Low Fat Vanilla Pannacotta with Plum Compote

It seems as if Summer has left us. The weather has cooled and the leaves on the fruit trees in our yard are starting to change colour already.
One of my favorite desserts is definitely a soft silky pannacotta and I had a yearning for something sweet today.

Part of my life is avoiding Diabetes - my family is rife with both Type 1 those who are Insulin dependant and Type 2 the one they call diet controllable. I have to tell you that controlling your diet is hard. Most people already know that. For me an endless craving for carbohydrates has always been part of my life. Luckily I have a good Doctor who doesn't throw me out the door after 15 minutes. I am now on an anti-diabetes medication and that has done wonders for me. No more constant headache, no more carb cravings and ceaseless hunger and I've lost a little bit of weight already and it's only been a week.
I unexpectedly worked late last night and didn't have any of the wonder medication with me so I missed a dose. I really believed it wouldn't make much difference but this morning I got up with a slight headache and a near desperate craving for a slice of toast. I have no willpower and had the toast.
I've been craving something sweet all day and decided to have dessert tonight. So after a light meal of Hot Smoked Salmon and Goat Cheese Cambembert Frittata (recipe to follow later in the week)we had Low Fat Vanilla Pannacotta with Plum Compote.

This is a really quick recipe. It takes a few minutes to make and a couple of hours to set. I didn't add any sugar but you can add 1 tablespoon of icing sugar if you have a sweet tooth. 

Low Fat Vanilla Pannacotta with Plum Compote

4 serves

1 sachet of gelatine powder
60 mls cold water270 ml can of lite coconut cream
250 ml fat free plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla paste

12 fresh plums
60 mls water or port
3cms of cinnamon stick, 1 piece of star anise and 2 cloves

Pour the gelatine onto the 60 mls of water in a microwaveable bowl and stir until it is not lumpy.
Mix the  coconut cream, yogurt and the vanilla in a jug (now is the time to add 1 tablespoon of icing sugar if you want to), mix well.
When the gelatine has softened microwave for 15 seconds. Take it out of the microwave and stir it. Return the gelatine and water to the microwave for another 15 seconds. Take care to ensure that the gelatine and water does not boil. If it does the gelatine will not set and you need to start again.
Stir the dissolved gelatine water mixture into the yogurt/coconut cream/vanilla mixture. Stir until it is smooth and then pour into 4 glasses.
Cover with glad wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours to set.

For the compote
Cut the plums in half and remove the stones.
Place in a small saucepan with the spices and water or port and simmer over a low heat until just soft.
Turn off the heat and leave to sit with the lid on until cooled to room temperature.
Remove the spices.

Serve the pannacotta in the glasses with the plums.

Tropical Mango and Passionfruit Steamed Puddings Inspired by Jamie Oliver

Its time for another Sweet Adventure - Nic from Dining with a Stud is hosting the

When I think tropical I immeadiately think Passionfruit, mango and vanilla. Who wouldn't? I've been road testing dishes for this challenge since it was announced and in the end I wondered what would Jamie Oliver do. Cause I do love Jamie. In his 15 minute cook book he makes coconut steamed buns.
They are easy and quick. 1 part coconut cream and 2 parts self raising flour. Jamie served them with a chicken dish but I thought to myself 'how healthy are these'. The light coconut flavour negates the need for sugar and although there is around 28 grams of fat in 1/3 cup of full fat of coconut cream you could use the light version. This recipe makes 2 large desserts and let's face it sometimes that's just what you need. Even though it is a big dessert it is still quite light and really refreshing so dig in Adventurers.

Tropical Mango and Passionfruit steamed puddings for 2

1 mango
2 passionfruit
1/3 cup coconut cream
2/3 cup self raising flour

To serve
1/4 cup fat free natural yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste
2 passionfruit

Method

Set up your steamer and bring the water to the boil.
Divide the pulp from 2 passionfruit between 2 greased 200 ml ramekins.
Peel the mango and cut the flesh from the seed and place on top of the passionfruit, then eat what's left on the skin and seed.
Mix the coconut cream and flour until smooth, spoon on top of the fruit and place uncovered in the steamer.

Steam on high steam for 12 - 15 minutes.
Remove from the steamer when a skewer inserted in the pudding comes out clean.

Run a knife around the puddings and tip them out onto a plate.
Mix the yogurt, vanilla and the pulp from the passionfruit and drizzle over the top.

Enjoy.

Bombora's @ Goolwa Beach and Jamie Olivers Stuffed Peppers

This weekend has given us two amazing spring days. Perfect to walk on the beach. Off we went to Goolwa. We found a light breeze coming in from the sea, blue,blue sky and not too many people around.  Luckily my yen for seafood yesterday prompted me to ring and book a table at Bombora's,  a small kiosk cafe on the beach because they were busy. In front of the kiosk is a dining area with plastic curtains to block the sea winds. 

Today those winds were mere breezes. It was a bit cool but the Husband and I had our wind jackets in the car and that was all we needed over our long sleeve shirts. Other patrons were colder and made good use of the blankets available. We arrived just before  midday and had coffee and excellent german apple cake, the cake had beautiful pink lady apple slices around the edge and some delicious custard in the middle. 

Next a walk up to the top of the boardwalk the photo above is the view back over Bomboras and the life guard tower. Then back down to the beach for a lesiurely 3 km stroll. No 1 Son, favorite Daughter In Law and No 1 grandson met us at Bomboras for a late lunch and it was fantastic. Bomboras is well known for its fried whitebait and it lived up to its reputation. Lightly tossed in flour and fried served with a sprinkle of parsley and a generous wedge of lemon. Grandson loved them and ate half the bowl. I did manage to grab a photo before we devoured the lot.

I had a small sardine niscoise salad that would have been better with some olives but otherwise lovely. 

DIL's Grilled Mulloway with spring salsa was pronounced excellent. 

No 1 Son had salt and pepper squid (the piece I stole was great), the dipping sauce tangy and perfect with the squid.

 

For me the highlight of the whole day was the best ever chocolate mousse cake. Creamy and chocolatey without being too rich, a little crunch from the toasted almonds and the crisp top served warm with a drizzle of home-made chocolate sauce, fresh cream and one of the best lattes I have had for ages. 

We were home for dinner and wanted something light and quick. Jamie Olivers stuffed peppers fit the bill. From his 30 minute meals show they take 10 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook.

Jamie's Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

70g grated tasty cheese

30g grated parmesan

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

1 diced brown onion
50g blanched almonds
a small bunch of fresh parsley

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 x 450g jar of whole peppers

1 teaspoon italian dried mixed herbs 

1 teaspoon spicey tomatino spice mix - or 1/4 tspn cumin, 1/4 cumin, 1/4 tspn dried chili, 1/4 smoked paprika 

Salt and pepper

I bought the whole roasted peppers at Hahndorf Fruit and Veg Shop. There were 5 in the jar.

Open the jar and drain off the liquid.

 

Crumble  the bread, cheeses, blanched almonds, parsley, a good pinch of salt & pepper, the chopped onion and the red wine vinegar into the food processor. 

 Whiz up until fine and stuff loosely into the peppers.

Once full, put them into a baking dish. 

Scatter any remaining breadcrumbs over the peppers. Drizzle with olive oil, then put on the middle shelf of a 200° C oven for 20 minutes. 

Served with leftover tomato and vegetable sauce.

Beer Bread

I promised the kids sourdough beer bread for dinner on Sunday night. After reading the directions from and

that arrived from The Book Depository on Friday afternoon I found out it would take several days to develop the sourdough starter.

So off to the  internet I went to find a beer bread that I could make by Sunday night. I started to look at some of the 185 000 results Google gave me and quickly worked out I wanted a yeast bread that used rye, whole wheat and unbleached white flours and the beer. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted so I decided this mixture would work (Fingers crossed and a quick prayer). It worked beautifully - the bread has a great crumb as you can see above, smells and tastes faintly of stout and malt. We agreed it is one of the nicest breads we've had for ages. A mature cheddar or some stilton would go perfectly with this bread or cream cheese and jam. I will be making it again with a honey malt beer.

Ingredients:

• 100 g mixed grain flakes
• 50 g ground oatmeal
• 200g white bread flour
• 200g whole wheat flour
• 100g dark rye flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tblsp. instant yeast 
• One stubby of room temperature Coopers Stout – 365 mls 
• 125 mls warm water

Method

•  Mix together the dry ingredients in a metal bowl.
• Stir in the beer and water with a spoon.
• Mix the dough for 5 minutes ( you can do this in the mixer because this is a wet sticky dough but I just used the spoon).

• Cover the bowl with cling wrap and let it rise for at least 1 hour.
• Next I took a bowl scraper and turned the dough back on itself with this. It punched down the dough really well and mixed it at the same time. Recover.  Let rise for at least 2 hours punching it down hourly then refrigerate it overnight. 

• Next day get it out of the refrigerator when you get up. Put the dough somewhere about 22° C to warm. I have a defrost setting on my oven and in the winter this is perfect for a slow prove. (Below is a photo of the dough after I took it out of the refrigerator).

• The dough should have doubled in size. Shape the dough and put it into an oiled bread loaf tin. (I didn't knock it back completely just handled it enough to get it shaped and into the tin)
• Put it somewhere warm. (You can use a plastic container big enough to hold the tin and a hot water bottle filled with boiling water)and when it has doubled in height put into a pre-heated oven 180°C
• When you put the dough into the oven, spray the oven surfaces with a mist of water, or throw in 2 or 3 ice cubes
• Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned.  Let stand for at least 15 minutes or ideally until cooled to room temperature. The bread smells so good you might have to leave the house to achieve this. 
•  The recommended temperature to cook bread is 200° C and if you haven't made bread before start at that temperature. My new fan forced oven seems to dry out the crust too much if I cook a loaf of bread at that temperature so I reduce the temperature to 180° C.