Tag Archive for 'Fruit'

Honey yogurt panna cotta with white peach puree

Feeling a bit uninspired, I scanned some of my favourite blogs for something that could coerce me back into the kitchen. Helen’s Roasted Apricot and Lavender Panna Cottas had me salivating (surely a good sign), so I hit up the farmer’s market looking for some fresh fruit. I found some white peaches that literally lured me to their bin by their sweet smell wafting through the throngs of shoppers.

I’ve been on a bit of a health kick after my recent health issues, so I wanted to see if I could make this dessert a bit healthier without loosing the satiny creaminess that’s the hallmark of good panna cotta. Using yogurt and honey and replacing some of the cream with skim milk, I came up with a concoction that’s no-less decadent yet considerably healthier.

Panna Cotta’s are usually topped with a tart fruit sauce of some sort to offset the intense creaminess, but since the yogurt in this Panna Cotta provided the requisite tartness, I went for a sweeter fruit puree that complimented the honey wonderfully with its sweet floral aroma.

for the Panna Cotta
1/2 C cream
1/2 C skim milk
3 Tbs sugar
3 Tbs honey
1 1/2 tsp gelatin bloomed in 2 Tbs water
1tsp vanilla
1 C plain yogurt

for white peach puree
3 small white peaches peeled
1 Tbs lemon juice
honey to taste

Heat cream, milk, honey, sugar until hot but not boiling. Add the bloomed gelatin and vanilla stirring until the gelatin is completely dissolved.

Take it off the heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes. Add the yogurt and whisk to combine.

Pour the mixture into 4 ramekins and refrigerate for 4 hours.

For the puree, just add the peaches and lemon juice to a blender or food processor and puree. You may need to add some water if it’s too thick and honey if it’s not sweet enough.

To serve, put the ramekins in a pan of hot water for a minute then unmold them onto plates then top with the puree. If you’re serving them in a glass (above photo) just top with the puree and serve with a spoon.

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Strawberry rhubarb crostata with lavender crust

While strawberries and rhubarb haven’t started showing up at the green market yet, they were being prominently displayed at Wholefoods today so I went ahead and bought some. To my surprise, the strawberries where incredibly sweet and flavorful and I had to stop myself from eating all of them so I could make this crostata.

This is one of my favourite ways of preparing fruit from all seasons. It’s so simple to prepare and really allows the fruit to shine. The addition of a spice or two adds a bit of character without covering up anything. If I’m using apples I’ll add some nutmeg and cinnamon, for blackberries I might add a smidge of lemon zest. But for strawberries, I’m enamored with the the fresh floral aroma of lavender.

As I was making the dough, I accidentally added twice the water I was supposed. Rather than throw it out, I just added some baking powder, and rolled it in crystalized sugar and turned them into lavender “cookies”. I wasn’t sure what would come out of the oven, but they turned out to be somewhere between a biscuit and a cookie. I think they’d actually be quite good with some chopped up fresh strawberries and whipped cream.
Continue for full recipe

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