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!

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!

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!