fruity pavlova is a sweet summer treat - recipe: Barb Wurtele's Pavlova

Early last week, I returned home from work to find two large meringues on my kitchen counter, heavy cream and fresh strawberries in my fridge, along with a voice mail message from my (super sweet) mom. She decided to surprise me with the makings of what would soon be a delicious pavlova. All I had to do was whip the cream, slice the berries, and assemble.

Pavlova consists of one or more meringue layers sandwiched and/or topped with whipped cream and fruit. The dish was created and named in honour of the Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, who toured Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s. The jury’s still out on whether an Aussie or Kiwi can be credited with the first recipe.

Mom’s been making Pavlova for years. The “never fail meringue” recipe comes from our dear family friend, Barb Wurtele. Mom is partial to the strawberry version, but I also love it with tropical fruit. We’ve even made it with chopped-up Skor bars. It’s delicious, but I think I prefer the fruit versions.

My fifteen-month-old son John loves it too. Last week was his first taste. The poor guy has been teething pretty badly and he hasn’t had much of an appetite. Desperate to get him to eat something, I mashed up a small scoop of the pavlova with some plain yogurt. John ate every last spoonful. I felt sort of guilty about the sugar, but then my Mom reminded me that the meringue has protein (egg whites), fruit (berries) and cream (dairy). Grandma knows best, right?

ingredients: meringue

• 4 large egg whites at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/3 teaspoons vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/3 teaspoons water

ingredients: pavlova

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream, 35 per cent
• sugar and vanilla to taste (for the whipped cream)
• fresh fruit of your choice

method

• Preheat oven to 400 F
• Beat egg whites until really stiff. Then add all other meringue ingredients and beat again until stiff.
• Line two baking sheets with lightly greased parchment paper.
• Divide meringue in half and form two nine-inch circles about the same size (one for each cookie sheet).
• Place meringues in the oven and immediately turn off oven. Leave meringues in oven overnight (I suggest that you attach a note to the oven that reads: “do not turn on”).
• In the morning, remove the meringues from oven and loosen from parchment paper. Whip heavy cream until soft and billowy, adding sugar and vanilla to taste. Spread half of the whipped cream onto one disc of meringue, and top with half amount of fresh fruit. Place second meringue on top, spread with remaining whipped cream and fresh fruit. This can be made in the morning for serving at dinner.

christening a new home with crepes - recipe: crepes with crispy bacon, syrup & cinnamon

We recently moved. I loved our former almost-a-century-old house and cherish the memories of our four years there. Although we put a lot of TLC into making it a home we were proud of and reluctant to leave; it shrank overnight after our son John’s arrival. It’s amazing how much stuff babies “need”: activity centre + playpen + jolly jumper + vibrating chair + swing, (all on a smallish living room floor) = clutter & disarray.

Like any move, the first few days were chaotic and stressful. Our focus was on unpacking, not on cooking gourmet meals! I was hoping to “christen” my new kitchen by concocting a fabulous five-course meal complete with wine pairings… Yeah, that didn’t happen, what was I thinking?

I still wanted our “first” meal in our new home to be special, so I gave David two options: 1. spaghetti with aglio olio e peperoncino – recently his new favourite meal, or 2. crepes with bacon, syrup & cinnamon. David chose the crepes – a dish that his mother, Palmina, used to make for him.

David loves the combo of the soft warm crepe with salty crisp bacon, oozing silly-sweet corn syrup and dry spicy cinnamon. He is adamant that each of the three fillings is crucial to the success of the dish. David insists that the syrup be corn syrup – he won’t even substitute pure Canadian maple syrup – he claims it doesn’t contrast well enough with the other ingredients and "interferes" with the cinnamon – whatever that means... He only gets this passionate about a few things, usually food!

I however much prefer these crepes with maple syrup (sorry hun, but you’re not going to win this one). Just before any special day, I am guaranteed to hear David say; “Honey, I don't want or need anything, so please don’t buy me a gift, all I want is for you to make the crepes for me, o.k.?”

This recipe is awesome – you don’t have to let the batter sit (like most crepe recipes). I don’t own a crepe pan, I just use a simple non-stick skillet. We usually have these for breakfast or brunch but sometimes breakfast-for-dinner works too!

Palmina’s Crepes with Crispy Bacon, Syrup & Cinnamon

makes about eleven, 8 inch crepes

ingredients

• three eggs
• two cups milk
• one cup flour
• one-half teaspoon salt
• one teaspoon vanilla
• three tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil (plus extra to coat pan)
• one 500 gram package bacon, cooked until crispy and then roughly chopped into ½” pieces
• corn syrup or maple syrup, to taste (let me know which you prefer!)
• cinnamon, to taste
  

method

• Combine eggs, milk, salt, vanilla, butter (or oil) into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add flour in two or three additions and whisk until well blended and batter is smooth (you can also use a blender).
• Heat an 8” or 10” skillet over medium-high heat and brush with melted butter or oil to coat pan. Pour a small amount of batter into skillet (about one-quarter cup), immediately swirling and tilting to coat bottom. Cook until crepe loosens from side of skillet and underside is pale golden, about two minutes. Flip crepe and cook the other side for about one minute or until pale golden. Continue to make more crepes in the same manner.
• Place crumbled bacon, a drizzle of syrup and a sprinkle of cinnamon in the centre of each crepe and roll “burrito” style.
  

wine, cheese, old friends and new memories - recipe: shawn mcintyre's warm cheese olive bites

Once a month or so, David and I get together with my brother, Adam, my sister in law, Michelle, and our good friends Rob, Kim, Shawn and Jessica.

We meet after dinner for drinks and appetizers (thank you to the grandparents for those of us with children) and chat the evening away.

It’s such a treat that I look forward to it every month — lots of laughs and good cheer are guaranteed.

Because of our busy work and social lives we try to meet on weeknights. This makes it easier for the four couples to co-ordinate schedules and puts a “cap” on the evening so that we all get home relatively early, ready to cheerfully face the next morning.

The last gathering was particularly special because our dear friends Catherine and Rob were visiting from Australia and were able to join us.

Rob is like a brother to me and Adam and Rob are best friends. Growing up, our families spent a lot of time together. Rob’s mom is Ruth Bricker. I featured her Swedish Nut recipe back in December. Catherine and I met at the University of Guelph and were roomies for a few years, so we have plenty of history as well.

The homecoming dinner

To celebrate their homecoming, Adam, Michelle, David and I decided to co-host the gathering and serve dinner as well as appetizers. It was a “sneaky” way to buy a few more hours to spend visiting with them.

To start we served two appetizers. The first was Michelle’s famous nacho dip, accompanied by my baked brie with spicy strawberry compote.

Dinner was barbecued burgers, roasted veggies tossed in garlic scape pesto, smashed fingerling potatoes (drizzled with the garlic olive oil that I wrote about in my July 1 column) and strawberry almond salad.

Simple dessert caps off the night

We kept things simple and passed around a box of Rheo Thompson Candies famous “mint smoothie” chocolates for dessert.

It was such a great night. I laughed so hard that by the end of the evening it felt like I had done a thousand sit-ups (Rob is a paramedic and has a litany of “colourful” stories to share).

The hard part is always saying goodbye — although David and I are now more determined than ever to save up for a trip “down under”.

It’s our turn to host the next get together and I’m already starting to plan which appetizers I’ll serve. You could call it an occupational hazard, I guess.

Cheese is always a hit and goes great with the wine! Below is a recipe for Shawn’s famous cheese olive canapés, which are always the first of the appetizers to be gobbled up!

Shawn McIntyre’s Warm Cheese Olive Bites

(makes about six dozen - note: recipe can be doubled)

ingredients

• 250 gram package “MacLaren’s” sharp spreadable cheddar cheese, slightly softened (You can find this cheese in the dairy section of a grocery store, near the cream cheese, butter, yoghurt, etc. It comes in a red plastic container with black printing.)
• 1/2 pound butter, softened
• 1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• a couple pinches of cayenne pepper (optional)
• One 750 mL jar of pimento-stuffed green olives
  (I used stuffed manzanilla olives when I was testing the recipe)

method

• Knead all ingredients (except for the olives) well and chill dough in fridge for about an hour.
• Drain and pat the stuffed olives until dry.
• Break off pieces of dough and roll around the olives to coat them completely. I used about 1 teaspoon of dough per olive but you can use more if you choose.
• Chill olives before baking.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake on an ungreased baking sheet for eight to 14 minutes.
• How long you bake the olives will depend on your oven.
• Serve warm—preferably to good friends and family!

some Italian treats that made the 'Shortt’ list - recipe: aglio olio e peperoncino

In May, to celebrate a milestone birthday of my mother’s, she and dad treated the family to a wonderful trip to Italy. We spent a week in Rome and a week touring around Tuscany. It was an extraordinary experience full of breathtaking scenery, gracious people and of course, incredible food!

I could fill a whole newspaper with details of our epicurean adventures, but I’ve narrowed down our highlights to the following Shortt list:

Pizza! We had delicious take-away pizza in Tuscany and an incredible roasted red pepper & basil pizza in Rome. Italians tend to go easy on the toppings –typically one or two toppings on each.

Tuscan bread soup. It’s quite thick – more like a stew than a broth. This soup is one of Tuscany’s most famous dishes; full of beans, vegetables, potatoes, kale and of course, bread. The best thing I ate on the trip was a bowl of this soup in a charming trattoria in Montepulciano.

The AutoGrill. A café/convenience store chain next to some gas stations along major highways. Oddly enough, the coffee was some of the best we enjoyed in Italy. You won’t find hamburgers and fries on their menu. They sell pastries, gourmet sandwiches, fresh salads and fruit along with the more typical snack foods. You can even buy a mini bottle of wine to enjoy with your meal! Talk about civilized! One of the AutoGrill’s we visited even featured separate “marché style” stations: primi (antipasti & formaggi), secondi (pasta & risotto), grilia (meat) and pizza stations!

The Coop grocery store. At “our” Coop (in Bagno di Gavorrano) the cheese and meat selection was out-of-this-world and everything was cut fresh-to-order. I was finally able to experience authentic ‘Mozzarella di Bufala’ – fresh buffalo milk mozzarella. In Tuscany, we ate most of our lunches at restaurants but enjoyed most of our dinners back at the villa. One dish that made many appearances at the dinner table was a buffalo milk mozzarella and sliced tomato salad drizzled with olive oil and fresh torn basil.

Gelato! Need I say more? I was amazed at the number of coffee and gelato shops – they are on every corner. My favs – Nutella (truly an Italian ‘staple’) and coconut. We found the Nutella gelato at ‘Antica Gelateria de Matteis’ near the Colosseum in Rome (the owner’s from the same town as David’s grandmother, and all of their gelato is made in-house).

Spaghetti with aglio olio e peperoncino (spaghetti with garlic, olive oil & chili or hot pepper flakes). For lunch in the city of Massa Marittima, we shared four different entrées. This simple pasta dish was by far the best. It was David’s favourite entrée on our trip so I promised I’d make this for him back home. (Note: With this oil topping, David prefers the slightly thinner spaghettini over the more traditional spaghetti. He also "insists" on freshly ground pepper over the pasta just before serving it.)

The oil from this dish is outstanding – we like it so much that we’ve been drizzling it on everything but dessert! In addition to tossing it with spaghetti, try drizzling this “sauce” onto pizza, eggs, grilled vegetables, toast with tomato, and/or smashed potatoes.

aglio olio e peperoncino

ingredients

• 2 cups (two cups) olive oil
• 25 (twenty five) garlic cloves (about one cup),
peeled and thinly sliced
• ½ - 1 (one half to one) teaspoon hot pepper flakes
• coarse salt, to taste

method

• Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium-low heat.
• Add one or two pieces of garlic to the oil to test its temperature – a few bubbles should rise to the surface, but it shouldn’t make a lot of noise nor brown the garlic – if this happens, your oil is too hot and you need to turn the temperature down and wait a few minutes before trying again. (Note: if you add the garlic to oil that’s too hot, it will burn and taste bitter and you’ll have to start over from scratch!)
• When the oil is at the correct temperature, add the garlic and stir for about a minute.
• Add the hot pepper flakes and stir to combine.
• Turn the heat to low and let simmer for about 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. The oil should taste of garlic and the garlic should be soft and sweet tasting when ready.
• Season to taste with coarse salt.

a pork dish even dear old dad can make - recipe: pork calvados

I recently made a rather impromptu trip to see my Uncle Dorian (Uncle Do) and Aunt Jan at their home in Owen Sound. They’d been encouraging a visit from my son, John, and I for quite some time. We’d been trading potential dates for months, but when a weekend was freed up for me at the last minute, the timing just happened to work for all of us. After a two-and-a-half hour drive (I got lost en route – I had to stop at a farm for directions!), Uncle Do treated me to a bowl of steaming hot mussels swimming in an herb-tomato-white wine broth. Luckily John stayed asleep in his car seat for the duration of the trip, likely due to a lot of praying on my end.

My uncle Do (my father’s younger brother) is an incredible cook. I know I use the word ‘incredible’ a lot, but I do really mean it. Whenever I think of him, I picture him in the kitchen, smiling, stirring (and tasting!) the day away. As clichéd as this might sound, I can state with certainty that his principal culinary “secret” is cooking with love.

About a year ago, Do and Jan renovated their kitchen. Simply stated, it’s a cook’s dream. I sure am envious! (I have a lot of quesadilla’s to sell before I can afford a kitchen like that!)

We all get excited when we know that Do is cooking (and when Jan is baking – I will definitely be writing a column on her baking one day). Some of his “signatures” include: seafood linguine; mussels; roasted meats (following the mussels, Dorian served a herb-crusted rack of lamb with his famous curried apple-cranberry rice and asparagus); chicken cacciatore; glazed ham and scalloped potatoes; and “hot pot” (it’s an English thing, you’ll need to watch Corrie St. to fully comprehend…).

Dorian’s “signature” dish is Pork Calvados – pork tenderloin simmered in a silky, rich apple brandy cream sauce. My Aunt Jan is one of those people who “forgets to eat” but even Jan adores this dish. Uncle Do serves it with steamed rice and asparagus – delish.

I hope my Dad doesn’t mind me writing this, but he isn’t much of a cook (aside from breakfast). It’s not that Dad’s a bad cook per se, it’s just that he doesn’t have time for it with his busy schedule.

However, the stars must have been aligned the night of my 13th birthday, because for some reason, my Dad found some inspiration, called his brother Do and got the recipe for Pork Calvados. He prepared this for my birthday dinner, and it is such a special memory for me (especially considering that this was the last time Dad cooked dinner – honestly – and I’m turning thirty-two this August!) I hate to say it, but if my dad, Dave Shortt, can do it, anyone can! (no offence, Dad).

Uncle Do’s Pork Calvados

serves 4, but this recipe doubles or triples well

note: Calvados (French Apple Brandy) is an expensive investment considering you only need three tablespoons for this recipe. You can substitute regular brandy if desired or, if you’re on good terms with your Hungarian neighbour, ask to borrow some of their alma palinka.

I suggest that you serve the pork with sauteed apples for an extra kick of apple flavour, especially if you use regular brandy.

ingredients for pork

*
1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, cut into 3/4 inch slices
*
2 tablespoons butter
*
salt and pepper to taste

ingredients for sauce

*
1 tablespoon butter 6 ounces mushrooms, sliced
*
3 tablespoons Calvados (apple brandy) or regular brandy
*
1/2 cup chicken stock
*
1/2 cup, 35 per cent whipping cream
*
2 teaspoons cornstarch

to garnish

*
1/3 tablespoon toasted coarsely chopped hazelnuts, optional
*
1-2 teaspoons each chopped fresh thyme and parsley

method

*
Preheat oven to 350º F.
*
Sprinkle pork slices with salt and pepper.
*
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
*
Add pork slices.
*
Saute until lightly browned.
*
Transfer to a 2-quart casserole dish.
*
For sauce, add 1 tablespoon butter to skillet.
*
Add mushrooms, saute gently for 2-3 minutes.
*
Add Calvados, chicken stock and salt and pepper to taste.
*
Boil mixture 2 minutes.
*
Pour sauce mixture onto pork.
*
Cover casserole with lid or foil.
*
Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes or until pork is cooked and tender.
*
In a small bowl, combine the cream and cornstarch.
*
Stir cornstarch mixture into hot casserole.
*
Bake 5 or 10 minutes until sauce is thickened.
*
Combine hazelnuts with herbs and sprinkle over top of casserole.

returning to a garden full of rhubarb - recipe: rhubarb sour cream pie

Returning home from a vacation tends to be bittersweet, don’t you think? I usually feel a little glum on the departure day – the holiday (and the anticipation of it, sometimes the best part!) is over and “back-to-reality” is just one sleep away. That being said, there’s nothing better than your own bed, a closet full of (fresh and unwrinkled) clothes to choose from and your own bathroom (enough said).

We recently returned from a wonderful two-week trip to Italy (stay tuned for the details in an upcoming article). As you can imagine, coming home was tough – it was such a pleasurable, educational and delicious experience. However, being greeted by the abundant rhubarb patch (in my backyard behind the garage), softened the blow a bit.

I love rhubarb – whether in muffins, cakes, pies, fools, custards, crisps, or jams… In the past couple of years I’ve also started to incorporate rhubarb into savoury dishes such as rhubarb compote with braised pork or duck.

After washing and chopping the stalks my husband “harvested” for me as he was tidying up the garden, I found myself with an astonishing amount. The first thing I made was “award winning rhubarb orange pecan muffins”, a recipe that Mom had clipped out of The Record many years ago. You can find the recipe on my website: www.danashortt.ca (in the new “recipes” section: www.danashortt.ca/recipes.htm). I love muffins, especially homemade ones. I find they aren’t as greasy as store-bought ones and are almost always much healthier. After many mornings of café lattes and various Italian dolce (sweets), I needed something like a muffin to ease the transition back to my standard probiotic yogurt, kashi cereal and fruit!

I made (and shared) these muffins all week (John loved them), but I also made several of my Mom’s “signature” rhubarb sour cream pies. Mom thinks that the original recipe came from the Toronto Telegram (I think it folded in the early 70’s?) many years ago, but she isn’t 100 percent sure.

Mom makes awesome pastry and pies, and this is one of my favourites. I think it’s probably my all-time favourite, but then I re-consider when I try her wild blueberry, peach, sour cherry or pumpkin with cream cheese icing. I just asked my husband David for his top pick and he said that his favourite rotates with the seasons, but he’s most partial to the pumpkin (however I feel compelled to tell you that he ate TWO whole rhubarb pies in three days so I’m not so sure I believe him). Anyway, it’s a great pie (and super duper easy – especially if you “cheat” and buy a premade crust. Mom never cheats but I’m not ashamed to admit that I sometimes do!).

Rosslynn’s Rhubarb Sour Cream Pie

ingredients (corrections to newspaper edition in red)

• pastry for a 10-inch pie
• 4 (four) cups rhubarb, cubed/diced
• 1/3 (one-third) cup flour (for filling)
• 1½ (one-and-one-half) cups sugar
• 1 (one) cup sour cream
• ½ (one-half) cup flour (for topping)
• ½ (one-half) cup brown sugar
• ¼ (one-quarter) cup butter, softened

method

• Preheat oven to 450º F.
• Arrange rhubarb in uncooked pie shell.
• Mix 1/3 cup flour, sugar and sour cream together and pour evenly over rhubarb.
• Combine ½ cup flour, brown sugar and butter together until crumbly and sprinkle over the top of pie.
• Bake in 450º F degree oven for 15 minutes. Then reduce heat to 350º F and continue baking another 30 minutes or until fruit is tender, filling is set and crumbs are golden brown.

bring on the birthday burgers - recipe: dana's homemade burgers

My little guy turned one the first week of May. I can’t believe how fast the year went by. For several weeks prior to the big day, I had been trying to come up with a theme for John’s first birthday party.

I know, I know, this probably sounds silly. My husband, David, shook his head whenever the topic came up and told me, “Hun, you know that you’re doing this for you, right? John won’t remember anything and he’s a guy, so even if he could remember, he wouldn’t care.”

Bah humbug. Grudgingly, I admit that David’s right — the party was probably for me, but it was a great excuse to plan a get-together. It was a small affair — just my immediate family, John’s great aunt Deb, my best friend Nichole, her hubby Steve and their little guy Charlie.

After much thought, I finally came up with a theme — bunnies! (Uh oh, John might resent me for this when he’s a teenager — I promise not to show the pictures of your first b-day party to your girlfriends or buddies, OK John?)

Why bunnies, you ask? Because our first set of real dishes for him have a Peter Cottontail motif (thanks Doug and Diane).

My favourite newborn outfits for him were also from the “guess how much I love you” bunny series (thanks Kim and Rob).

But it was mostly because John sleeps with a little stuffed bunny every night for comfort (again courtesy of Kim and Rob). So as you can see, the theme is indeed appropriate.

Now to the food... salads were definitely in order — I made a Boston bibb salad and a roasted carrot and olive salad.

I also served my homemade beef burgers. When reviewing the menu beforehand, my (pedantic) husband David reminded me that rabbits are in fact strict vegetarians.

When I replied that I could serve veggie burgers instead, he quickly changed the subject. He was relieved (if not a bit skeptical) when I informed him that arctic hares are known to occasionally eat meat (thanks, google!). Dessert? Carrot cake, of course!

Dana’s homemade burgers (makes 24 large burgers)

Yes, it’s a bit unbelievable, but this recipe does call for seven-and-a-half pounds of beef (Warning! Don’t skimp on the regular ground beef — I use a mixture of regular and lean for the tastiest results). You can halve the recipe if you like, but I prefer to make a 'whack' of burgers and freeze some for future use. Trust me, you’ll thank me on a busy weeknight when all you have to do is thaw them.

ingredients

• 4 pounds regular ground beef
• 3 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 2 medium sized onions, finely diced (about 2 cups)
• 5-6 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 cup hoisin sauce
• 3/4 cup oyster sauce
• 1 3/4 cups good-quality smoky barbecue sauce
• 1-2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 3-4 cups breadcrumbs salt and pepper, to taste

method

• Finely dice onions and sauté in pan over medium heat until softened and translucent, about five minutes. Add garlic and cook for one to two minutes or until fragrant. Remove pan from heat and set aside to cool.
• Transfer onion-garlic mixture to large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix well to combine.
• Shape into 24, five-ounce patties. Grill on barbecue over medium heat or wrap burgers individually in plastic wrap and freeze for future use.
• Serve with an assortment of gourmet toppings and let your guests “build their best burger” — blue cheese, caramelized onions, smoked cheddar, sautéed mushrooms and slow roasted tomatoes are good choices.

cooking up mom’s favourite mother’s day treat - recipe: panna cotta with balsamic strawberries

Although I’ve been a mother for just over a year, I can’t help but think that Mother’s Day is much more about my mother than about me.

Last year, by the time Mother’s Day rolled around I’d been a mother for a mere five days.

It definitely felt strange to be included in on the pampering. My brother, Adam, and my sister-in-law, Michelle, had us all over to their home to treat us to a delicious meal of “surf & turf”. They even spoiled me with a gift certificate for a pedicure!

What I remember most about that particular Mother’s Day was that we all spent the entire evening staring at our new five-day-old baby, John, asleep in his car seat. We cooed after he made even the slightest facial movement (yup, you guessed it, he’s the first grandchild and the first nephew in our family so he’s definitely spoiled with attention).

OK, back to Mother’s Day.

One of my favourite ways to show appreciation is through cooking.

Accordingly, I’d planned to prepare a memorable meal to honour everything my mom does for our family (and she does a lot).

Deciding what to make was a challenge (my dilemma is always the same — it’s rather difficult to choose from so many great options).

Mom loves pretty much everything, but her all-time favourites include: rack of lamb, seafood, salad, good quality cheeses, pecan pie, crème caramel (anything with caramel, actually), crème brulee, panna cotta and yoghurt.

Yes, I said yoghurt. Mom is all about moderation! We tease her that her favourite food is actually yoghurt while mine is french fries.

Anyway, I settled on rack of lamb for our main and panna cotta for dessert.

Happy belated Mother’s Day to all of you — especially to my Mom, Rosslynn Shortt, who I am so incredibly fortunate to call “Mom”. I love you mouser! Panna cotta is Italian for “cooked cream” (panna = cream, cotta = cooked) — how could you possibly go wrong?

It’s a light custard served cold and typically with fresh fruit. This recipe is incredibly easy and delicious. I made it for Mom’s birthday last year and everyone loved it so much that I’m going to make it again (which is odd for me as I like to experiment with new recipes).

Mario Batali’s panna cotta with balsamic strawberries (Serves 6)

ingredients for panna cotta

• 2 tablespoons water
• 1¼ teaspoons unflavored gelatin
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1¼ cups plain whole-milk yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup sugar

ingredients strawberries

• 2,1-pint baskets strawberries, hulled, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

method for panna cotta

• Pour two tablespoons water into small bowl.
• Sprinkle gelatin over water. Let stand until softened, about 15 minutes.
• Whisk one cup cream, yogurt, and vanilla in large bowl to blend.
• Heat remaining one cup cream and half cup sugar in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves and cream comes to a simmer. Remove from heat. Add gelatin mixture, stirring to dissolve gelatin.
• Mix hot cream-gelatin mixture into yogurt mixture in bowl.
• Divide mixture among six, three-quarter cup ramekins, using about a half cup for each.
• Refrigerate desserts uncovered until cold, then cover and refrigerate overnight.

method for strawberries

• Toss strawberries, vinegar, sugar, and pepper in large bowl to combine.
• Let stand 30 minutes, tossing occasionally.
• Spoon strawberries over panna cotta and serve.