Blood Orange Chia Pudding

All winter long I’ve been basking in the wonderful taste and nutritional value of the striking blood oranges.  And even though spring is well upon us, I’ve been lucky enough to still get my hands on them at the grocery store.  Now, the real magic happens when you marry blood oranges with yogurt and chia seeds to create an exceptional and lip-smacking treat that you’ll crave every morning.  Yes, we’re talking breakfast and the best part about this breakfast is that this Blood Orange Chia Pudding is a no-cook silky pudding that you whip up the night before.   

  

People have been going gaga over chia seeds for a long while now and I have been on the chia bandwagon myself.  Truth is, with all the nutritional benefits of fiber and omega-3s that they pack they are hard to ignore.  Plus, once drowned in the velvety blood orange juice and yogurt mixture, these chia seeds plump up and turn into tiny fat bubbles that burst onto your tongue and crack under your teeth.  As Giada de Laurentiis noted in her cookbook, they do remind you of tapioca pearls, which I happen to adore, but even if you’re not a tapioca fan, this Blood Orange Chia Pudding will convert you into a chia lover in no time.    

Although it might look like one while sporting a beautiful pale pink hue, this pudding is more than just a flavored, textured yogurt.  It is a smooth, pleasantly thick, creamy, tangy, citrusy and sweet pudding with a lovely somewhat bubbly texture that provides a substantial and filling breakfast in a tiny serving.  Top it with bright fruit and toasted pistachios and you’ve created the breakfast of champions.  

In addition, this Chia Pudding is quite versatile.  While I love the blood orange version, Giada offers a recipe that calls for vanilla-flavored unsweetened almond milk instead of orange juice.  So, you can definitely replace the blood orange juice with almond milk and still end up with a phenomenal and slightly creamier concoction.  Enjoy!    

Blood Orange Chia Pudding

Adapted from Bon Appétit (February 2016)

Makes: 2 servings

Ingredients:

·         ½ cup Greek yogurt (or plain yogurt)

·         ½ cup fresh blood orange juice

·         2 Tablespoons honey or agave nectar or maple syrup (whichever you prefer or have on hand)

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         Pinch of salt

·         ¼ cup chia seeds

·         Blood orange segments or blueberries or any other fruit you like

·         Chopped pistachios or sliced almonds, toasted

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the yogurt, blood orange juice, honey, vanilla and salt.  Whisk in the chia seeds.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 8 to 24 hours.  When you’re ready to eat the pudding, stir the pudding and divide it between small bowls or glasses.  I, however, recommend that you divide the mixture between small bowls and glasses, cover them with plastic wrap and then chill for up to 24 hours.  That way, come morning, I only have to grab one of the glasses from the fridge, stir, top the pudding with fruit and nuts and enjoy.  

Before serving, layer the pudding with some orange segments (or other fruit you prefer).  Top with the chopped pistachios and remaining orange segments.  Drizzle with more honey if desired and serve. 

Note: To top the pudding with orange segments, cut the peel and white pith from 2 blood oranges.  How to do that: cut a slice off the top and bottom of the orange, making sure you cut just past the pith to expose the fruit underneath.  Stand the orange upright on a cut end.  Following the curve of the fruit, use a small knife to slice away the peel and pith.  Working over a bowl, cut along either side of membranes to release the segments.  

Poftă Bună! (Bon Appétit!)

Honey and cinnamon plum cake for turning two!

My little blog turned two, last week!  And, you know, this journey would hardly be so much fun without all of you, dear readers!  And for that, I want to give you all a very big THANK YOU!!!  Thank you for reading my stories, trying my recipes, sending lovely and super sweet words of encouragement, and simply being out there and enjoying my blog!  You can’t imagine how much this all means to me!

Strangely, it seems that every year on this big, celebratory occasion I’m being followed around by the same type of plums – the cloudy purple Italian prune plums that I so long for all summer until they finally make it to the markets and into my kitchen and into sinful desserts.  Last year, I stuffed them into perfectly soft dumplings; this year, I dropped them into a deep, dark, nicely sweet and moist Pudding Cake of Honey, Cinnamon and Plums that was nothing short of legendary!

This year, my parents also enjoyed a glorious plum harvest.  The plum tree in my grandparents’ garden resembled a willow tree and almost gave in to the heavy weight of its overloaded crown of ripe plums.  Most of them found their way into simmering jams, pickled compotes, beloved cakes, and some were left for eating raw.  But while my parents, conveniently, went plum picking in the backyard, I went to the market where, luck struck, and a very generous lady put an overflowing box of swiftly ripening prune plums in my lap for virtually nothing. 

So, what do you do when fortune strikes?  You say ‘thank you very, very much’, run home and stash your freezer with multiple bags of plums to make deliciously oozing potato plum dumplings until most likely next year; and with the several remaining pounds of plums you make pan after pan of Nigel Slater’s spectacular plum cake: a pan for a second birthday, one for a Sunday brunch with friends, one for a casual wedding anniversary celebration, another one for a midweek-night sweet treat, and one more because you still have a glut of plums leftover and you like this cake way more than you care to admit!  

To be quite honest, I first made this cake about a year ago with the last fresh prune plums I had languishing around and ripening too fast for me to keep up.  But I haven’t gotten the chance to tell you about it until now.  Obviously, it’s not your posh and fancy birthday cake; it’s a charming-little-every-day-kind of cake.  It’s a sweetly mix of gingerbread and moist spice cake; spongy and sticky, deeply dark in color, loaded with warm cinnamon and tart, juicy plums that turn a vivid reddish color and slowly descend and soften into the soggy batter as the cake rises and bakes into perfection and intense flavor.  It’s a no muss, no fuss yet perfect cake for a second birthday!  

Pudding Cake of Honey, Cinnamon, and Plums

Adapted from Ripe by Nigel Slater

Makes: 16 squares

Ingredients: 

·         2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour

·         1 slightly heaping teaspoon baking powder

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         1 slightly heaping teaspoon cinnamon

·         2/3 cup (200 g) agave nectar

·         2 heaping Tablespoons honey

·         ½ cup (125 g) butter

·         ½ cup packed (125 g) light brown sugar

·         12 ounces (350 g) plums, pitted and halved (or quartered if they are very large)

·         2 large eggs

·         1 cup milk (240 ml)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line an 8- or 9-inch square cake pan with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon, and whisk well to combine. 

In a saucepan, warm the agave nectar, honey and butter over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until the butter melts.  Once the butter has melted, stir in the light brown sugar and whisk well.  Remove the pan from the heat, and allow the mixture to cool slightly for a couple of minutes.

Break the eggs into a medium bowl, add the milk, and whisk to mix.

Pour the agave nectar mixture into the flour mixture and stir with a large, sturdy spoon until combined, and the batter is thick.  Pour in the eggs and milk mixture and continue to stir until the eggs and milk mixture is fully incorporated, and you have a loose batter without any traces of flour.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and arrange the plums on top.  The plums will drop as the cake bakes.  Bake for 35 minutes.  Place a piece of foil loosely over the top of the cake and leave to cook for 15 minutes longer.  Switch off the oven, but leave the cake in the oven for 15 more minutes.  Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool completely before slicing.           

Poftă Bună! (Bon Appétit!)

Panna Cotta with Fresh Berry Sauce

Italy has always made a big impression on me.  Its majestic history, scenery and food are so imposing and hard to ignore.  So, last year Adrian and I finally ventured to Italy together.  It was our first time together to the boot-shaped peninsula and this time we decided to take Rome and Tuscany by storm.  In a nutshell, it was amazing and we thoroughly enjoyed every second in the Eternal City, Florence and the surroundings, but we also truly relished the best panna cotta in the world!

 

Over the years, I’ve sampled numerous variations of this classic Italian dessert across America and even in Romania, but the one that let me hungry for more was the panna cotta in Italy.  I don’t really know why; maybe because the Italians invented it, or because it’s been done, tweaked and improved, and found seemingly on every restaurant’s dessert menu.  Most likely, because it’s delicious!  But don’t panic.  You don’t have to fly across the pond in search of a great panna cotta.  This Panna Cotta with Fresh Berry Sauce can easily be a second best and will graciously do the trick!  

In all honesty, I’ve always had an affinity for this Italian staple but somehow never dared to make it myself.  Perhaps the wobbly pudding engrained in me the idea of a highly difficult dessert.  As it turns out, I was wrong all along.  Making panna cotta is nothing short of effortless!  And this Panna Cotta is here to prove it.  It’s so unbelievably easy to whip up, no baking required, and you’ll be done in roughly 30 minutes, sauce included.  The tough part is the waiting for the panna cotta to set.  You’ll impatiently wonder around until you can finally dig in and engulf this fabulous dessert.  But once set, you’ll have a stunning sweet treat gleaming in deliciousness.  

This panna cotta is simple, summery, and purely sublime!  Refreshing and beautiful will also look gorgeous on your Fourth of July table.  The contrast between the silky smooth, cottony pudding, bursting with delicate vanilla perfume, and the sweetly tart, crimson saucy berries is wonderful.  The flavors are luxurious and transcending, and the faintly thick, delightful richness of the cream shines through.  Of course, you can swap the vanilla for rosewater or lavender or any other flavors you desire to infuse the cream mixture.  The possibilities are endless and the result magical.  Simply put – a glorious dessert that will make your summer even sunnier! 

 

Panna Cotta with Fresh Berry Sauce

Adapted from Everyday Italian by Giada de Laurentiis

Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients for the Panna Cotta:

·         1 cup whole milk

·         1 envelope unflavored powdered gelatin

·         Seeds from 1 vanilla bean

·         3 cups heavy cream

·         1/3 cup honey

·         1 Tablespoon sugar

·         Pinch of salt

Ingredients for the Fresh Berry Sauce:

·         2 cups assorted fresh berries

·         1 ½ Tablespoon sugar

Instructions for the Panna Cotta:

Place the milk in a heavy, small saucepan.  Sprinkle the gelatin over the milk and let stand for 5-7 minutes to soften the gelatin.  Stir over medium heat just until the gelatin dissolves but the milk does not boil, about 5 minutes.  Add the vanilla seeds and stir well to combine.  Add the heavy cream, honey, sugar, and salt and stir until the honey and sugar dissolve, about 2-3 minutes.  Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.  Pour the mixture into 6 glasses, dividing equally.  Cover each glass with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, at least 6 hours and up to 2 days.  

Instructions for the Fresh Berry Sauce:

Place the berries in a small saucepan and sprinkle with sugar.  Heat up the berries over medium-low heat until juicy and soft and mash some of them with a fork.  Continue to stir until the sauce thickens slightly, about 15 minutes.  Let it cool. 

Spoon the sauce atop the panna cotta and serve. 

Poftă Bună! (Bon Appétit!)

Going bananas

When I think of bananas, I usually think of an exotic fruit that gives you energy and that it’s best eaten in the morning or thrown into a sort of cake.  Well, it turns out there are countless things you can do with bananas.  One of these is a Cranberry-Topped Pudding.  Now, I’m not really sure that this is actually a pudding, but we’ll let that slide by; it’s not that important anyway.  What’s important is that you can have this pudding for breakfast, brunch, dessert, snack, you name it.  And even more important is the fact that it’s featherlight, filling and fabulous! 

I came across this recipe a few weeks ago.  It was nicely delivered with our Thursday Pittsburgh Post-Gazette paper.  And out of the 10 easy things to do with bananas, this one stood out the most.  It was easy, fast and looked (at least in the picture) gorgeous.  I planned on trying this recipe for brunch over the weekend one of these days, but it turned out that brunch came sooner than expected.  Not long ago, both Adrian and I were in the mood for something sweet.  I’m not the only one in our family who has a sweet tooth; my husband is a major sweet lover.  Unfortunately, I was out of anything dessert like.  So, I had to improvise.  And this is how our pre-planned brunch turned into a late night dessert.  And it was well worth it!    

This pudding is a great way to start your morning or as it turned out for us to end your night.  The Greek yogurt and ricotta cheese make this pudding hearty, while the cranberries make it chewy and tart.  And you’ll also get an energy boost from the bananas.  Sprinkle some toasted sliced almonds on top for an extra layer of texture, crunchy bite and nutty flavor.  You will not be sorry.   

Cranberry-Topped Pudding

Adapted from Dash (March 2012)

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients:

·         2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

·         3 sliced bananas

·         1 cup plain Greek yogurt

·         ¼ cup ricotta cheese

·         2 Tablespoons honey

·         2 Tablespoons dried cranberries

Instructions:

Sprinkle lemon juice over the bananas.  In a large bowl, combine the Greek yogurt, ricotta cheese and honey.  Add bananas.  Spoon into 4 serving bowls.  Top each serving with dried cranberries. 

Poftă Bună! (Bon Appétit!)    

The bread pudding throwdown

Since Christmas is fast approaching, I thought that it would be a good idea to share with you more exciting recipes to add a twist to the holiday table.  Have you heard of the show Throwdown with Bobby Flay?  Maybe yes, maybe no.  Anyway… this is a hit show on Food Network where acclaimed chef Bobby Flay challenges absolute masters in different kinds of cooking – award-winning BBQers, bakers, pizza makers and more.  In each episode, one of these cooks thinks Food Network is shooting their profile for a show.  What they don’t know is that Bobby is going to drop in for a surprise visit and challenge them to an unexpected cook-off.  Well, this is a bread pudding throwdown.  

The first recipe is Giada De Laurentiis’ Berry Strata, a classic Italian dessert.  Originally, a strata (which means layers in Italian) consisted of a layer of custard, a layer of bread, a layer of custard, a layer of bread, and then you would bake it off.  This recipe, however, mixes all the ingredients together making the strata similar to a bread pudding, which is very easy to create.  This berry strata is so versatile because you can make it for breakfast or for dessert.  When you bake the strata, the outside turns golden-brown, while the inside stays moist and sweet. This modern version of a strata is just like bread pudding but creamier, silkier and fluffier.  The chunky berries make it colorful and the citrus flavor from the orange juice brightens everything up!     

Berry Strata

Adapted slightly from Berry Strata by Giada De Laurentiis

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients:

·         2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

·         3 Tablespoons honey

·         4 large eggs, at room temperature

·         ½ cup ricotta cheese

·         3 Tablespoons sugar

·         1 cup whole milk

·         ¼ cup orange or lemon juice

·         4 slices of bread, such as white or sourdough bread, torn into 1-inch pieces (about 4 cups)

·         1 (12-ounce) bag frozen mixed berries, thawed and drained

Instructions:

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat.  Turn off the heat, add the honey, and stir to combine.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl beat the eggs with a fork.  Add the ricotta cheese and sugar and mix to combine.  Add the milk, orange or lemon juice, butter and honey mixture, and bread.  Stir to combine.  Gently fold in the berries.

Place the ingredients in a 10x8x2 inch baking dish.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours and up to 12 hours.  Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Bake the strata until golden on top and baked through, about 40-45 minutes.  Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.  Spoon into dishes and serve.  

The second recipe is based on a dessert that chef Anita Lo serves at her New York restaurant, Annisa.  Anita Lo’s inventive recipes are inspired by her travels and multicultural upbringing, and they also reflect her classic French training.  Although, she likes to bring Asian ingredients to the holiday table, this recipe is more of a spin on the classic bread pudding.  This baked goodness is sweet, custardy, crunchy on top, and shot through with poppy seeds for a stunning visual and textural effect.  The pecans bring nuttiness, while the warn Amaretto sauce is just like velvety caramel bringing more sweetness and moisture to this superb dessert!       

Pecan and Amaretto Bread Pudding

Adapted from Pecan, Bourbon, and Butterscotch Bread Pudding (Bon Appétit, November 2011)

Serves: 10 servings

Ingredients for the Amaretto Sauce:

·         1 cup (packed) light brown sugar

·         ½ cup agave syrup

·         3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

·         1 ½ teaspoons salt

·         ½ cup heavy cream

·         1 Tablespoon Amaretto liquor (optional)

Ingredients for the Pudding:

·         1 pound day-old rustic white or sourdough bread, crusts removed, cut into ½ inch cubes (about 12 cups)

·         ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

·         2 Tablespoons, plus 1 ½ cups sugar

·         5 large eggs, at room temperature

·         4 cups heavy cream

·         1 ½ Tablespoons poppy seeds

·         Pinch of salt

·         3 Tablespoons Amaretto liquor

·         ½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise

·         2 cups pecan pieces

Instructions for the Amaretto Sauce:

Bring the brown sugar, agave syrup, butter, and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, whisking to dissolve sugar.  Boil until mixture is syrupy and measures 1 1/3 cups, about 3 minutes.  Remove from heat; add cream and Amaretto, if desired, and stir until smooth.  Let cool.  Do Ahead:  Can be made 3 days ahead.  Let cool completely, cover, and chill.  Rewarm before serving.  

Instructions for Pudding:

Toss bread, melted butter, and 2 Tablespoons sugar in a large bowl and set aside.  Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and remaining 1 ½ cups sugar in another large bowl until pale yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add cream, poppy seeds, and salt; beat to blend.  Place Amaretto in a small bowl; scrape in seeds from vanilla bean (reserve bean for another use).  Whisk to distribute seeds, then add to egg mixture, whisking to blend well.  Pour egg mixture over bread mixture in bowl.  Add pecans and toss to coat well.  Transfer mixture to a 13x9x2 inch glass or ceramic backing dish, spreading out in an even layer.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight. 

Preheat oven to 325°F.  Remove plastic wrap and bake until top is browned in spots and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, 1 ¼ - 1 ½ hours.  Serve bread pudding with Amaretto sauce.  

These two different takes on the traditional bread pudding are tasty and easy to make.  However, at the end of the day, you’re the judge and you get to pick the winner of this bread pudding throwdown.  Poftă Bună! (Bon Appétit!)