speaking of grassmilk i have long thought i should start a recipe series for “things that pair well with a Big Glass of Grassmilk”. i guess now is as good a time as any 🙂
make a chocolate mayonnaise cake and top with whipped cream frosting ( you could use something other than organic valley heavy whipping cream, but really, why? ). grab a glass of the cream on top grassmilk.
enjoy the perfect pairing. very much odin approved.
i was eating dinner at driftless cafe and finished it off with an excellent panna cotta ( i was reminded by the staff that they use organic valley half and half and organic valley heavy whipping cream which always makes me happy to hear 🙂 ) and it made me wonder why i didn’t make a homemade version. it’s easy to make, uses two of my favorite ingredients and can be the used as the base for a nearly infinite number of variations. perfect!
we have plenty of frozen peaches to use in the freezer so i thought i’d start with a maple panna cotta with peach coulis similar in spirit to this strawberry panna cotta and this peaches and cream panna cotta shots.
i used agar-agar flakes in lieu of animal gelatin because, well, i generally try to avoid animal gelatin. i’m guessing a panna cotta purist might scoff at using agar.
ingredients
panna cotta
1 1/2 cups organic valley half and half
1/2 cup organic valley heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons agar agar flakes
peach coulis
12 peach frozen quarters
1 tablespoon sugar
1. in a small saucepan, heat the the half and half, heavy whipping cream, maple syrup, sugar and agar flakes until simmering for 5-10 minutes or until the agar flakes are completely dissolved ( to be honest it was impossible for me to completely dissolve all the flakes so this batch had a few tapioca-like chunks in it. perhaps someone has a good tactic for getting them to dissolve completely. )
2. transfer mixture to ramekins, cover and put in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
3. heat peach frozen quarters and sugar with a small amount of water until a thickened peachy sauce is formed.
4. puree peach sauce in blender
5. after the panna cotta has cooled and firmed in the fridge, pour the peach sauce on top
i’m no panna cotta expert, but i believe it’s supposed to have a consistency just slightly thicker than pudding and this batch was pretty close. unsurprisingly, the maple and peach flavors were quite complimentary. A++, would make again!
after years of avoiding them altogether thanks to being ruined in my early years by their canned commercial cousins, i am thoroughly enjoying my Rediscovery of The Peach. in a way it’s funny because, of course, we’re all about fresh, local and organic. i mean, we have back yard chickens for pete’s sake. we’re part of a csa, have several gardens and i’m the milk and cream product manager for organic valley. we’re sitting right at the “grow yer own peak” of the evolving organic lifestyle.
and yet, until very recently i still thought a store peach was A Peach. i am here to testify to you that unless you are very lucky, it is Not A Peach. not at all. not even close. it’s a tasteless, mealy peach imposter.
A Real Peach is transformative. no, really, this is not hyperbole. i finally, really understand why alice waters imagined The Peach would change lives:
“It started with a peach. Not just any peach but a Frog Hollow Farm peach, coaxed into its fullness by the rich loam of the Sacramento River Delta. A golden peach suffused with a lover’s blush, a hint of erotic give at the cleft, its juice sliding down the chin at the gentlest pressure — it was a peach that tastes the way peaches once did, the way they should. It was the peach with which Alice Waters, the founder of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, the chef who revolutionized American fine dining, imagined she would transform children’s lives.”
“It was Frog Hollow peaches, which can sell for about $5 a pound, that Waters took seven years ago to the first day of summer session at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley. She was carving an organic garden out of a parking lot next to the playground, planting the seeds for a schoolwide program to promote ecological and gastronomic literacy. One bite of these peaches, she thought, and the scales placed on students’ eyes by the false prophets of the junk-food industry would fall away.”
transformative indeed. and if you add a bit of heavy whipping cream and just the slightest sprinkle of sugar the A Real Peach you’ll have The Worlds Best Peaches and Cream. i wish i had recorded our collective reactions to tasting it for the first time and caught the pause and eye-widening and mouth-filled “oooooooooh, this is good!” exclamations.
i know we’ll be patiently waiting every year for these Wonders of Nature to arrive.
shhhh. top secret ice cream project. don’t tell anyone.