Orange Panna Cotta with Rhubarb Port Sauce

I love Panna Cotta ! It's one of my favorite desserts and I like to experiment with different flavors and sauces. I had bought some rhubard the day before to stew with sugar to go over vanilla ice cream. I thought the rhubard would make a good sauce and while the was getting the sugar out, I saw a bottle of Port that a friend had given us. This is what I made

INGREDIENTS :

1/4 c warm water

1 packet of gelatin , unflavored

2 cup heavy cream

1/3 c sugar

1TB orange extract

HOW TO :

-In a small bowl, add warm water and sprinkle the gelatin into the water and wait 5 minutes for it to disolve.

- In a pot, heat the cream and sugar over medium heat until the sugar disolves, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the gelatin to the cream and stir until the gelatin is disolved into the cream.

- Add the orange extract

- Pour the cream mixture into four well oiled metal molds almost to the top. I use vegetable oil, this makes the panna cotta slide out easily.

- Chill for about 2 hours for it to set.

While the panna cotta is chilling, prepare the rhubard sauce.

Rhubard Port Sauce

- Dice up rhubard to equal 3 cups, put into a medium pot

- add 1 cup of sugar - I know, it's a lot, but it's suppose to be, it's dessert !

- add 1/3 cup of water

-cook over medium heat until the rhubard starts to break up, I cooked it about 20-25 minutes

- when ready to take off the heat, add 1/4 cup of Port

- Put a strainer over a large bowl and pour in the rhubard and let the liquid collect in the bowl below

- Chill the Rhubarb sauce.

** save the rhubard pulp for another treat with ice cream.

PLATE IT :

- After two hours, invert the mold onto a plate, the panna cotta should slide out easily. If not, help it by running the tip of a knife around to loosen sides.

- Pour the Rhubard sauce over the top of panna cotta. Serve.

Enjoy Every Bite

Canadian Butter Tart ... Pie

In Canada, on the east coast anyway, you can always find a good butter tart but I have not seen one in the USA. I am not much of a baker, results from baking usually are poor , especially if it involves flour as the main ingredient. Can you say brick ! My Mom would send me butter tarts in the mail so I could have my fix but they don't travel well. Von's grocery store use to carry really good already prepared tart shells but they stopped... argh !! I hate when that happens. What could I do then ... start making pastry dough? No, turn it into a pie... after all, the shell is made for me. You don't have a big slice of this pie, it's very sweet.

INGREDIENTS :

1 good quality pie shell crust, or if you are a baker, homemade would be better.
1 ½ cup of golden raisins
½ cup butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup light corn syrup
½ tsp salt 3 eggs, beat lightly
2 tsp of good vanilla

HOW TO :
- In a pot, combine raisins, butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Heat over medium heat until the butter melts and the sugar is disolved - Don't boil.

- Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla, then eggs a little at a time and stir vigorously after each addition so the eggs don't cook.

- I bake in a 325°F convection oven for about 45-55 mintues. I just keep my eye on it . Times have varied for me in the past. How I can tell it's done is when it foams and when I move the pie it jiggles like jello, not liquid... sounds silly but thats the non-baker in me.

Keep chilled !

I serve homemade whipped cream with it.

Beef Stew alla Kim ! (recipe)

I have made boeuf bourguignon many times... even made Julia Child's recipe from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" once but I wanted to make another type of stew. When I make a beef stew I sometimes add pearl onions, mushrooms or baby carrots but tonight I did something different again. I like the addition of the balsamic vinegar and the orange zest.


Ingredients
3 lbs of beef, cut into 2" chunks, stewing beef or chuck roast
1/4 cup of olive oil
4 Tb Butter
10 whole garlic cloves (a lot I know, but I love garlic)
4 Tb spoons of tomato paste
1/4 cup balsaminc vinegar
1 cup of red wine, I used pinot noir (It was open becasue I was having a glass already)
1 can beef broth
zest from one orange


The Side : Buttermilk Blue Cheese Mashes Potataoes


4 medium red skinned potatoes
1/2 cup butter
2-3 Big TB sour cream
2 Tb of whipping cream
4 Tb of Buttermilk Blue Cheese
kosher salt

HOW TO :

- lightly dust beef chunks with flour and pepper
- drizzle olive oil over the bottom of a cast iron casserole dish
- saute beef chunks on both side until brown
- into the casserole dish, add the butter, garlic, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, red wine and beef broth

*** I didn't add the zest of the orange until the stew was almost cooked, in the last half hour.

I cooked in a 325°F convection oven for about 2 1/2 hours. From my experience, the time will vary for when the meat will be tender. Keep an eye on it. Also, I find the stew always taste best the next day.

Potatoes :
Boil potatoes. When done, keep skins on, mash, add butter, sour cream, whipping cream and blue cheese. The tang of the blue cheese compliments the beef dish nicely.

Plate It :

Place some of the stew on a plate and a nice big dollop of the mashed potatoes.

ENJOY EVERY BITE !

Burger Time (recipe)

A few years ago I was tired of eating the same burger - ketchup, mustard, dill relish , onions and cheese. A good classic burger I know but it gets boring after awhile. I needed to step it up a bit so this is what I came up with and I have been dedicated to this burger since. Sometimes I grill it and sometimes I cook it stove top in a pan. I just made it an hour ago for my lunch and I only had half of it, it's a big burger with big taste.

What's it called... Pesto & Roasted Red Pepper Burger

** Makes two burgers for two people... unless you're really hungry.

Ingredients

½ lb ground beef 85/15 ... fat is good., form into two patties , grill or pan fry
1 TB of Montreal Steak Seasoning
½ cup mayonnaise
4 Tb of prepared pesto
roasted red pepper, cut into strips
4 slices of Basil Havarti cheese ( I buy it at Albertsons, haven't seen it anywhere else)
Sesame or Poppyseed bun

How To :

- Mix mayo and pesto sauce
- Form beef into patties and sprinkle with Montreal Steak Seasoning, cook until medium doneness
- Spread pesto mayo on bottom and underside of top, place slice of Basil Havarti on bottom bun, then beef patty, another slice of the cheese, and top with slices of red pepper.



Enjoy every bite !

Confession: I have roasted the red pepper in the past and you can certainly do this, as well as the pesto... knock yourself out with doing it homemade style. But when I crave this burger, it's an impulse to make it and the quicker the better so I buy a jar of roasted red peppers.