Vanilla Panna Cotta with Raspberry Coulis

March 27, 2021DessertsTove Balle-PedersenComment

Panna Cotta is one of my favorite desserts. The velvety texture of the ‘mousse’ and the sauce brings a brightness to the dessert. Normally a panna cotta have a caramel on top, but i like the ones with a berry sauce. In Denmark we have a dessert similar to this called fløderand or cream wreath, it was big in the 70’s and 80’s and was served with canned fruit. So it is similar but not really.

Makes 3-4

Ingredienser:

Panna Cotta:

500 ml (2⅛ cup) heavy whipping cream
50 g (¼ cup) sugar
2 vanilla beans, the seeds scraped, or 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
6 g gelatin or 3 sheets of gelatin/husblas

Raspberry Coulis:

raspberries, fresh or frozen
2 tablespoons sugar
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
2 tablespoons water

Topping:

white chocolate shavings
lime zest

Directions:

Panna cotta:

If using gelatin sheets, place them in a bowl of cold water to bloom for about 10 minutes.

If using powdered gelatin, sprinkle it evenly onto 2 tablespoons of cold water and the let it soak for a few minutes.

Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla pod, and mix them with a tablespoon of the sugar. This will help distributing the seeds in the liquid.

Gently heat the cream, vanilla seeds, the vanilla bean pod and all the sugar in a saucepan, and heat it to almost a boil, remove from heat. Squeeze the gelatin sheets and add them (or the bloomed gelatin powder) to the hot cream. Whisk the mixture until gelatin is dissolved.

Whisk the mixture until gelatin is dissolved. Pour the cream through a sieve into a jug. Let the mixture chill in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, until it is as thick as lightly whipped whipping cream. Stir the mixture and pour it into portion sized serving jars or cocktail glasses. Chill the panna cotta in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before serving.

Raspberry Coulis:

Scrape out the seeds/caviar from the bean, and mix it with some of the sugar, this will help disperse the seeds.

Heat all the ingredients in a small saucepan until it comes to a boil, remove from heat. Run the coulis through a fine meshed sieve, to remove the seeds. Try to get as much fluid through the sieve as possible, and discard the seeds and the vanilla pod. Cool the coulis/sauce/juice or syrup in the refrigerator until ready to serve the Panna Cotta.

To unmold the panna cotta, gently insert a knife around the edges of the moulds, and dip the mold in hot water for max. 10 seconds. Tip them onto individual plates, pour over the sauce. You can also serve the panna cotta in the glass, and just pour some raspberry coulis into the glass before serving, and decorate them with som white chocolate shavings and some lime zest.

Enjoy!

London Fog Tea Latte

March 26, 2021Beverages, BrunchTove Balle-PedersenComment

As a coffee drinker, I’m not up to date with the new tea trends, so this one hit me this year, and its not a new trend - far from. But better late than never. As a teenager I drank a lot of tea, and often I had it with milk and sugar. Slowly I skipped the milk and sugar, and only had it in my tea as a special treat, and we called it Sunday Tea - Søndagste.

The London Fog Tea Latte is what I would call Sunday Tea. A sweet tea with milk, but a gourmet version. And it is highly addictive.

Serves 2.

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon loose leaf earl grey tea or 1-2 bags earl grey tea (depending on how strong you like your tea!)
⅛ teaspoon dried lavender buds
240 ml steamed milk (about 1cup)
½ -1 teaspoon vanilla flavored sugar* or ½ teaspoon sugar + ¼ teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Directions:

Brew earl grey tea with lavender buds, letting it steep for about 5 minutes. I use a loose leaf tea filter, so I don’t have to strain the tea. Remove tea filter. Heat the milk until scalding. If you want milk foam on your latte use a frother or immersion blender to make the foam.

Pour the tea into a cup, add the vanilla flavored sugar, and stir. Pour the hot milk from underneath the foam into the cup, and top with the milk foam. You can add more sugar if you like your tea sweeter. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

* - I have a little jar with sugar in my pantry. Every time I scrape the seeeds from a vanilla bean pod, I cut the bean up and put it in the sugar. This flavors the sugar with vanilla, and are perfect for oatmeal, tea.

Vanilla Honey Butter

March 21, 2021Breakfast, Brunch, condimentsTove Balle-PedersenComment

As a Dane growing up in Denmark I didn't know the existence of Honey Butter, and I was ok with that. First time I encountered honey butter was at a brunch, where they served it with biscuit and bacon - and OMG it was a party in my mouth. How could I not know of this????

Now I see that you can use this for many things - like cornbread, American pancakes, bagels, and of course biscuits. The addition of vanilla just makes it even better.

Depending on which butter and honey you use, you get different color and texture. I just used what I had in the house, and that was European style butter, and it was a bit more yellow. I used a dark raw honey, and it made my butter yellow. But you can easily end up with a beautiful white butter - there is no wrong color in honey butter.