Tag: pannacotta

Lavender pannacotta with almond brittle

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When I had Jess and Laura around for dinner a while ago I had prepared this dessert the dat before because once again I made pannacotta.

I love this little concotion and will probably not stop making it until I have tried every flavour I can possibly think of – and maybe not even then.

This time I flavoured the pannacotta with lavender, and because of this particular flavour I used less sugar than usual. Instead I added sweet almond brittle to serve with it and it turned out really well. It was nice with the contrasting textures as well with the crunchy sugary nuts and velvety cream together.

I was in a hurry when preparing this and therefore I used quite a lot of lavender to flavour the cream quickly. If you have more time on your hands you can use less lavender with the cream and instead leave the mixture in the fridge for a few hours before making the pannacotta.

Lavender pannacotta, serves 3

400 ml cream

25-30 ml caster sugar

2 tbsp lavender

2 gelatine leaves

Place the gelatine leaves in a bowl and cover with cold water. Pour the cream, sugar and lavender into a saucepan and bring to the boil whilw stirring. Remove from heat. Squeeze the water out of the gelatine and add it to the mixture – stir to combine. Pour the mixture through a sieve to catch the lavender and let the creamy mixture cool for 15 minutes or so. Then pour into dessert bowls, ramekins or what you prefer. Leave to cool, then place in fridge overnight to set.

Almond brittle

1 tbsp salted butter

2 tbsp caster sugar

1.5 tbsp cream

two handfuls almonds

Place all ingredients bar the almonds in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the almonds and let the mixture become a golden colour, while stirring. Pour onto a baking sheet and leave to cool completely. Chop and place on top of the pannacottas before serving.

Zucca, Bermondsey – wow!

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We had time for another restaurant visit when my friends Malin and Tobbe were here last weekend. They wanted to go to an Italian restaurant and I gave them a short list with a few names on, and from that list they chose Zucca, which I was super excited about since it has been on my to-eat list for quite a while ago.

They are very popular, so book well in advance. I was really happy that they could find us a table and although we arrived a few minutes early our table was ready for us.

We had a seat in the dining room decorated with plush carpet and modern white glossy furniture. On one wall you have the open kitchen so regardless of where you are sitting you will have a view of the kitchen.

We started with the suggested aperitif; prosecco with pomegranate. I can never resist bubbly and this drink was refreshing and nice. After the waitress had taken our order everything was very efficient in a definitely non-stressful way. The waiting staff just did their job really well and knew when we were ready for the next step.

The bread basket consisted of three types of bread, that were all delicious but the foccacia really stood out. It was soft in the middle, nice and oily but crusty on the outside.

Next was our amuse bouche; frittata. Also very nice.

Then our starters. Malin chose the olive crostini with charkuterie and was very please with her decision.

My popo al pomodoro with burrata was pure indulgence and I savoured every bite. The ‘soup’ was full of flavour and the burrata was creamy and salty. Pure joy on a plate!

Tobbe ordered the Zucca fritti and received a smaller mountain of freshly pan-fried goodies in a light airy batter. Malin and I helped him out too and really enjoyed it.

Malin chose rigatoni with cauliflower, tomatoes and sultanas and it looked very scrumptious, don’t you agree?!

My tagliatelle with duck ragu was perfection. I enjoyed every bite.

Tobbe’s seared tuna was perfectly dark red in the middle. It was served with a picante sauce and marinated shavings of fennel and courgettes.

After all of that we still had room for dessert. Tobbe chose this scoop of pistachio icecream and it was absolutely delicious.

I couldn’t resist the pannacotta with rhubarb which felt very light although fillinf. I had to give up after half.

Malin was happy with coffee instead and while that arrived we also got these little treats, which was the only thing I wasn’t ove the moon about. The short bread was a tad too sweet and the brittle was a bit too dark and therefore tasted too much of burnt sugar. But I won’t let my opinion of these little freebies taint my view of the evening, which all in all was perfect.

I think you can see how wonderful the food was. THe wine list was also impressive with only Italian wines.

The staff was very efficient and professional and so pro active they would open the door to the restrooms for you when they saw you were on your way there. That’s service! Also the ambiance was lovely – people really seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Good food is always good food, but sometimes the price helps to make your mind up about something. In this case I would have paid a lot for the food, but the fact that it is rather cheap (including a bottle of wine for £33 we paid about just under £50 each for all of the above) just makes me love this place even more.

I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of our evening here and I will so be back. Pretty soon too, I hope!

Zucca
184 Bermondsey Street
London SE1 3TQ

Dulce de leche pannacotta

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To me, a great ending to a meal is some cheese, a pannacotta or a creme brulée. On Saturday after some homemade pizzas with bacon and chorizo I served this lovely caramel pannacotta.

It is incredibly easy to make, especially if you buy the dulce de leche readymade but also if you boil it yourself.

The panncotta is enough in itself but I added a dollop of caramel on top just for appearence and texture.

Dulce de leche pannacotta, serves 4

300 ml cream

ca 200 g (1/2 can) dulce de leche

2 gelatine leaves

Soak the gelatine in cold water. Bring cream and caramel to the boil in a saucepan while stirring. Remove from heat and add the gelatine, water squeezed out. Stir to incorporate. Leave to cool for a while before pouring into bowls. Leave to set in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

 

Four course dinner

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Our friends Malin and Martin have been staying with us Wednesday to Sunday last week, and we did the most of eating and drinking during that time. 🙂

On Friday we met up with them after work and walked to our favourite Terroirs for a glass or two. OK, two. We take most our visiting friends here for drinks as it is such a nice a place. We were a little hungry so we nibbled on bread and nice green olives before we headed home to eat dinner.

While I was cooking we had some Pimm’s and snacks and after half an hour or so we were ready to eat properly.

We had Delia’s smashing halloumi with lime vinaigrette as a starter, followed by lamb neck fillet with French potato salad and asparagus.

For dessert we had vanilla pannacotta with strawberries and raspberries and a pinch of icing sugar, followed by a cheese board, sourdough bread, crackers and port.

Yep, we were very sleepy and full after all this. The next day the gluttany continued with a big brunch and Henley Regatta, which I will post tomorrow.

Pannacotta with raspberry syrup

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On Saturday we had the unusual pheasant eggs as a starter and for the maincourse we ate a classic in our house; chicken cannelloni. It is such a nice dish, creamy and comforting and it works both for a dinner party and a weekday.

But even better was the dessert! I tried a recipe from the Swedish blog Matplatsen. For once I actually followed the recipe (well, the ingredients list) but I changed the method a bit. 🙂 The pannacotta tasted lovely with all the vanilla, and the slightly tart syrup really worked to balance the creamy richness. Try this!

Vanilla pannacotta with raspberry syrup, serves 4

500 ml cream

1 vanilla pod

50 ml caster sugar

2 gelatine leaves

Syrup:

100g fresh raspberries (or frozen)

50 ml caster sugar

1 star anise

Put the gelatine in a bowl with cold water to soak. Cut the vanilla pod in half and place it in a saucepan. Add cream and sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes while stirring with a whisk. Remove from heat and divide into four containers.  Leave to cool then refridgerate for at least three hours. When they have set, make the syrup. Melt sugar in a pan, without stirring, when it has almost melted, add the star anise and raspberries. Simmer while stirring for a few minutes. Put the syrup through a sieve to remove the pits. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool for a few minutes. Divide between the pannacottas and top them with a thin layer each. Place a raspberry or two on top. Refridgerate for another 30 minutes before serving.