Chocolate Panna Cotta: Yummy, Easy & Healthy

Hi lovely people!

Christmas is almost upon us and although you might have all your cookies made, I thought I'd offer you an alternative treat for the holidays:  Chocolate Panna Cotta.  

I fell in love with Panna Cotta in South Africa.  I know it's originally an Italian dessert, but it was often on the menu in SA and I've been fiddling with different recipes since I got back to Minnesota.  This is my favorite so far, it tastes like a super smooth chocolate mousse but is a lot easier to make -- and a lot healthier!   It's what I like to think of as stealthily-healthy decadence.

It is super quick & easy -- no exaggeration, it takes 5 minutes total to make.  It's also very rich and chocolatey so you'd never guess how healthy it is -- which is kind of nice for the holidays!  I mean with so many full-fat, full-sugar desserts on offer, it's nice to have a yummy & healthy alternative!

First of all, I used dark chocolate, which in small amounts is very good for you (all those antioxidants and such.)  Also, instead of sweetening it with sugar I used stevia, which is all natural and calorie free -- you can find it everywhere now -- I even found it in South Africa.  I also used almond milk, but that's just because of my lactose intolerance.  You could certainly use cow's milk.  I'd use 2%.  Oh, and this would be an easy recipe to veganize, using vegan chocolate and agar-agar in place of the gelatin.

The recipe below is for 6 servings.  But you can double, quadruple it easily.  And if you want to make a bunch, silicone muffin cups (like these) would be ideal.  This Panna Cotta would be great for Christmas of course, or a New Year's dinner, or you know, on a random Tuesday night ... what?  I had to test them for you right?  

ENJOY!!!  and ... FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Healthy Chocolate Panna Cotta

6 servings:

• 1 package Knox unflavored gelatine (or 1 Tablespoon unflavored gelatine)
• 2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or milk of your choice)
• 2 ounces (57 grams) dark chocolate -- chopped -- use your favorite
• Stevia to taste -- I used about 1/16 a teaspoon, but I don't like things too sweet.  Here's what I recommend: add a teeny bit at a time and keep tasting till you like it.  Remember that stevia is much, much sweeter than sugar.  The total amount you add will depend on how much sugar was in your dark chocolate and, of course, your preference.

1.  In a saucepan, sprinkle the unflavored gelatine over 1/2 cup of the cold almond milk.  Let stand for 1 minute.

2.  Place over low heat; stir constantly until granules are completely dissolved -- about 3 minutes.

3.  Add the rest of the almond milk and whisk till hot and combined.  Add chocolate and stir constantly till it just comes to the boil.

4.  Add stevia to taste, anywhere from 1/16 - 1/4 teaspoon; whisk well.

5.  Pour into six 1/2 cup ramekins/molds or muffin cups.  Chill till set; I left mine overnight.

6.  Top with fruit/fruit sauces/sauce of your choice.  You can unmold it as I did above (run a knife around and dip the mold in hot water for a few seconds) or you can just leave them in their ramekins.

Note:
This recipe makes a very soft gelatin -- it is indeed, mousse-like -- which I love.  If it is too soft for you, add another packet of unflavored gelatin. 

BUEN PROVECHO!  ENJOY! 

Chumpe: An Authenticity Update

Hiya folks!

So I have a bunch of posts I'm working on, what we've been up to since coming back to Minnesota, lots of South African reminiscing pictures and posts, etc.

But before I post all those -- and in the holiday spirit -- I wanted to revisit one of my favorite recipes, Salvadoran Turkey, or Chumpe.  I originally posted this back in the day, and I mentioned in my post that this is how my family does Chumpe.  But just today I got a comment on the post where a lovely lady said she was going to make this for her Salvadoran husband.  Which got me thinking ...

See, most Salvadorans will add a special mix of spices & nuts to their chumpe.  For one reason or another, my mother never did.  Now, I LOVE the chumpe the way she makes it, but if someone makes this recipe and serves it to a Salvadoran person, they might say, "Hm.  Good, but not quite ..."

So I wanted to update this recipe to add the spice mixture that gives it a more traditional Salvadoran taste.  One isn't better than the other, I love the chumpe both ways.  But this way you have the option!

If you're making this for Christmas, let me know!  And FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!

The updated ingredients and method are in bold below.

Here is the Pan con Chumpe, a saucy, drippy sandwich packed with Salvadoran turkey, veggies and delicious sauce.

Ingredients:

Turkey (I used about a 14 pounder)

Rolls

Romaine (Cos) lettuce

Slices of tomatoes

Slices of peeled cucumber

Thin slices of radishes

Watercress

Marinade:

1/4 cup of softened butter

1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup of yellow mustard

1 Tablespoon coarse salt (or 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt)

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh cracked ground pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons Adobo or other favorite savory spice blend, I used cajun this time

Sauce:

2 medium green peppers, whole

2 medium onions, quartered

2 large cans chopped tomatoes

1 small can tomato and onion mix

1 very big handful cilantro/coriander

1 very big handful flat leaf parsley

2 celery sticks, chopped

3 bay leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 - 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)

Lots of olives, whatever style are your favorite.  I use Kalamata. 

* Spice mix: 

1/3 cup raw sesame seeds
1/4 cup raw peanuts
1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds 

1 dried mild chile, destemmed and deseeded
2 teaspoons dried thyme

* Adapted from http://www.whats4eats.com/poultry/pavo-salvadoreno-recipe

Procedure:

Wash turkey well inside and out.  Pat dry.  Mix all marinade ingredients together into a liquidy paste.  Don't worry if it's not a perfectly smooth mixture (I often forget to leave the butter out to soften and end up with little lumps of cold butter in the marinade.  Not to worry.)  Bathe the turkey in the marinade, inside and out and between the skin of the breast and the meat.  (The skin really isn't a big deal with this recipe, so don't worry if it rips.)  Then take a very sharp, small knife and poke holes in the turkey, all over, front back, breast, thighs, etc.  Leave to marinade overnight in the fridge.

The next day:

Take turkey out and in a deep roaster, put it in a hot oven (400F/200C).  Let it brown, probably about 30-40 minutes, start to check it after 20 minutes.

Then turn it to brown the other side.  This can be a bit tricky.  As you can see, it took lots of weird kitchen utensils and three of us to do it:

Now, as the other side browns, you can make the sauce.

 Add the sesame seeds, peanuts and pumpkin seeds to a dry frying pan over moderate heat.  Toast them till fragrant and golden, constantly stirring and shaking the pan.  Don't walk away -- this only takes a few minutes and the nuts will burn easily.  When done, put them in a large bowl to cool as you prepare the rest of the sauce:

 

Put the quartered onions and green peppers in a dry pan over high heat.  Blister the heck out of them:

When good and charred, split the peppers in half and take out the seeds.  Peel them lazily (as in, rub off whatever falls off, leave the rest.) Add the peppers (in rough chunks) along with the onions into a big bowl (where you have the roasted nuts) with all the other sauce ingredients, except the bay leaves and the olives.  Also add the thyme and the dried chile.  Blend, blend, blend till smooth:

Then pour over the browned turkey:

Add olives and tuck in the bay leaves:

I usually wait till it's cooked a couple of hours before I add salt/pepper as the marinade will flavor the sauce.  I will also add a half to a full teaspoon of sugar if the tomatoes aren't very sweet and the sauce tastes a bit "acidy."

Lower the heat (350F/175C) and bake the turkey for approximately 3 hours or until it's basically falling off the bones.  If it starts to get too browned at the end, cover with foil.

You can have the chumpe with rice and salad, or as "Pan con Chumpe," which is my favorite way, like this:

Basically, you just stuff a lovely roll (Ciabatta, french, etc.) with lots of turkey meat, romaine (a.k.a cos) lettuce, slices of tomato, slices of cucumber, thin slices of radishes, watercress (if you like it).  Then top it with tons of sauce and ... curtido! (Here's the recipe.) It makes for a pretty huge sandwich.

ENJOY!

Notes:

Making the Day Before:  Since the chumpe is stewed, it's even better made the night before, which can make planning a big feast a heck of a lot easier.  If I do make it the night before, I leave it to cool all night in the oven, then in the morning take it apart, slice the breasts, and chunk off the dark meat.  Put the slices/pieces into baking dishes, cover with some of the sauce and put in fridge.  Then, when you're ready to eat, reheat them gently in the oven (covered with foil) and the leftover sauce can be quickly zapped in the microwave.

Making Pieces: While this is a recipe for the whole bird, you can easily adapt it to just make a turkey breast or a couple of thighs or drumsticks for a less fancy dinner.  A couple of thighs make a great Sunday dinner.

Recipe: Streamlined Mother-of-All Pumpkin Pies

So back in the summer I posted a pumpkin pie recipe and I was all like, hey, Northern Hemisphere folks, just pull this out come November ... so guess what I'm doing?

Actually, I'm also updating this recipe, streamlining it, and including a much simpler (but just as delicious) pie crust recipe.  So here you go my darlings.  The best dang pumpkin pie you will ever eat, just in time for Thanksgiving!

The Mother-of-All Pumpkin Pies
Makes 2 pies

Crust:

• 2 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 20 tablespoons of butter (280 grams)
• 4-10 Tablespoons of ice water
• 1 egg, well beaten

Filling:  (Tweaked from this original recipe)

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves -- if you can, use fresh ground.  I use a mortar and pestle and it's SO much better than pre-ground
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice -- again, I grind this fresh in a mortar and pestle
  
• 1/4 of a nutmeg (freshly grated)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 large eggs (to reduce fat/cholesterol, you can use 8 egg whites instead)
• 1 1/2 cans (12oz each) of evaporated milk (Low fat is fine)
• 2.2 pounds (1 kg) peeled and cubed butternut squash/sugar pumpkin *

*  You have to trust me on this one, use the cubed, peeled butternut squash you find at the store, unless you have the luck to find a sugar pumpkin.  The behemoths we carve don't taste nice at all.  You CANNOT tell that it's butternut squash and not pumpkin and it will taste SO much better than if you use canned pumpkin.  Trust me!

Method:

Begin with the crust:  Mix sugar and salt into flour. Cut butter into flour. Add just enough water to bind it together.

Wrap in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge while you make the filling.

Now, the filling.  Steam your squash for approximately 10-15 minutes in the microwave until it is very soft. No need to add water.

This should yield you about 3 cups of pumpkin/squash mush, add all the other filling ingredients.  Blend everything together in a blender or with an immersion blender:

Now flour your counter well.  Separate your dough into 2 pieces and roll out 2 pie crusts. If there are gaps/rips in your crust you can always fix it with your pieces and/or with additional pieces.

Line your pie tins with your dough, and then add your filling.  Crimp the crust and brush with the beaten egg. It should be just perfect for 2 pies. 

Bake at 180C/350F for one hour, but start checking at 45 minutes.  The pie is done when a toothpick comes out clean out of the center of the filling.

And there you go, best pumpkin pie you'll ever taste!

ENJOY!  BUEN PROVECHO!

AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Home Sweet Home: The Perfect Apple Pie

But what is this?

Is Lorenita blogging again?

Yes, I know.  It's been a while.  But folks, let me tell you, Transatlantic moves are no joke.  It has been a crazy couple of months since we left South Africa.  The jet lag, the endless unpacking, the welcome homes, the malaise, the getting life back in order, the trying to find work, the birthdays, etc., etc., ad nauseum.

Oh, and then, just as I was beginning to get a little settled I decided -- like the crazy person I am -- to embark on this thing called National Novel Writing Month wherein you attempt to write 50,000 words in the month of November.  In my case, I took it on in the hope of trying to hush my very loud inner editor.  Also, I think I have a bit of a masochistic streak (but that's just par for the course as a writer.) Anyhoo, it's been a great challenge that I'm still in the midst of.  So when I'm done with that, I do promise to get some more posts up with more frequency.  I still have to show you those beautiful Addo elephants!  And I know that our friends in SA wanted to see what life is like here in Minnesota.  So there will be all that.

For now, I am going to gift you with 2 of my all-time favorite pie recipes -- just in time for Thanksgiving! 

This first one is the one I'm most proud of since I created it using ideas from 3 different recipes and makes the yummiest and most crispy-crust-apple-pie ever.  I'll post the second (a streamlined version of my Pumpkin Pie) soon.  For now, enjoy the appley goodness!

It really is easy and is the foolproof way of avoiding a soggy crust, but a word of caution:  read through the whole thing before you start as I have notes about the timing and filling in the crust section ...

FILLING
Ingredients:

• 8-9 medium apples, sliced medium-thick (the key here is to take the pie pan you'll be using and fill it with the raw apple slices. Fill it until it's almost overflowing because they'll cook down a lot.)
• 1/2 cup of sugar (raw is great)
• a bunch of shakes of cinnamon
• dots o' butter (about 1 Tablespoon total)

Here's what you want your raw apple slices to look in your pie tin, just about to overflow.

METHOD:

The method here is very important.

Put sugar in heavy pan with a little water. Cook till it caramelizes (keep a close eye on it and stir every couple of minutes, especially at the end). Add apples to caramel:

 Stir together quickly, add cinnamon to your liking (I shake a bunch in and taste -- probably about a teaspoon or so) and cook a few minutes till apples are soft (kinda "wilty" but not mushy):

Put apples in strainer (put a bowl underneath) and let them strain at least 5 minutes:

Collect all the strained juices:

See all that juice?  That's what would have made your crust soggy & puffy!

Take all those juices, put them back in the pan and cook down till it's almost a jelly.  Mix reduced juices ("jelly") back in with the apples:

Pour into prepared pie crust (raw), dot with butter, top with latticed crust (brushed with one beaten egg.)

Bake at apx. 350F/175C till golden on top. (About 30 - 40 minutes.)

CRUST:
(MAKES 1 CRUST -- THIS RECIPE IS EXCELLENT FOR ALL PIES)

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 10 tablespoons of butter (141.75 grams)
• 2-5 Tablespoons of ice water
• one beaten egg

Mix sugar and salt into flour. Cut butter into flour.  Add just enough water to bind it together. At this point I usually make the filling, so I let the crust rest in the fridge. Then flour your surface and rolling pin (or old wine bottle like I had to do in South Africa!) very well and roll out your dough. If it breaks/cracks, no worries, it patches easily.  Fill and brush with beaten egg before baking for a nice, golden, shiny crust.

Note that for apple pie I make one and a half of this recipe -- I like a latticed crust because you see all the apple slices, plus it lets even more steam come out of the apples, once again, trying to avoid the dreaded soggy pie. So you need 1/2 the recipe to make a latticed crust. Or you could just double it to make a full top crust.

Here are the amounts for the 1 1/2 recipe:

• 1 7/8 cup all purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons sugar
• scant 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 15 tablespoons of butter (141.75 grams)
• 3- 8 Tablespoons of ice water
• one beaten egg (you still just need one egg!)

 ENJOY !

P.S.:  A scoop of vanilla ice cream with this is heavenly!

Goodbye, Totsiens

We leave South Africa tomorrow.

I’m in the middle of packing and I just found a pack of peanuts from Turkish Airlines from my flight here.  How can it be that a year and a half has gone by?

How in the world do I do this?  How do I wrap up – summarize – do justice to – say goodbye?

It has been the most extraordinary 14 months of my life. 

I feel like I will never be able to thank people enough:  those here who enriched our experience and those back home who made this epic break-from-real life possible (they who watched our cats and took care of our house and with whom we Skyped each week.)

Right now I am a complete muddle of emotions, memories, hopes, anticipation, happiness and sadness.

Of course I am beyond excited to go home.  To see my family and friends, to give countless hugs and cuddle my cats and get a new job and sleep in my own bed again.

But I am heart-sore (that wonderful term I learned here) at the thought of leaving.  I cannot deny the empty, hollow place I feel in my chest at the thought of getting on that plane tomorrow.  It is the price you pay, I guess, when you find a new place to call home.

This place has taken root.  I have lived a different life here.  I have come to know new parts of myself.  I have learned to love new places, new foods and new people.

What will I do without my rusks and hot cross buns and boerewors and bobotie?  (Clearly lots of culinary experimentation awaits in my Minnesota kitchen.)

What will I do when I long to feel the stillness of the Kgalagadi?

What will I do when I feel like making mince pies with Gill?  Or tasting Anton’s sugar-bean potjiekos?  Or hugging Auntie Angela and playing with baby Micah?

What happens in the freezing cold of a Minnesota December when I long to be in the pool – hot sunshine on me and the 150-pound Rottweiler doing laps?

I will miss Christmas crackers and staying up all night on New Year’s. 

I will miss hearing a minimum of 4 languages (and 4 different kinds of English) every time I go to the mall.

I will miss the proteas and the fynbos and the sea – so much.  The mountains – don’t get me started on the mountains.  I love this country.  From the arid Karoo to the wine lands to the rolling ocean to the mountains soaring everywhere you turn. 

How do you say goodbye?   To the people?  The adventures?

In the time we’ve been here we’ve walked every inch of Cape Town’s Gardens and City Bowl neighborhoods.  We’ve hiked, gone on many a road trip, been on an archeological dig, ziplined, ridden horses through the bush, gone on safari 5 times,  beachcombed, and more importantly – most importantly of all – we’ve spent time with our friends, we’ve celebrated, eaten and laughed with beautiful people whilst here.  We’ve made new family here.  That is the greatest gift of all.

I return to Minnesota with all this in my heart.  With these people, with this beautiful place.  With new words; among my favorites:  liefde, naatjie, potkie, laapie, bokkie, shame, plehzah (pleasure), ag!, dankie, lekker and a few choice swear words that I never learned to spell but which I relish saying with great vehemence.

I return with new poems and new writings that excite me.  I return with a greater appreciation of what is important in life:  love, adventures, family.   I return with a South African family.  I return with a 3^rd home.  First El Salvador, then Minnesota, now Cape Town. 

I want to thank everyone who has read my musings and recipes and adventures.  Deciding to blog during this journey was one of the best decisions I could have made.  It has been wonderful to share all these experiences and tastes and places and people with you.  I will continue to blog.  I still have several trips that we’ve taken to write about and I’ll probably blog about the aforementioned culinary experimentations (and crafts and natural health and beauty and goodness knows what else.)   I’ll write about all the things I’ve learned here and the things that have stayed with me, that will stay with me always.

I am so very, very sad to leave.

But nevertheless, I return, heart-full.  With so much gratitude.    

Recipe: Bobotie

Way back when, I talked about why food would be an important part of my blog.  Well, that turned out to be true, huh?  Just take a stroll through here.

So given all that, I couldn't leave South Africa without giving you the recipe for one of its most iconic dishes:  BOBOTIE!

Bobotie is one of those staple South African dishes.  Its origins go back a long way, at least to the 17th century, starting with the Cape Malay culture.  In the intervening centuries it has been modified and adapted by all the peoples of South Africa.  Today, it is eaten by a wide variety of folks and is one of those quintessential "national dishes."

To non-South Africans however, it can sound weird.  Meat and apricots and what?  A firm custard on top?  Huh?  But trust, kids, trust.

South Africans have a particular love of mixing sweet & savory.  And that's what this dish is all about:  aromatic, spicy, a teeny bit tart, sweet, with textures ranging from crunchy to meltingly soft.

Even if it sounds weird, give it a try.  It really is delicious!  It is typically served with chutney, sliced bananas, shredded plain coconut, and yellow rice with raisins (though I admit I'm not a huge fan of coconut so I skipped that and only had a few banana slices.)

(Many thanks to Gill for her recipe!)

Gill's Bobotie

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 kg mince (2.2 lbs ground beef)
• 3 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice
• 1 cup milk, divided in half
• 2 slices bread
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon apricot jam
• 1 tablespoon hot chutney
• 1 tablespoon curry powder (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 1 pinch salt
• Dried bay leaves (about 4-5)
  
  Optional:

• 1/2 cup finely chopped apricots
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
  
  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 320 degrees F (160 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the onions in the hot oil until soft. Add the mince into the skillet and cook until brown.

Soak the bread in 1/2 cup of milk. Add the bread to the beef mixture. Stir in the raisins, apricot jam, chutney, curry powder, vinegar (or lemon juice), salt, and black pepper (add the apricots and almonds here, if using.) Taste & adjust seasonings.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.  Whisk together the reserved 1/2 cup milk, eggs, and a pinch of salt. Pour over top of the dish:

 

Lay the bay leaves onto the top of the milk mixture:

Bake the bobotie until the top is golden brown, 30-40 minutes:

Serve with chutney, sliced bananas, shredded plain coconut, and yellow rice with raisins:

Enjoy your little (or big) slice of South Africa!

Namibia: Fish River Canyon

Our last stop in Namibia was the Fish River Canyon.  To get there we drove along the Orange River, and what a STUNNING drive it was.

And we got a real treat, we saw a klipspringer!

Like leopards, klipspringers are very rare to see in the wild.  They are very skittish, tiny antelope who are specially adapted to jump from cliff to cliff (thus the name, which even if you don't speak Afrikaans, is pretty self explanatory.)  They actually stand on the tips of their toes, like a ballerina.

Look at this little guy in action:

Very cool.

The next day we went to the Fish River Canyon.   It is the second largest canyon in the world and the largest in Africa.  As per Wiki:  It features a gigantic ravine, in total about 100 miles (160 km) long, up to 27 km wide and in places almost 550 metres deep.

People leave stones marking that they've been here, so of course we had to do it too:

Unfortunately, you can't go hiking!

You have to book ahead and it is a 5-day trek.  Boo.  I think there should be an option for day-trippers like us.

We returned later in the day as the sun was setting to get a few more shots:

A hell of a way to finish our 2-week journey.  Goodnight Namibia.