Lavender Scented Panna Cotta

I loathe the sort of panna cotta that you get in most restaurants, that over-sweetened, very firm, almost rubbery white sphere. For me, it should be soft and very wobbly, with only just enough gelatine to hold it together. I find the all-cream versions too heavy; the perfect ratio for me is half milk (full-fat of course) and half double cream. However, if you prefer a creamier version, just up the cream to 300 ml and reduce the milk to 200 ml. See the recipe for a note about the sugar too.

Lavender adds a delicate, flowery note that works well with the rich creaminess of the panna cotta and is ideal for summer. A more traditional one can be made by replacing the lavender with a teaspoon of good vanilla extract. I urge you to try making this. It takes just minutes to prepare and it's perfect for entertaining as it has to be made the day before and left in the fridge to chill. Also, everyone loves it, even those (like myself) who don't usually like panna cotta.

I'm entering this into the Tea Time Treats Challenge, with the theme of Ice-Creams, Jellies and Chilled Desserts, run by Karen of Lavender and Lovage  and Kate (this month's host) from What Kate Baked. 

As it uses lavender, I'm also sending this over to Karen from the wonderful Lavender and Lovage for her extremely popular challenge, Cooking with Herbs (formerly known as Herbs on Saturday).

RECIPE

250ml double cream
250ml full-fat milk
60-70g caster sugar (I use 60g as I don't like it too sweet but you can increase the amount of sugar if you prefer)
4g gelatine leaves
1 teaspoon of dried lavender (usually labelled 'for culinary use')

Put the gelatine sheets in cold water to soak.

Put the milk, cream, lavender and sugar in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. When it's just about to boil, remove from the heat and leave for a few minutes for the lavender to infuse. Stir in the squeezed-out gelatine, then strain the mixture through a sieve to remove the lavender.

Pour into small moulds and leave to set in the fridge overnight. 

To serve, run a knife around the panna cotta before inverting onto a plate. Sprinkle some dried lavender over the top if you wish. 

The Eisteddfod is coming to town...

There's a very festive feel here this week as the National Eisteddfod, an annual cultural celebration of poetry, music and literature, is being held just down the road from my house. The whole area seems to be participating, with bunting and flags flying from almost every building. 

 Over 160,000 visitors are expected to descend on the Maes this week and the famous pink pavilion, Europe’s largest festival of competitive poetry and music, will welcome over 6,000 participants from across Wales. As well as the events on the main stage, there are also over 300 stalls and activities to explore, including a food hall with exhibitors from all over north Wales. This is what has inspired today's post - rather than a recipe, I've chosen three of my local food heroes to write about, all produced within an 8 mile radius from where I live. I haven't been asked to write about them, I've decided to showcase these products because their taste and quality mean that I use and buy them regularly. (See disclaimer below.)

Patchwork Pâté 

http://www.patchwork-pate.co.uk/

This company was established by Margaret Carter in 1982 when she began selling her homemade pâté to pubs near her home. After five years, the number of customers had grown considerably and the business moved to a purpose-equipped factory in Ruthin. Despite the commercial scale today, everything is still hand-made in small batches, without artificial colouring, additives or preservatives, to Margaret’s original recipes.

The product is quite unlike any other commercially-produced pâté. The first difference is in the texture; Patchwork is soft and smooth, with no hint of the rubberiness that sometimes characterises other pâtés. The second difference can be seen in the variety and combination of flavours available. Purely personally, I like my pâté to have some alcohol in it, to contrast with the rich, meaty taste and Patchwork obligingly produces a vast range to choose from. My absolute favourite is the one seen in the photo above: Cointreau and Orange Chicken Liver Pâté. Beautifully balanced, the zesty orange tastes fresh and subtle against the savoury chicken livers. Other delicious flavours include Chicken Liver, Marmalade and Whisky; Welsh Dragon's Pâté (Venison Liver with Chilli); vegetarian Sun Dried Tomato Pâté with Welsh Mead and new this year, a pâté using local cider and apples, Paté Iau Cyw Iar Afalau a Seidr Cymraeg - Chicken Liver Paté with Apple and Welsh Cider. 

Llaeth y Llan - Village Dairy 

http://www.villagedairy.co.uk/

This family-run business has been producing probiotic yoghurt using local Welsh milk since the 1980s, from a farm nestling in the beautiful hills not far from Denbigh. The recipe has been perfected over the years and the beautifully thick and creamy yoghurt has won various awards including Gold Winner at the True Taste of Wales awards and a gold again at the 2013 Royal Welsh Show last month. There are thirteen flavours to choose from; Rhubarb, Gooseberry and Mandarin are personal favourites while their natural yoghurt is perfect for using in cooking. 

Llainwen Eggs

These beautiful, coloured, free range eggs have a deep orange yolk that I haven't found anywhere else. The farm, situated in the Vale of Clwyd, has been in the family since 1739 and all their eggs come from a variety of traditional breed hens who happily roam around the fields, truly free-range. Visitors are always welcome on the farm, to see first-hand how the hens are looked after. As you can see from the photos, you get seven, multi-hued eggs in every gorgeous box. 

Disclaimer: I was not sent any of these products, I have not been contacted by any of these companies and I have not been asked to write a review. I buy these things regularly and I simply chose to share my views and opinions here as I think that their products are excellent and I like the service standards and ethos of the companies. 

'Caffe Shakerato' - Iced Italian Coffee

Apart from the more obvious benefits of this beautiful summer weather, it's also given me the opportunity to dust off some all-but-forgotten favourites we used to enjoy in Italy. One of these is the 'Caffe Shakerato', pronounced as you would expect. It seems incredible that simply shaking strong sweet espresso with ice can produce such a dense, creamy foam but it does. Just look at the photo - there is no milk or cream there, only espresso, sugar and ice.

Normally, I loathe coffee with sugar in, to my mind it's like drinking hot, liquid coffee cake. My usual espresso is strictly unadulterated - no milk, no sugar and certainly no flavoured syrups. However, I make an exception in this case - you really do need a touch of sweetness when drinking coffee at these icy temperatures.

It goes without saying really that the quality of your caffe shakerato depends on the quality of your espresso.

RECIPE - enough for 2

3 small cups of freshly made espresso
2-4 teaspoons of sugar (depending on taste)
ice

Add the sugar to the espresso while it's still hot so it dissolves completely. 

Half fill a cocktail shaker with ice, pour in the sweetened espresso and shake vigorously for a minute or two until you have a rich, creamy foam. Serve in chilled martini glasses or champagne flutes.

A perfect ending to an al fresco lunch or dinner.

Chocolate and Pistachio Macaroons

I do realise that macaroons are no longer at the apex of food fashion. Luckily for me, I am not a slavish follower of trends; I mean, just think of how many things I would have had to deny myself over the years simply because they were no longer 'fashionable' - prawn cocktail, black forest gateau, goat's cheese salad, chicken kiev...

Macaroons may have had their day but I stay true. Their small size and intense sweetness, coupled with the chewy yet soft texture make them an ideal way to finish a meal. They're also perfect with an espresso at any time of the day.

This particular version has been inspired by Nigella - indeed, it is a reworking of her chocolate macaroons sandwiched together with the filling from her pistachio ones. I'm including the recipe for the chocolate macaroons here because I've adapted it and you can find the recipe for the pistachio filling in Nigella's book, How to be a Domestic Goddess.

There are some fellow bloggers who make very impressive macaroons - have a look at Corner Cottage Bakery's stunningly beautiful white-on-white ones here, Blue Kitchen Bakes' delicious sounding raspberry filled ones here and Supergolden Bakes' incredibly professional ones here.

As these are perfect for parties, I'm sending them over to A Kick at the Pantry Door for July's Forever Nigella challenge, started by Sarah at Maison Cupcake.

As they are completely made from scratch, they're going to Javelin Warrior's wonderful weekly challenge too, Made with Love Mondays. 

RECIPE

125g icing sugar

60g ground almonds

15g cocoa

2 egg whites

15g caster sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C

Line 2 baking sheets with greaseproof paper

Sift the icing sugar, ground almonds and cocoa powder together. Whisk the egg whites until fairly stiff then sprinkle over the caster sugar. Continue whisking until the egg whites become very stiff then gently fold in the sifted ingredients. 

If you have an icing bag (I use the disposable ones), fit with a plain nozzle and fill with the macaroon mixture. It's a little bit fiddly and the mixture is really sticky so try to get it all in the bag! Pipe out small rounds onto the prepared baking sheets. If you're not bothered about having perfect discs, you can just put small teaspoons of the mixture onto the lined sheets instead of messing about with an icing bag. 

Leave to stand for 15 mins and then bake in the pre-heated oven for about 12-15 mins. Using a palate knife, remove to a wire rack to cool and then sandwich with the pistachio buttercream. 

Three Berry Cake

I love cake with fruit in; by that, I don't mean 'fruit cake', although I love that too, or cakes layered or topped with fruit, I mean cake with bits of fresh fruit in the batter. Apple cake is a particular favourite of mine (see here and here for two recipes) but it's obviously an autumnal cake whereas I wanted something in a similar vein but that would celebrate this beautiful weather we're currently enjoying. With the plethora of gorgeous soft fruit we have available in summer, it took much deliberation before deciding on a mixture of raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. Summer in a cake - what more do you want?

I'm linking this up to several blogging challenges. The first is July's gorgeous Tea Time Treats Challenge, Fresh Fruit Treats, jointly run by Karen of Lavender and Lovage (this month's host) and Kate at What Kate Baked.

It's going to Javelin Warrior's wonderful weekly challenge too, Made with Love Mondays, which encourages everyone to cook from scratch.

Finally, I'm entering it into Calender Cakes, run by Rachel from Dolly Bakes and Laura (this month's host) from Laura Loves Cakes. The theme is Fruity Bakes.  

RECIPE

200g butter

200g caster sugar

200g self raising flour + one tablespoon for the fruit

180g raspberries, strawberries and blueberries (roughly 60g of each fruit)

3 eggs

zest of one lemon

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C

Grease and base line a round cake tin, 22cm diameter

Wash and prepare the fruit.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Sieve the flour and fold in. Toss the fruit in a tablespoon of flour (this prevents it from all sinking to the bottom during baking) and fold in to the cake batter along with the grated lemon zest.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, smoothing the top.

Put in the oven and bake for about 45-50 mins or until the cake is cooked and golden brown on top. It takes longer to cook than a normal sponge cake because of the addition of the moist fruit. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for about 20 mins before carefully turning out and leaving to cool on a wire rack. 
This cake makes a perfect pudding eaten still warm from the oven, served with crème anglaise. As a cake, it's wonderful too and in fact tastes even better after a day or two - very handy for a summer picnic.

Tuna with a warm herb vinaigrette

I never seem to learn. Once again, I have succumbed to the temptation to order tuna in a restaurant, drawn in by the enticing descriptions - pan-seared, lemon-scented, herb-encrusted...I've tried them all and they are invariably disappointing. There's nothing wrong with the sauces and salsas, the problem lies with the tuna - it's always overcooked, giving it the consistency of particularly dry cardboard and turning even the finest grade tuna into something that looks and tastes as if it has just come out of a tin. I mean, I'm not disparaging tinned tuna, it certainly has its place, but it definitely cannot be compared to the fresh stuff. After every delusion I vow never to repeat my mistake, only to fall off the wagon again.

The latest let-down left me longing for a decent piece of tuna, seared on the outside for seconds rather than minutes and still juicy and pink within. I liked the idea that I'd seen at the restaurant which was tuna served with a salsa verde. However, I wanted something slightly less aggressive, just some fragrant herbs, a few capers, a squeeze of lemon juice with some of the zest thrown in for good measure, with just enough olive oil to combine everything.

This post is making its way over to the newly named Cooking with Herbs (but it's still our old favourite Herbs on Saturday). The challenge is created and hosted by Karen from the wonderful Lavender and Lovage.

I'm also sending it to Javelin Warrior's wonderful weekly challenge which encourages everyone to cook from scratch, Made with Love Mondays.

RECIPE

2 tuna steaks
extra virgin olive oil

For the herb vinaigrette
150ml extra virgin olive oil
handful fresh flatleaf parsley
handful fresh basil
1-2 tbsp capers
juice and zest of half a lemon

For the warm vinaigrette, start by roughly chopping the herbs. Put the olive oil into a small saucepan, adding the herbs, capers and lemon zest (though not the lemon juice at this point). Warm everything very gently over a low heat. 

In the meantime, heat a heavy-based griddle pan until hot. Season the tuna steaks with some sea salt and rub with the olive oil. When the pan is very hot, put the tuna steaks in and sear for just one minute each side. It should still be pink inside. 

Just before serving, stir the lemon juice into the sauce, season to taste with salt and pepper and spoon over the tuna. 

In the photo you can see that I served this with some courgettes which I lightly sauteed in olive oil, adding a squeeze of lemon juice at the end.