Entries from December 2007 ↓

It was a very tasty Christmas indeed, I decided to try for a bit of a healthier one so I concentrated on doing a whole heap of vegetable dishes and salads – when things have settled down, I’ll download the pics and write up the recipes.

I hope everyone had a similarly (or more) tasty Christmas!

A while ago, I was salivating at thought of trying out Heidi Swanson’s Mesquite Chocolate Chips.

Mesquite is a rare but apparently very healthy and tasty flour. I managed to find a supplier in Australia but it was very pricey. I got this nice comment from Peter Felker:

Good day I’m a partner in the USDA organic, Kosher production of mesquite flour in Argentina and in the USA. You can buy it from our web site for $9 for a 1 lb bag or you can order it bulk at much lower price. I would love to help you find a store in your area to carry it. Would you be kind enough to suggest a store close to you that we could contact.

I passed on a few stores to him so fingers crossed! I think I’ll also send an email to my food coop when they are back from holidays. Even at $9 for 1lb, it’s less than half the price!

Pannetone is a sweet Italian bread, much like a brioche only it usually has sultanas and mixed peel inside. You can get a similar bread without the peel called Pandoro or Bread of Gold which will do just as well in any of these recipes. It is a festive bread that’s often given at Christmas and Easter. I’m a fan of the stuff but there are ALWAYS leftovers which is a very good thing because it is even tastier forming part of another dish.

Here are five ways to use leftover Pannetone – or if you don’t have any Pannetone giving friends, it can usually be found fairly cheaply at a half decent Italian supermarket or grocery store.

1. Bread and Butter Pudding
Probably THE most popular way to use up leftover pannetone. You can take any of your favourite bread and butter puddings and just replace the bread with your pannetone.

I liked the sound of this one from Mangia Bene Pasta because it uses both citrus and Marsala and should pick up nicely on any peel that your panettone might already have.

Orange Bread Pudding (Serves
6 oz. panettone, thinly sliced (about 8 slices)
2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup rum
1/4 cup Marsala wine
3 eggs
2 tsp. grated orange zest
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Confectioners’ sugarPreheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a shallow 3 quart baking dish. Layer the bread slices in the baking dish.

In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the milk and sugar. Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat and add the heavy cream, rum, and Marsala.

In a bowl, beat together the eggs, orange zest, and cinnamon. Slowly stir in the milk mixture. Pour the mixture over the bread slices, pressing the bread down to keep it submerged. Let stand 10 minutes.

Place the baking dish in a larger roasting pan. Pour hot water around the baking dish to a depth of 1 inch. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted mid-way into the pudding comes out clean and the top is golden.

Cut into squares. Serve warm or chilled, sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar.

Some more variations:
Pannetone pudding with blueberries (Tesco magazine)
Gladys’ Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding (has Cognac)
Panettone Toffee Banana Pudding Recipe (cdkitchen.com)

And here is Keith Snow from HarvestEating.com showing with a live demonstration of his recipe:

2. French ToastI liked this panettone french toast recipe because it was quite simple and recommends maple syrup and mascarpone on the side – I love french toast with maple syrup and mascarpone.

Betsy’s Panettone French Toast (from Montreal Gazette, December 13 2006) – Serves 4
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cup milk or cream
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 slices panettone or pandoro, about 3/4 inch thick
3 tablespoons butter for frying, divided useFOR SERVING:
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
Maple syrup

Lay the tall cake on its side to cut it, and each slice is a perfect star. Before slicing, trim off the brown top and bottom edges of your cake. For this recipe it’s best to leave the panettone or pandoro slices out and unwrapped, under a tea towel, to dry overnight. This will prevent them from soaking up the egg mixture too quickly and becoming mushy.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

In a large, shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk or cream, salt, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Dip each slice of panettone into the egg mixture so that both sides are saturated but the cake is not falling apart.Melt one tablespoon of butter in a large non-stick frying pan or griddle. Working a few slices at a time, fry the panettone over medium-high heat until golden brown, a little crispy and slightly firm to the touch, about three minutes each side. The inside should remain soft, but not mushy. Transfer to a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven. Repeat with remaining slices.

Serve with a spoonful of mascarpone cheese. Pass the maple syrup at the table.

Or you can try Giada De Laurentiss’ French Toast with Cinnamon Syrup.

3. Sandwich

Big City, Little Kitchen has Three Suggestions for Pannetone, including making toasted sandwiches from them:

Mini Panettone-and-Pear Sandwiches

4 thin slices panettone, crusts trimmed, each slice cut in quarters
1/4 cup Nutella
1/2 pear, thinly sliced
Butter, for frying

Spread each bread slice with Nutella. Lay 1 or 2 pear slices on 8 of the bread slices, trimming them to be flush with the bread’s edges. Top with remaining slices of bread. In a cast-iron pan, melt a pat of butter. When pan is hot, lay two of the sandwiches in the pan, frying until brown, 1 to 2 minutes, pressing down once or twice. Flip and fry another minute or so. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with coffee or tea (or maybe port?), and perhaps a wedge of brie. Yields 8 small sandwiches.

4. Toast (or Biscotti)

Epicurious has a very simple recipe from Bon Appétit

Cardamom and Orange Panettone Toast (6 servings)
1/2-inch-thick slices small panettone or four 1/2-inch-thick slices large panettone, cut crosswise in half
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
5 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
(You can also Substitute lemon peel for the orange peel, and cinnamon for the cardamom)Preheat oven to 400°F. Place panettone on on rimmed baking sheet and toast until light golden brown, turning once, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the butter and the grated peel in medium bowl and blend with electric mixer. Mix the sugar and cardamon together on a small plate.Remove panettone from oven, spread 1 side of each slice with butter mixture, then press into sugar mixture. Bake until topping bubbles, about 4 minutes.

If you slice the panettone finer and bake on low until crisp – you’ve just made yourself some very nice spicy Panettone Biscotti.

Hard or soft, I think they would be would be very nice dipped into Magia Bene Pasta’s Marscapone Sauce

1-3/4 cups whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 TB. flour
1 egg
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. grated lemon zestIn a small saucepan over medium-low heat, heat the milk until bubbles form around the edge. Remove the pan from the heat. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and flour. Beat in the egg. Whisk in the hot milk. Return the mixture to the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sauce comes to a simmer. Cook 1 minute. Transfer the sauce to a small bowl. Stir in the mascarpone, vanilla, and lemon zest until smooth.

5. Cassata

Marco Debiasi has adapted a recipe from Tastes of Italia (May 2004). It serves 6.

Ingredients
1/2 pound ricotta cheese
1/8 cup powdered (confictioners/icing) sugar
1 tablespoons chopped, mixed, candied fruit or orange and citrus peel
1/8 cup chopped semisweet chocolate
1 tablespoons Amaretto
1/2 teaspoon orange zest 1
/8 cup toasted pine nuts 6-oz.
panettone leftover (about 1/3 panettone)
sweet dessert wine
powdered cocoaPreparation In a large bowl combine the ricotta cheese, sugar, candied fruit, chocolate, Amaretto, and orange zest and whip until smooth. Line a mold with plastic wrap. Cut the panettone leftover into strips about 1/2-inch thick. Very slightly wet into wine and line the mold with about two-third of the slices. Press together. Pour the ricotta mixture into the centre of the bowl. Top with remaining panettone slices. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Invert onto a platter and decorate with powdered cocoa and chopped chocolate.

You could also replace the ricotta with ice cream and leave in the freezer instead of the fridge. Mmmmm….

Or you could try the ABC’s mini ricotta puds with served with butter apples.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Christmas!

I made an incredible but extremely time consuming and messy gingerbread as Christmas gifts last year (Jamie Oliver’s from his COOK with Jamie). I also made chocolate chip cookies but found them a little boring. This year I wanted something simple, I wanted it gingery but also wanted something chocolate-y so I thought why not combine the two? So I asked my friend Google and after providing a ton of recipes with crystalised ginger (I had none), he produced this stunner from Sunset magazine.

The original recipe called for molasses, but my pantry only had golden syrup but the substitution worked perfectly well. It also asked for bittersweet chocolate but I used milk which allows the ginger and spice to shine a little better. I didn’t have any sugar that wasn’t icing or caster, both of which would have melted, so I skipped that step. I also made them chunky – the original recipe wanted a size and thickness that was more akin to a ginger snap. Cookie batter is flexible, just go with whatever you feel like.

I think they are best warm so the chocolate chip cookie melts all over the place.

3/4 cup unsalted butter (I used about 190g)
2 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground nutmeg (used the pre-ground variety – it was fine)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup golden syrup
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
230g chocolate chips
1/3 cup granulated sugar (I’d use something like demerara sugar)

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Line a couple of baking trays with baking paper.

Sift flour, cocoa, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Mix until well combined.

In a separate bowl cream the butter and the brown sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the golden syrup, egg and vanilla. Add the sifted dry ingredients until well combined. Stir through the chocolate chips.

Form batter into balls. If you wish you can roll each in the sugar. Space evenly on the baking paper. Flatten the balls to the desired thickness (1″ – 1/4″) using the back of a spoon or the base of glass (water will help stop the batter from sticking).

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes depending on thickness and how gooey you want them to be. As I mentioned earlier, it’s a flexible dough. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

And Merry Christmas!

I am so loving “Saving Room” by John Legend. I wasn’t a huge fan of the video (just found it a TAD misogynistic but it’s been growing on me) but the other day I heard it again on the radio and I thought I’d check to see if it was still on his MySpace and it was! I must have played it about twenty times in the past two days. The other tracks on his Once Again album aren’t half bad either – I might just have to get the whole album.