Panna Cotta with Wild Berry Sauce

I haven't really posted many desserts to this blog because I've been focusing on dinners, but this one was so great that I don't want to forget how to make it. Panna cotta is a traditional Italian dessert from the Tuscany region. Panna means "cream" and cotta means "cooked", so this is a recipe for cooked cream. I know that may not sound yummy, but think flan or custard and you'll get close. When we visited Italy, this was one of my favorite desserts. It is also very easy, so I will be making this more frequently at home.

Let's Get Started

In order to make this recipe vegetarian, you have to find vegetarian unflavored gelatin, which I found at Andy's Market in Sebastopol for $1.89. Any unflavored gelatin will do if you don't care about what it's made of. (If you don't know what it's made of, google it.)

To make the panna cotta, put 1/2 cup cold water in a metal bowl and sprinkle 4 teaspoons gelatin on top of it. Let it stand for about 10 minutes. Put the bowl into a pan of simmering water to melt the gelatin entirely, about a minute or two. Split one vanilla bean lengthwise, and scrape out the seeds. In another pan, combine 4 cups cream, 1 cup sugar, and the seeds from the vanilla beans. Bring the cream mixture to a boil and then simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and mix the gelatin into the cream. Whisk until well blended. Pour the cream mixture into individual serving dishes (I used 1/2 cup ramekins), allow to cool, and then refrigerate. To serve, loosen the panna cotta from the dish using a rubber scraper. Turn out onto small plates. Serve with mixed berry sauce.

To make the berry sauce, mix 4 cups wild berries (raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, etc.) with 1/3 cup sugar in a pan large enough to hold them. Let the sugar sit on the berries long enough for them to start releasing their juices. Boil the berry-sugar mixture for about 5 minutes. Puree half the mixture and stir it back into the other berries. Cool completely. Refrigerate any unused portion.

This dessert is simple, elegant, delicious, and easy. Go for a long walk after dinner to burn some of the calories. :-)

TIP: Rather than discarding the vanilla bean after you've scraped out the seeds, put it in a plastic container with 4-6 cups sugar. Leave it to infuse the sugar. After a few days, you will have lovely, gourmet vanilla-sugar to use in everything from coffee to desserts.

Approximate cost to prepare

4 cups cream - $6.00 ($8.00 for organic)

4 t. unflavored gelatin - $1.90

1 cup sugar - $.40

1 vanilla bean - $3.00

4 cups mixed berries - $4.00 ?

1/3 cup sugar - $.15

TOTAL for 10 - 12 desserts - $15.45

Feta and Ricotta Cheese Skillet Pie

This dish is simple, fast and delicious. Add a salad or a bowl of soup and you've got a quick weeknight meal. I've made it several times now, but I'm finally getting around to blogging about it. The dish is handsome enough for company, especially if you have a cast iron skillet, which I don't. I think it is pretty enough for company even if you cook it in a plain dish. I usually cook it in a skillet that I can put in my oven. It is also high in protein, thanks to cheeses and eggs. It's so fast that you literally have to wait for your oven to warm up. It's also quite forgiving about the quantities. When I made it yesterday, I only had about 1/2 pound feta, and 2/3 pound ricotta, so I just used fewer eggs to get a consistency I thought would work.

Let's Get Started

Preheat the oven to 375º. Butter a 10" cast iron skillet or an earthenware baking dish.

In a bowl, mix 1/2 pound feta cheese and 1 pound ricotta cheese. You want some chunks left, so don't mix for too long. Stir in 4-6 eggs. Then add 1/4 cup flour and 3/4 cup milk. Season with salt and pepper, and 1 T. chopped dill.

Pour the batter into the buttered pan or dish. Crumble 1/4 pound feta over the top. Bake until golden, 35-40 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve.

Mashed Potatoes with sauteed onions and greens

This is a great comfort food sort of a dish. It's easy to prepare and came in at under half an hour prep time, which is nice. I purposely left out "turnips" in the title because I thought I didn't like turnips, but it turns out that they blend very nicely into this dish and they were quite tasty. Deborah Madison says that this can also be a summer dish, especially when farmers markets have sweet little turnips with their greens. The dish uses the turnip greens, but I made it with chard since the turnips I bought didn't have the greens attached. She recommended broccoli rabe in place of the turnip greens, but I couldn't find those either. I think most any greens will do.

Here's how to get started

Peel 4 russet potatoes (about 2 pounds) and cut them into chunks. Peel 3/4 pound turnips (8 to 10 small ones or a few larger ones.) Put them in a pot, cover with cold water, add 2 t. salt and 1 thyme sprig. Bring to a boil and cook uncovered for 20 - 25 minutes.

While those are cooking, slice 2 onions and saute them in 1 T. butter plus 2 t. olive oil (or whatever combination you like.) Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until golden and tender - about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

While that is cooking, wash and trim the greens. Cook in boiling salted water until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain and add the greens to the pan with the onions.

When the potatoes and turnips are done, scoop them out of the pot into a bowl. Mix in 3 ounces of goat cheese and some butter to taste (I used 2 T.). Add salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, mound the mashed veggies on a platter, and smother it with the onions and greens.

Cost to Prepare

2 pounds potatoes - $1.00

3/4 pound turnips - $2.00

3 oz. goat cheese - $4.50

2 onions - $1.50

turnip greens - free if you buy them attached to the turnips OR

chard or other greens - $2.50

salt, pepper, butter, oil, 1 thyme sprig - negligible

TOTAL for 4 people - $11.50

I actually didn't use all the goat cheese, so that made the dish less expensive.

Mushroom lovers rejoice

Tonight I made a recipe that I made a long time ago and it was fabulous again. This was a "what do I have in the fridge?" night and what I came up with was the sauteed mushrooms over croutons with an egg recipe that can be found here. This time I followed the instructions and left the egg to cook in the 400º oven for exactly 15 minutes. It was perfect. I served it with brussels sprouts and pistachios cooked in garlic butter. (I have George addicted to these now!)

I also tried making it in 2 oven-proof bowls this time, which cut down on dishes and the recipe was perfect for 2 people.

The combination of mushrooms, rosemary, red wine, croutons, and eggs is simply inspired. This dish is fast and easy and super tasty. A must try. I need to memorize this one so I can pull it together quickly any old time.

Portobello Sandwiches with mozzarella and greens

Oh wow, I will definitely be making this again. These open-faced sandwiches are good enough to serve to company. It took under half an hour and had a big flavor payoff. I think garlic mashed potatoes would be a nice accompaniment. Deborah recommends a pinot noir to go with this meal, but I think any red will do.

We had leftover hamburger buns that we needed to use up, so that's what we used for these sandwiches. The recipe calls for ciabbata or good crusty french bread, which would be fabulous.

Let's Get Started

Preheat the oven to 400º. You'll need one portobello mushroom per person. Using a damp paper towel, wipe off the cap of the mushroom. Remove the stem and the gills. The gills are those dark brown things inside the mushroom. A spoon works great to remove them. Drizzle the inside of the mushroom with olive oil and set on a baking dish. Chop 2 cloves of garlic together with a small handful of parsley leaves. Sprinkle the garlic-parsley mixture onto the inside of the mushroom (saving 1 t. of the mixture for later). Add salt and pepper and pop them in the oven for 8-10 minutes, until they are sizzling.

While they are cooking, wash and trim 1/3 pound greens. I used beet greens and curly kale. Any kind of braising greens will do. Heat 2 t. oil. Add the greens, the rest of the garlic-parsley mixture, a pinch of red pepper flakes and some salt. Saute the greens until they are tender. Taste for seasonings and doneness of the greens

Cut some fairly thick slices of fresh mozzarella. Put the mozzarella slices on top of the mushrooms, then layer the cooked greens on top of that. Bake for 5-7 minutes, until the cheese is melted. While that is baking, toast 1 thick slice of bread per person. Place the cooked mushrooms on top of the bread and serve.

Things I'd do differently next time

I just realized that the recipe called for 2 garlic cloves, a small handful of parsley, 1/3 pound of greens and 4 portobellos, but I only used 2 portobellos. If I were making this for 4 people, I think I'd increase the amount of garlic and parsley and greens, because those amounts worked perfectly for 2 portobellos.

I'd also try this with ciabatta or focaccia bread. It would also be wonderful with polenta or garlic mashed potatoes instead of the bread.

Cost to Prepare (for 2 people)

2 portobellos - $4.00

fresh mozzarella (4 slices) - $3.00

1/3 pound greens - $1.50 (organic)

2 slices bread - $.25

2 cloves garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, olive oil - negligible

TOTAL - $8.75 for 2

Potato Skillet Pie

This potato skillet pie is kind of a cross between mashed potatoes and a frittata. It's fast and easy to prepare, though it needs 45 minutes in the oven and 10 minutes to cool before serving. It's much prettier than I expected it would be for such a simple dish. This would be great to take to a potluck.

It is also yummy. We ate less than half of it in the first sitting and we enjoyed the leftovers for the next few days. It was even good for breakfast. It's a great dish to make on a winter evening (or a cold, rainy spring evening) when all you can find in your pantry is some potatoes, some eggs, some onions, and some butter. You could even do without the onions.

There are several variations suggested, and I chose to top mine with caramelized onions. You could also saute some artichokes and cook them in with the potato mixture. You could add any kind of cheese you like, or chop up some green garlic, simmer in a little water, and then add to the potato mixture before baking.

Begin by preheating the oven to 375. Put an oven-proof skillet (such as cast iron) in the oven with 1 tablespoon of butter until melted. Slosh it around the pan, then scatter 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese over it to make a crust for the potatoes. (Bread crumbs would work instead of the parmesan.) Peel and cut 2 pounds of yukon gold potatoes into chunks. Put them in a big pan, cover with cold water, add a teaspoon of salt, and bring to a boil. Simmer until potatoes are soft - about 20 minutes.

While they're cooking, finely chop a couple cloves of garlic with 1/2 t. salt until a paste forms. Drain the potatoes, return them to the pot, add the garlic paste and 3 T. butter and mash the potatoes. Taste for salt and pepper, making sure the potatoes are highly seasoned. Stir in 4 eggs (lightly beaten), and 3 T. chopped sage. (I used dried sage, so I cut it back to 2 teaspoons or so.) When nicely mixed, transfer the whole mass to the skillet, smooth the top, and bake until golden - about 45 minutes. The edges should be dry and pulling away from the pan. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes or so. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and unmold onto a plate.

While it is cooking, you can chop 3-4 onions and fry them in some butter. Ten minutes should be enough time, but if you keep cooking them over low heat, they'll just get more and more sweet. I added a little sage to mine. Season with salt and pepper and spoon over the potato pie. I garnished with chopped parsley, which was a fresh and festive addition.

Things I'd do differently next time: I'd like to experiment with this one some more. I like the idea of the green garlic, if I can find it at the farmers market.