use a while cinnamon stick, not here, but later.
Next add the can of tomatoes.
And the chicken stock. Bring the whole thing to the boil.
Then pour the whole volume over the lamb shanks in the oven dish. Nestle a stick of cinnamon into the depths of the liquid to perfume the whole thing. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and put the whole into a very low oven, around 150 C (what is that in F? I don't know.)
Next, start working on the vegetarian version. Roughly chop all the veggies into largish chunks. In a hot frying pan, heat a little olive oil, then put in the vegetables, one at a time to sear the outside a bit. This is mostly for the color as before, and not an attempt to cook them. They'll just look so much prettier later.
Do each type of vegetable including the sweet potatoes, zucchini, onions and carrots. Pour them all into another oven dish. This time I used a sheet cake pan because I didn't have anything else.
Look at those pretty carrots!
In the same pan, reduce the heat, warm a little olive oil and add the garlic. Add a small amount, about 1/4 cup of the chopped tomatoes.
Throw in the spices.
And stir them into the tomatoes and garlic.
Next add the drained can of chick peas...
...the tomatoes and the vegetable stock. Stir and bring the whole thing to the boil.
Pour all the liquids over the vegetables in the oven dish.
Don't forget the cinnamon stick!

Cover tightly with aluminum foil and put it in the oven also.

Now it's pretty much a waiting game. You should leave everything in the oven for at least 2 hours. I left everything in for 4 or 5 hours. But the wait is soooo worth it.
Here is the lamb after 1 hour. Kind of sad looking, but you can tell it's getting tender.
Now after the full 4 hours, the meat is sliding off the bone, it's juicy and tender. Perfect.
In the meantime, make the cous cous. I have the kind where to make it you just pour boiling water over and let it sit under plastic wrap for 5 minutes.
Then you sort of fluff it up with a fork.
I like to throw some raisins over the cous cous, then put some meat next to it, and pour over the oniony sauce.

It's so good!

And I don't have any pictures of the veggie version, because I forgot, but it looks pretty much the same. Use your imaginations.

Bon apetit!