Buttermilk Panna Cotta

For my husband's birthday we went to Bar Agricole.  For dessert I had a sublime buttermilk panna cotta.  I tried many versions of panna cotta; most add too much gelatin which gives the panna cotta a jello-like texture.  The best panna cotta I tried came from my favorite dessert cookbook, "The Sweet Life" by Kate Zuckerman.  I switched out the milk with buttermilk.  However, the first time I tried it the panna cotta curdled slightly.  The trick, I discovered, was to add the buttermilk at the end, after chilling the cooked custard.

Yield: six 4 ounce dishes

1 1/4 t unflavored gelatin
1 vanilla bean or 1 t vanilla extract (for very inexpensive vanilla beans go to Vanilla Saffron Imports)
1 1/2 C heavy cream
1/2 C sugar
Pinch of salt
4 egg whites
1 1/2 C buttermilk

In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over 5 teaspoons of water and set aside for 10 minutes.  The gelatin will become a gummy paste.

Split the vanilla bean in half and scape the seeds into a medium sized pot.  Bring the cream, 1/4 cup of the sugar and the vanilla pod and seeds to a simmer.  Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for at least 15 minutes.

In a small bowl whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, salt and egg whites.  Slowly, using ladle, whisk some of the hot milk into the egg white mixture to warm it.  Gradually pour the warmed egg mixture into the hot milk, whisking constantly as you pour.

Cook the custard over medium heat (on my stove I use medium-low, don't cook too fast or your custard may curdle), stirring continuously (really, she means constantly and gently or your custard may curdle) and scraping the bottom with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Remove from heat and add about 1/2 cup of the cooked custard to the gelatin and whisk until the gelatin dissolves.  Add this small amount of custard back to the remaining custard and whisk the two together.

Strain the custard through a fine-mesh strainer.  Chill the custard over an ice bath until it comes to room temperature.  Remove the vanilla bean.  Add the buttermilk and mix it in thoroughly.

Pour the custard into the molds and refrigerate for at least 6 hours to allow the gelatin to set.  You can eat it plain, but it's nice with my lemon syrup and butter cookies.

I rinse and dry the vanilla bean and then put it into a jar with sugar to make vanilla sugar (it's good in coffee and I use it for baking).

Vanilla Saffron Imports is located on 949 Valencia St.  You can get vanilla beans and saffron for unbelievably low prices there.  If you don't live nearby, buy on-line and they will ship it to you.

Lemon Syrup

Peel of 1 lemon sliced into match sticks, approx. 1"x1/16"
Juice of 2 lemons, filtered through a very fine strainer, preferably a clean empty tea bag
2 C water + 1 C water
1/3 C sugar

Boil the lemon peel in 2 cups cold water until the peel looks transparent.  Let sit for 15 minutes.  This removes the bitterness from the peel.  Strain out the peel and discard the water.

Add all the ingredients; peel, 1 cup water, lemon juice and sugar; into a small sauce pan.  Bring to a boil slowly.  Cook until peel is translucent and tender, sugar is completely dissolved and syrup is slightly thick.  Let cool completely, the syrup will thicken.  Pour a teaspoon or so of the lemon syrup over the panna cotta when serving.

Caramel Popcorn

My husband is hooked on gourmet caramel popcorn.  In an effort to save some money, I downloaded several recipes from the internet and started experimenting.  It took a month of trial and error, but this final result is very addictive and fairly easy to make.  We found brown sugar had the nicest flavor, but you can use white sugar instead in a pinch. A candy thermometer is necessary, though being familiar with caramel I used white sugar initially and browned it until it looked right.  I then took the temperature and switched to brown sugar for this finally recipe.  (This is NOT a kid safe recipe for obvious reasons.) 

1/3 C popcorn

3 T canola oil

Pop the popcorn in a very large pot with a lid. Put the popcorn into a large roasting pan with high sides. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.

1 C brown sugar

2 T  agave or honey (we prefer agave)

10 T  sweet butter

Slice the butter into tablespoon sized pieces.  Put the brown sugar, butter and agave into a medium pot.  At medium heat allow the butter to melt.  Stir to mix all the ingredients (the butter will separate a little, not to worry).  Put a lid on a the pot and allow it to come to a vigorous boil.  Remove the lid and continue to boil until the temperature reaches 285 degrees.  (Other recipes used 250 degrees or simply said cook for 5 minutes, but we didn't get a nice caramel flavor from that.)  Remove from heat. 

2 t vanilla extract

1/2 t baking soda           

Add the vanilla extract and stir quickly. Add the baking soda and stir again quickly.  The soda causes the caramel to foam and will help distribute the caramel more evenly.  Pour caramel over the popcorn and stir well.

Bake 45 minutes in a large roasting pan, stirring well every 15 minutes.

1 t flaked salt

Remove from oven and sprinkle 1 teaspoon flaked salt over caramel corn and stir to mix.

Tip: ideally use non-stick implements to stir and a non-stick roasting pan.  Some recipes suggest using spray-on anti-stick.  To clean pots, let soak in warm water for a few minutes and the caramel will come off easily.

Next we're working on a caramel nut version... 

Postscript: We have tried doubling this recipe.  I has worked on some occasions but the last two times the caramel did not stay emulsified which resulted in a wet, greasy popcorn.  It does seem that slight variations can cause things to break.  I'll be weighing the ingredients next time and will post the results.