Panna Cotta with Figs

It has been a hot! hot! hot! week in New York. When is this hot I don't even want to eat, all I want to do is nibble on cherry tomatoes and eat watermelon all day. 

I have been waiting all summer for figs (from my backyard tree). I went to check on them again and finally I collected about 9oz of perfectly ripe figs! Enough to make panna cotta with fig compote for 6.  

I love, love, love panna cotta. Such a simple dessert to make, plus it's one of those do-ahead-of-time desserts for a dinner party and you could have different toppings for your guests to choose from, it makes it fun.  

Ingredients:

2 cups of heavy cream

1/4 cup of sugar

1 pod of vanilla

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1oz pack of gelatin dissolved in

3 tablespoons of cold water

Dissolve the gelatin in 3 tablespoons of cold water, for about 10 minutes. Place the cream, vanilla bean, and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat. Add the gelatin to the pan, stirring constantly for about 30 seconds, or until the gelatin is well blended with the cream. Pour the cream mixture into molds, cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or until set.

For the Figs:

9oz of fresh figs

1/8 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

the juice of half lemon

2 tablespoons your favorite liquor

Put all ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stir occasionally. Be careful, we don't want all the liquid to dry out. Let cool and serve on top of the chilled panna cotta.

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Baked Apricots

Who is in the mood for some baked apricots? One of my favorite things to do in summer time is to come home from the market overloaded with seasonal fruits. I like to take advantage of them now, they are here only for a few weeks. Very often I find myself with a few pounds of apricots and no exact plan, but who needs a plan anyway? One day I can make a marmalade or a tart, apricot trifle the list is endless. Without a doubt baked apricots is my favorite way to have them, I just love the contrast of hot and cold because to me, a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of baked apricots is a must. 

Another thing I love to do when making this dessert is to do cardamon cookie crumbs to go on top of the baked apricots. Cardamon is my ingredient of choice when it comes to spice things up in a dessert. I use it very often and in this case, I think it works quite well.

Ingredients:

6 apricots, peeled, halved, and pitted

2 tablespoons of sugar

3 tablespoons of sweet wine (or your favorite sweet liquor)

1 pod of vanilla (or 1 tablespoon of good vanilla extract)

butter to grease the pan

For the topping:

1 teaspoon finely ground cardamom

4oz Graham crackers 

3 tablespoons melted butter

 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F

Place the apricots, cut sides up, in a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle with sugar, vanilla and sweet wine (make sure all the apricots get coated) Bake until apricots are soft, about 25 minutes.

For the topping:

Finely grind the crackers in a food processor. Add the cardamom and melted butter and process until the crumbs are moistened. Spread the crumbs on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. 

To assemble:

Serve the apricots with a scoop of Vanilla ice cream and sprinkle with cardamom cookie crumbs, serve immediately.

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Pancakes

Who doesn't like to wake up to the smell of freshly made pancakes in the morning? I know I do. I am not really a breakfast person, I usually don't eat before 11am. I just drink coffee, water or tea. It's really bad I know. On Sundays it's a bit different, I do like to do something special for the guys of the house, usually a big brunch. Every Sunday I cook something different but lately, pancakes have been in the menu more often because my son loves them. It's funny to see his little face all happy to see pancakes in front of him. He goes "pankeke". Too cute.

I did an "old fashioned style pancakes". No ricotta cheese or egg whites fold in the batter. Just a simple recipe, good old maple syrup and fresh blueberries. The secret to this recipe is to add a little more baking powder than you normally would. The batter becomes thicker right before your eyes. If you find it too thick, just add a little bit more milk and don't worry, it will still be a fluffy pancake. 

Ingredients:

2 cups of flour

1 3/4 cup milk

3 tablespoons baking powder

3 tablespoon melted butter

3 tablespoon vanilla sugar 

2 eggs, lightly beaten 

A pinch of salt

In a bowl, mix together the milk, melted butter and eggs. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Heat a lightly greased griddle over medium high heat. Scoop the batter onto the griddle, using 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Brown on both sides. Serve with maple syrup and fresh blueberries. 

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A trip to Connecticut and Rustic Peach Tart

Last weekend, we went to Old Greenwich, Connecticut to visit our cousin. Beautiful place, nice and quiet, a great getaway from a noisy city like New York. I was really excited because we had planned a trip to the beach. It was such a nice day, perfect for the occasion and I was so inpatient to see Luca's reaction to the sea. At first, he was a little bit overwhelmed but once he got to the water, he was more relaxed and even started to play with the waves.

After the beach, Eric, a dear friend of ours, invited us over to his house for a delicious BBQ, soon after, the fireworks started. I am only sorry Lucas didn't get to see the fireworks, he was so tired from the beach, he went straight to bed. The evening ended with a exquisite cheese selection and wine. It was a really fun long weekend of great friends and fantastic food. I really forgot all about calories, I ate exactly what I wanted to eat. 

We went back home and took a quick trip to the market. I had all the intentions to make a mixed berry tart but I saw some delicious looking peaches and couldn't resist the temptation so I ended up making a rustic peach tart. It turned out really good, a perfect complement to a perfect weekend. 

Ingredients:

1 lb peach, peel and pit

1/4 cup vanilla sugar, plus more to sprinkle the galette

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon cornstarch

the juice of 1/2 lemon

egg wash (1 egg mixed with 2 tablespoon of water)

Find a tart crust recipe here 

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.

In a sauce pan add all the ingredients and mix them with a wooden spoon.  Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes stirring occasionally. We want some of the liquid to evaporate to avoid the compote to ooze out while baking. Let it cool completely. Divide the dough in 2 parts. Lightly flour a work surface and roll each piece of dough into a 1/8 inch thick, round. Place half of the filling in the center leaving 1 1/2 inch of uncovered dough around the edge. Fold the outer edge of the dough in toward the center. Don't worry if is not perfect, that's the beauty of the galette. Wrap the entire baking sheet with plastic film and chill for 1 hour. When ready to bake, brush each galette with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake them for about 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. 

  

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Gazpacho Soup, Spanish Tortilla and a Surprise Picnic Birthday Party

I have been meaning to do this post for a while, I'm two weeks late to be precise but with so many things to do and the veria/wholefoods event, it's been impossible. To be honest, I am so glad the event is over, I was stressed and  nervous, my first TV appearance cooking LIVE, I mean, I had a reason to be nervous. 

Moving on. Two weeks ago, It was my cousin Raquel's birthday, she turned 30. My other cousin Nadia and I planned a surprise picnic birthday party for her. It was really hard to keep this from her, specially because we got two of her best friends to come, one came from France and the other one from Honduras. She had no idea. To get her to the park, we told her that I was planing Luca's (my son) first picnic. She fell for it. We told everybody to bring something to share which was really nice. 

I made Tortilla Espanola (Spanish tortilla) and a refreshing Gazpacho soup. I also made tres leches baked in jars for favors, I used Banksy's famous image (balloon girl) to created a label, she loves that image. 

It came out great, she was really surprised, and we all had fun, my son Lucas loved it too. He was running around and even skipped a nap. I love to bake in jars, this time I used baby food bottles. I was afraid the glass wasn't going to resist the heat but it turned out great. It was so easy to carry, everybody loved it and most important, mess free. :)

Ingredients:

For the Gazpacho

Marinate:

2 garlic cloves

4 lb tomatoes halved

1 lg yellow onion, roughly chop

1/2 red bell pepper, Roughly chop

1/2 green bell pepper, Roughly chop

1 cucumber seedless, Roughly chop

3/4 cup olive oil

1/4 vineger

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp black pepper

1 tbsp salt

2 cups water

In a big bowl, mix together all the  ingredients except the water and cucumber. Mix well, cover it and refrigerate for 1 hour. Add the cucumber. In batches, add the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth adding water as needed. Taste for seasoning. Mix well and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Is best If you leave it over night, the longer gazpacho sits, the better.

Tortilla Espanola

4 large potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

5 eggs

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1/2 olive oil 

Salt and Pepper 

Heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil and add the onion, cook until onions are soft, about 6 minutes, set them aside. 

Heat the rest of the oil in a 10inch non-stick frying pan, add the potatoes and cook slowly in low heat until tender, we don't want the potatoes to brown too much. Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a bowl, add salt and pepper. When the potatoes are done, drain off excess oil into a bowl, then add the potatoes  and the cooked onion to the eggs, mix well. Add 2 tablespoons of oil back to the frying pan and pour in the potato mixture and spread out evenly. Cook over medium heat until set, about 3 or 4 minutes (don't stir them).  Shake the pan occasionally to prevent the tortilla from sticking. Turn the tortilla (you can use a plate) and cook for another minute or two.

Note: You could carefully lift the side of the tortilla to see if it has lightly browned.

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