Panna Cotta with Balsamic Sauce

Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta with Balsamic Sauce

Finally got around to trying my hand at one of my favorite desserts and was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was! Only thing is the overnight wait time for the gelatin to set, so plan ahead. Otherwise, prep time is only about 10 minutes. 

Before...

and After! 

Panna Cotta with Balsamic Sauce

Serves 4
Ingredients:

For Panna Cotta:
Gelatin - 3/4 packet (this is basically unflavored jello powder)
Heavy Cream - 1.5 cups (1 pint = 2 cups)
Full-fat Yogurt - 1 cup (we used Greek Yogurt)
Vanilla Extract - 2 teaspoon
Sugar - 1/3 cup

For Balsamic Sauce:
Balsamic Vinegar - 2.5 tablespoon
Sugar - 1 tablespoon
Pepper - 1/4 teaspoon
Lemon Zest

Directions:

[...night before]
1. Mix gelatin powder with a few tablespoons of cold water until dissolved. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together half the heavy cream, yogurt and vanilla extract.
3. In a sauce pan, heat the remaining heavy cream in low heat and mix in sugar. 
4. Turn off the heat. Add the galatin mixture to the hot cream. Pour the combined mixture to the cold cream and combine. Pour the combined mixture into a large plate or smaller individual bowls. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

[...about 1 hour before serving]
5. Combine ingredients for balsamic sauce in low heat. Let reduce about half and cool.
6. To serve, top Panna Cotta with blueberries and drizzle balsamic sauce.

Mexico City Style Chicken & Rice Soup

I ordered the this soup at a Tex Mex joint in Houston and totally fell in love. Determined to recreate it in my teeny NYC kitchen and think I got pretty close. This is quickly becoming one of my favorites and I will likely be making this a lot, especially if the winter stays this cold. 

Before...

Soup Base Ingredients

Garnish Ingredients

and After!

You can improvise and add/change up many of the ingredients here. Next time I think I'll try to add daikon to the soup. 

Mexico City Style Chicken & Rice Soup

Ingredients for Chicken Broth: 
Chicken (I like to use a mix of drumsticks and thighs with bones but no skin)
Carrots  
Celery 
Corn
Onion (I prefer yellow/Spanish onion for cooking)
Thyme
optional: Saffron

Ingredients for toppings/garnish: 
Tomatoes
Onion (I prefer red onion for garnish)
Avocado
Jalapeño
Corn - cook briefly in chicken soup, remove and cut off kernels
Cilantro
Rice - cook in rice cooker with slightly less water
Optional: lime

Directions:
1. Boil water and drop in chicken pieces. Cook for 1 hour. In the meantime, drop in whole corn, let cook, remove and cool. Cut off kernels to be used for garnish later.
2. Cut carrots, onion and celery into large chunks. Add carrots, onion, celery, thyme and dash of pepper into the pot. Cook for at least another hour. 
3. While the broth is cooking, prepare the toppings/garnish: chop the tomatoes, red onion and jalapeño into small pieces. Finely chop the cilantro. De-seed and cube/slice/chop avocado (do this last as avocado oxidizes).
2. When the broth looks ready, scoop out the chicken and carrot. De-bond and hand shred chicken meat into small pieces.
3. Pour the remaining soup through a sieve to retain the clear broth. Add chicken and carrots back in and reboil. Flavor with salt and pepper.
4. Scoop out a bowl of hot broth with chicken and carrots. Serve with toppings/garnish on the side.

Yuk Gae Jang (육개장) - Korean Spicy Beef Soup

This is one of my favorite Korean dishes: it's spicy and hearty but not too heavy. I'm drooling just thinking about it! Turns out, this isn't so hard to make - but you do need to be home for a 2-3 hour stretch because it takes at least 2 hours of total cooking time (even though the prep is not too bad). 

Before...

and After!

I would classify the recipe below as "medium spicy." Adjust spice accordingly and enjoy!

Yuk Gae Jang (육개장) - Korean Spicy Beef Soup

Ingredients:

Beef Brisket – 1.5 lb

[for meat seasoning]
Korean red pepper paste – 4 tb
Red pepper powder – 4 tb (can also use crushed red peppers)

Sesame oil – 2 tb

Sesame seeds – 3 tb

Garlic – 4 tb (minced)
Soy Sauce or Gook Ganjang – 4 tb
Black pepper – 1 tsp

[veggies in soup]

Scallions – 2 bunches (cut in half, julienne; reserve and chopped some for garnish)

Mushroom – oyster or shiitake, 1 pack

[optional ingredients] 
* optional veggies for the soup: Korean peppers, spicy peppers (eg jalapeno), bean sprouts, fern bracken / fern brake (available in Japanese markets)

* optional add-in for the soup: Dak Myun (soak in water)

* optional garnish: egg (fried and sliced thinly)

Best serve with rice.

Directions:

1. Drain blood in brisket by letting it sit in water before cooking. Boil brisket briefly in water and drain. Replace water in pot and cook meat for 1 hour. 

2. Remove meat from beef broth, reserve the broth, cool and shred/peel/cut meat into small pieces. 
3. In a large bowl, mix meat with meat seasonings: red pepper paste, red pepper, sesame oil, sesame seed, garlic, soy sauce/gook gangjang, and black pepper. 
3. Re-boil the beef broth. Add back seasoned brisket pieces to pot.
4. After it comes to a boil, add additional veggies: scallions and mushrooms (and other optional ingredients such as Korean peppers and bean sprouts). Add more water as appropriate. Boil for at least 1 hour*.
6. If including dak myun, add into soup towards the last 5 minutes of cooking.
5. Turn off heat. Taste and season with salt or soy sauce. 
6. Garnish with chopped scallions (optional: and eggs). Serve with a bowl of rice on the side.

* This is what it looks like about 30 minutes into cooking. It looks tasty and is edible but not to its full potential. I find that the soup actually tastes best the next day.

Poached Egg in Microwave

Want a perfectly poached egg in 60 seconds? It's much easier than you think. 

Ta Da!

I love adding this to my home made noodle soups. 

Poached Egg in Microwave

Add 1/2 to 1/3 cup of water in a microwave safe bowl, crack egg into bowl. Depending on strength of your microwave, put in for 30 seconds, take a quick look and add time accordingly*. My lightweight microwave takes about 60 seconds.

* Err on the side of less time, too much time will cause the yolk to explode, which is no fun cleaning up.

Split Pea Dessert (馬豆糕)

This is a traditional Chinese Cantonese dessert that you might have tried at dim sum places. It tastes a bit like coconut panna cotta with a more solid texture, a bit like pudding + jello, not too sweet and light enough to consume after a big dinner. Ok, it's hard to describe so just try it. I might try to experiment with different flavors next... stay tuned!

Before...

and After!

Split Pea Dessert (馬豆糕)

Serves 12

Ingredients:
Split Pea - 3 oz or 3/8 cup
Evaporated Milk - 1 can (12 fluid oz)
Coconut Milk - 1 can 
Sugar - 8 to 9 oz
Corn Starch - 5 to 6 oz (6 oz for more solid texture)

Directions:
1. Cook split pea in boiling water until soft, approximately 35-40 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. In a large pot, heat up 1.5 cups of water and melt sugar in medium heat.
3. In a separate bowl, mix 1.5 cups of water with corn starch.
4. When the sugar is thoroughly melted, add evaporated milk and coconut milk. When ti's hot, turn heat down to low, stir and slowly mix in starch water. 
5. Before the mixture boils, mix in the cooked split pea. Continue to stir; as the mixture boils, it will start to turn white. Let it boil for a few minutes while stirring.
6. Turn off heat. Pour the mixture into a desired container* and let cool. 
7. Cover and refrigerate. Serve cold.

* I prefer to use large deep glass plates for pour. The dessert will form into a cake-like shape and you can cut into cake slices or cubes for serving.

This is what it should look like after it's poured and cooling.

Creamed Chicken and Corn Soup (Instant)

I usually like to make things from scratch but I also enjoy an instant recipe now and then for those lazy days. This tastes like egg drop soup and is perfect as an appetizer or snack. Enjoy!

Before...

and After!

In my opinion, the brand of canned food makes or breaks the dish (taste-wise) so try to be brand specific.

Creamed Chicken and Corn Soup (Instant)

Ingredients:
Chicken Broth - 1 can (Swanson)
Cream Style Sweet Corn - 1 can (Green Giant)
Egg - 1
[optional] Cilantro, Salt, White Pepper, Sesame Oil and Sugar to taste

Directions:
1. Combine chicken broth and corn in pot and heat.
2. Beat egg and season with salt, white peper and sesame oil.
3. When soup comes to a boil, drop in egg mixture. Wait 5 second, then stir very gently. The egg will cook better this way.
4. Taste and season soup with salt and white pepper and/or sugar and sesame oil. 
5. Top with chopped cilantro to serve. For more cilantro taste, you can also added some cilantro stalks in soup before it boils.

Best Kitchen Tools: Garlic Twist

I can't afford to keep a lot of tools in my kitchen because it's so small, but the one tool that I absolutely cannot live without is the Garlic Twist. If you haven't tried it, I urge that you check out the website.  There is a video and everything. You can also buy on Amazon. You can thank me later!

Garlic Twist: the best kitchen tool ever

Image source: www.garlictwist.com