Vanilla Panna Cotta with Raspberry Coulis

It's Valentine's Day! Well at least it was, about a week ago! :) I asked Z what he would like to have for dessert as a treat and he said Panna Cotta! 

Ah Panna Cotta, the lovely, silky bouncy Italian dessert. I have to admit, before trying this myself, I did think that Panna Cotta was a difficult dessert to make. I have never used gelatine before and to be honest, I didn't know how to work with it. But alas, I'm so glad I tried this as it was SO easy! and delicious too! :) This is a must try for anyone who's a lover of Panna Cotta :)

Ingredients

(Makes two standard size ramekins, adapted from the BBC website)

1 1/2 gelatine leaves (I used Dr Oetker's)

125 ml whole milk

125 ml double cream

2 tablespoons of sugar (to taste)

1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste

For the coulis

125 gms of raspberries 

2 tablespoons of sugar

2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

3-4 tablespoons of water

Method

1. Soak the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water till soft.
2. Combine the milk, cream, sugar and vanilla paste into a saucepan.
3. Bring it to a simmer and simmer gently for 1-2 minutes, stirring to ensure that the sugar is melted and the vanilla paste is mixed through well. 
4. Squeeze the water out of the gelatine leaves, and put them into the saucepan. Stir through the milk/cream mixture and simmer for another 1 minute.
5. Remove from heat and pour into the ramekins.
6. Leave cool for about 5-10 minutes, and put them in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours. For a special Valentine's treat, I used heart shaped ramekins :) You can cover with clingflim to prevent a 'skin' from forming but I skipped this step.
7. To make the coulis- put all of the ingredients(reserve some raspberries to garnish) into a small saucepans and  bring to a boil. Leave on heat for a few minutes until the raspberries soften and break down (this shouldn't take more than 2 minutes once the mixture boils). Add more or less sugar to taste- I prefer my coulis to be tangy to contrast against the sweet panna cotta.
8. Leave to cool.
9. To serve, pour the coulis onto the panna cotta, and garnish with the reserved raspberries. I left my panna cotta in the ramekin (less dishes to wash up!) but if you prefer, you can warm the ramekin slightly (just soak with hot water from the tap for a couple of minutes) and turn the panna cotta over onto a plate.
10. Sieve the coulis to achieve a smoother consistency.
11. Enjoy!

I have yet to try it but I believe this recipe is very giving in terms of flavours of the panna cotta. I might try chocolate panna cotta next time!

Apple crumble cake

I baked! Yay! I found the whole baking process very comforting, and very soothing. Okay, I guess creaming butter and sugar may not sound like the perfect way to de-stress, but I found it relaxing. I think everyone should give it a try!

Mmmm... 

Unfortunately I didn't have any vanilla extract, or cinnamon to give the cake the wow factor. However when it was warm out of the oven, with some vanilla ice cream, it was perfect. So comforting. The crumble at the top was crusty and slightly on the crunchy side. I was picking the small pieces off the top of the cake. Love crunchy stuff.

All ready for the oven

I got the recipe from a food blog, I googled apple crumble cake and selected the "Images" view. I clicked on a picture (It turned out to be from this amazing blog which I am starting to read), and hey presto, the recipe sounded very simple and indeed it was very easy to follow! My crumble didn't turn out as glorious as on the blog, that's probably because I didn't read it carefully enough, and didn't do a lot of the last step. I added some demerara sugar in the crumble for the added crunch. I reckon adding some chopped nuts in the crumble would be yummy as well. I didn't use Granny Smiths, instead I used some apples I got from Tesco that says "Cooking apples". I think they were braeburn, though it was green (I always thought braeburn was pink/red-dish. I guess they were really unripe!). It turned out good as well.

It turned to be quite a big cake, I made two batches of the recipe, as one batch barely covered the base of the cake tin. I guess I was too ambitious! Half of the cake is finished though, I'm glad D is around to help me eat it :)

Pancake with apples

Breakfast today! I have to admit: I didn't make the pancake myself. I saw a pack of pancakes on offer yesterday at Tesco's. So I decided to indulge myself this morning.

I served the warmed pancake with some apples that I fried in Flora cuisine, some brown sugar and some lemon juice. I also had some creme fraiche and strawberry slices by the side.

So pretty on a plate!