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!)

Easy homemade granola

“Eat your breakfast alone, share your lunch with a friend, and give your dinner to your enemy.”  This old saying in Romanian culture still rings so true today.  In a nutshell, you have to eat a generous breakfast, a small lunch, and an even smaller dinner, or skip dinner entirely to maintain a healthy lifestyle.  So, we’re talking about breakfast again, a meal I was never fond of yet steadily grew to appreciate.  But, stay with me, it’s worth it!  Breakfast today includes a very easy and lip-smacking granola!       

I have to tell you that Romania doesn’t really do granola.  In fact, it’s only been a few years since we started incorporating cereal into our daily breakfast.  Traditionally, breakfast in Romania is substantial and comprised of bread; eggs turned into omelettes, scrambled, fried or hard-boiled; cheese, butter, cold cuts, fresh vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, jams, coffee and tea.  Frequently and mostly in the countryside, Romanians still prepare with great pride the country’s national breakfast called mămăligă or polenta, a rich and filling cornmeal dish served with cheese.  These days, in our house this type of breakfast has evolved into a brunch, which we fully relish on the weekend.  On weekdays, though, this Easy Homemade Granola has breakfast written all over it!  

Truth be told, I used to purchase my fair share of sickly pale store-bought granola, but now the search has ceased.  I’ve found a recipe that makes me look forward to breakfast every morning.  It’s my go-to invigorating breakfast (and late night guilty sweet snack).  This granola has it all; it’s simple but rich in flavor, crisp and crunchy, nutty and nicely spiced, packed with the usual suspects – oats, nuts, seeds and sweet accompaniments – freckled with colorful chewy raisins and dried cranberries, and lacquered with a healthy dose of olive oil.  And that pinch of salt in a sea of crackly deliciousness binds everything together and nails the faint savory component.  All there’s left to do is sprinkle a couple of spoonfuls of granola over creamy plain yogurt, and toss in a few slices of apple or your favorite fruit while you’re at it, simply douse it in milk, or use it to make this bad boy.  Enjoy!    

    

Easy Homemade Granola

Adapted from Bon Appétit (February 2013)

Makes: 12+ servings

Ingredients:

·         1 large egg white, beaten

·         3 cups old-fashioned oats

·         ½ cup whole raw almonds

·         ½ cup whole raw cashews

·         ½ cup whole raw walnuts

·         1 ½ cup sweetened flaked coconut

·         ¼ cup agave nectar

·         ¼ cup maple syrup

·         ¼ cup olive oil

·         ¼ cup sesame seeds

·         2 Tablespoons packed light brown sugar

·         1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt

·         ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

·         ½ cup golden raisins

·         ½ cup dried cranberries

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Spread out the almonds, cashews and walnuts on a baking sheet and toast them for 10 minutes.  Take them out of the oven and let them cool completely.  Once cooled, chop the nuts and set them aside.  Lower the oven temperature to 300°F. 

In a large bowl, combine the egg white, old-fashioned oats, nuts, coconut shavings, agave nectar, maple syrup olive oil, sesame seeds, light brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon.  Toss well to combine.  Spread out on a rimmed baking sheet.  Bake the granola, stirring every 10 minutes, until golden brown and dry, about 40-45 minutes.  Once out of the oven, mix in the golden raisins and dried cranberries.  Allow the granola to cool on the baking sheet (it will crisp as it cools).  

Do ahead:  The granola can be made 2 weeks ahead.  Store airtight at room temperature.

Note:  Feel free to tweak this recipe as you wish – you can swap honey for maple syrup and agave; you can play around with the dried fruit or add chocolate chips at the end if you wish.  There’s plenty of room for negotiation!

Poftă Bună! (Bon Appétit!)

Sweet and Spicy Roasted Nuts

I’m in a confessional mood again: I have no self-control when it comes to eating nuts.  That means – I can’t stop munching them if they are in less than a mile radius from me.  They are dangerous!  They’re so dangerous I usually don’t keep them in the house because I would eat them all day, every day, and they’d be gone… They’re what I call the forbidden food in our home.  But then it happens to have company over, which implies the perfect excuse to stock up on as many pounds of nuts as possible and make these crazy irresistible Sweet and Spicy Roasted Nuts and totally impress my guests and show that I’m a great hostess.

I’m a firm believer that the old custom of tipping over some dreary salted peanuts in a colorful bowl and serve them to your guests is overdone and should just go extinct.  And this recipe will help you abandon that boring behavior for good and opt for something more sophisticated and exciting.  Simply put, this unpretentious mixture of crunchy, sweet, salty, a tad spicy, and a smidge unctuous equals the perfect appetizer, snack, gift or… downright addiction!  Your guests will be chomping them by the fistful in no time!   

I dig any recipe that doesn’t require you to slave an entire day in the kitchen.  And this Sweet and Spicy Roasted Nuts recipe is right up there; it’s a breeze to whip up and uses a mere four basic ingredients to create an utterly indulgent result.  On top of that, I love any kind of nuts and chief among them, cashews.  In this recipe, though, I decided to pair them with almonds for some variety.  But feel free to use any kind of nuts you prefer – almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, peanuts, and the list goes on.  Then, all you have to do is roast, mix, toss and serve.  No fancy ingredients, no fancy equipment, no fancy procedures but a very fancy and infinitely delicious snack that will keep your guests happily nibbling on until the main players make it to the table.  And now, though with no company around, I’m ready to dive head first into a bowl of these Sweet and Spicy Roasted Nuts.  That’s right!  No guests?  No problem!  The bowl is all yours!

Sweet and Spicy Roasted Nuts

Adapted from Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentiis

Makes: 2 cups

Ingredients for the Chili-Infused Oil:

·         ½ cup olive oil

·         1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes

Ingredients for the Roasted Nuts:

·         2 Tablespoons Chili-Infused Oil

·         1 cup raw unsalted whole almonds

·         1 cup raw unsalted whole cashews

·         1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

·         1 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions for the Chili-Infused Oil:

In a small saucepan, heat the olive oil and crushed red pepper flakes over low heat, stirring occasionally, until a thermometer inserted into the oil registers 180°F, about 4-5 minutes.  Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature, about 30-45 minutes.  Transfer the oil and red pepper flakes to a 4-ounce bottle or other small container and seal the lid.  Refrigerate up to 1 month. 

Instructions for the Roasted Nuts:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Place the almonds and cashews on a large baking sheet and roast in the oven for 15 minutes.  Take them out of the oven and allow the nuts to cool completely.   

Transfer the nuts to a medium bowl.  In a small bowl, stir 2 Tablespoons of Chili-Infused Oil, 1 Tablespoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt to blend.  Pour the mixture over the nuts and toss to coat.  And serve!  

Poftă Bună! (Bon Appétit!)

Romanian Cheesecake

Do you know what we celebrated on May 5?  I bet everyone is thinking of Cinco de Mayo!  Well, not so fast.  This year, on May 5 we celebrated Easter!  Yes, you heard that correctly – Easter – Orthodox Easter that is.  So, here come the lamb… and the Romanian Cheesecake!  

But first things first.  Few people know this but Orthodox Easter often occurs at a later date than the Western Catholic Easter does.  And this year they were six weeks apart.  Around this time last year, I told you how we spent Easter in Romania and the abundant menu we put together for this special holiday.  Well, we weren’t in Romania for Easter this year but we still enjoyed an elaborate menu, which included the rich, succulent lamb and a different Easter dessert.  As a result, I gave the lamb a humble yet glorious treatment just as I did with the pork in this recipe, and I replaced the traditional Pască with a fabulous Romanian Cheesecake.

To be brutally honest, American cheesecake was never my cup of tea.  Perhaps it was the obscene amount of cream cheese that this cake generally required.  Or maybe it was the ratio of custard to crust that I couldn’t get over.  Bottom line, I always thought that I didn’t like cheesecake.  But then it dawned on me that my grandmother’s cake, loaded with cheese that I adored as a kid was cheesecake, too. 

Yet, the difference between the two is the kind of cheese used to make the cakes.  While the American cheesecake calls for cream cheese, the Romanian Cheesecake opts for a milder, less tangy cheese such as ricotta.  I made this fantastic Romanian cheesecake a day before Easter and since we had family friends on Sunday and really wanted to offer them dessert, Adrian and I had to restrain ourselves from devouring it before time.

When you cut it into bars, you get this perfect, thumb thick, lemon speckled, rich cheese custard nestling between two delicate and pleasantly sweet crusts.  Then you dive your teeth into the soft yet firm enough top and land straight into the smooth, sweetened cheesy cream.  I also love how the cream of wheat adds a slightly dense texture to the filling, while the citrusy flavor from the bits of lemon reigns comfortably in the background.  And finished with a shower of confectioners’ sugar this cake is utterly stunning!  And did I mention that this Romanian Cheesecake would truly impress your mom on Mother’s Day?  

Romanian Cheesecake

By Simply Romanesco inspired by my Grandma Vicki

Makes: 24 bars

Ingredients for the dough:

·         250 grams (2 sticks and 2 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more to butter the pan

·         100 grams (3 5/8 ounces) confectioners’ sugar, plus more for dusting

·         1 egg yolk, at room temperature

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         ½ teaspoon lemon juice

·         1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

·         ½ teaspoon  salt

·         400 grams (14 ounces) all-purpose flour

·         1-2 Tablespoons whole milk

Ingredients for the custard:

·         750 ml whole milk

·         ½ cup semolina flour (or cream of wheat)

·         ¼ teaspoon salt

·         500 grams (1 pound) whole milk ricotta cheese

·         8 Tablespoons granulated sugar, divided

·         Zest from 1 lemon

·         4 eggs, at room temperature

Instructions for the dough:

Coat the bottom and sides of a 14 x10 x 2-inch baking pan with butter.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together the baking soda and lemon juice.  Keep close at hand.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour and salt.  Keep close at hand.

In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer beat the butter with the confectioners’ sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  Add the egg yolk, vanilla extract, and baking soda and lemon juice mix and continue to process.  Gradually add the flour and salt mixture and process until the flour is absorbed.  Using clean hands, continue to mix the dough until it starts to form a ball.  Add 1-2 Tablespoons of milk and mix well until you obtain a soft but not sticky dough.  Divide it in two pieces and put them in the fridge while you work on the custard.    

   

Instructions for the custard:

In a medium saucepan, heat up the milk and salt over medium heat.  When it gets to the boiling stage, gradually (in two batches) add the semolina flour.  Turn the heat down to medium-low and stir constantly until the mixture is cooked, about 10 minutes.  You’ll end up with a mixture similar to cream of wheat.  Take it off the heat and let it cool completely.  

In the meantime, separate the egg yolks and egg whites.  Keep them close at hand 

In a large bowl, mix the ricotta cheese with 5 Tablespoons granulated sugar and the lemon zest.  Add the egg yolks to the mixture and mix well using a spatula.  When the cream of wheat has cooled, add it to the ricotta, sugar and egg mixture, and stir to incorporate.    

In a medium bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat the egg whites with 3 Tablespoons of granulated sugar on medium-high speed until they hold medium-firm peaks.

In batches, gently fold the egg whites into the ricotta cheese mixture.  Set it aside.  

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Take one piece of the dough out of the fridge.  Flour the working surface and knead the dough for a few minutes with some flour until the dough warms up a bit and becomes pliable.  Roll out the dough; if you find the dough to be still too soft, roll the dough out on a sheet of plastic wrap; flatten a large piece of plastic wrap against the counter and roll the dough.  Flour the rolling pin often so that the dough doesn’t stick to it.  

Once rolled out, transfer the dough to the prepared pan making sure it covers the entire surface of the pan.  Pour the custard over the dough.  The custard may seem too runny but don’t worry, it will firm up as it bakes.         

Take the second piece of dough out of the fridge, knead it for a few minutes with some additional flour, and roll it out like you did with the first piece.  Gently place the dough atop the custard in the pan.  Don’t worry if the dough breaks in places; it will come back together as it bakes.  Poke the dough here and there with a fork and bake the cake for 50-55 minutes, or until golden brown.  Out of the oven, allow the cake to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack before you slice it.  Dust with confectioners’ sugar.       

Poftă Bună! (Bon Appétit!)