Vegan Panna Cotta with Stewed Cherries

Its only a week into the new year and Ive already fulfilled one of my new years goals.  Id say that bodes pretty well for the rest of the year.

Throughout my life there have been countless attempts at very unsuccessful gelatin desserts with the panna cotta dinner party disaster almost a year ago being the latest in a long line of less than delicious runny creations.  I decided to shun gelatin all together wondering if perhaps we just werent destined to get along and moved onto the vegan friendly variety, agar agar, a seaweed concoction so great you have to say it twice. 

Ive know about this gelatinous variation for a while now, hearing that its more user friendly and nearly impossible to screw up but the price tag was keeping me from experimenting with it.  The tiny bags of it are around $15 dollars at Whole Foods.   Which was more of a commitment than I was willing to go into for something I might only use once especially considering I just spent the same amount on xanthan gum recently to forge my way into gluten free baking.  Then on a trip through every Asian grocery store in Madison I saw huge bricks of it for less than a dollar and bought some.

So the other night when I needed a fairly quick dessert I pulled out a vegan panna cotta recipe from the goddess of those creamy little desserts and hoped for the best.  Given that it was coconut milk and agave nectar I knew it would still be tasty if it didnt set so it wouldnt be a total bust but I was really hoping for lovely little white custards to top with the left over cherry sauce from a David Lebovitz I had in the refrigerator (which is easy and works just fine with frozen cherries.) 

And that was exactly what I ended up with!  They were gorgeous.  Perfect little cups of sweet coconut custard with a creamy mouth filling texture.  They werent too cloyingly sweet and so were divine with the stewed cherries.  I was so pleased with them and how delicious they were I had to, there wasnt a person on earth that could have kept me from the bliss that was putting coconut pan cotta in my mouth for the second time after so many failures.

So happy 2010 to me Ive conquered gelatin, kind of sort of.  Now I guess Ill have to give the real thing another go.   Seeing as I could gladly eat panna cotta in all of its variations every day this wont be a problem.

Vegan Panna Cotta

1 and 1/4 cups coconut milk
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1/2 block, crumbled or 2 teaspoons agar agar powder
1 cup soy yogurt(regular yogurt will work fine but make for a thinner consistency)

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium saucepan combine the coconut milk, agave nectar and agar agar. Let stand 5 minutes. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, 8 minutes, or until agar has mostly dissolved (there will be some flecks of translucent agar in mixture), stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Strain mixture through fine-mesh sieve into small pitcher or measuring cup. Whisk in yogurt and vanilla until smooth. Pour into 4 individual ramekins/custard cups.  Transfer to refrigerator. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour until set.

To serve, immerse bottom half of ramekin or custard cup in hot water about 15 seconds. Run a clean small knife around edge to loosen. Invert onto dessert plate.  Serve with David Lebovitzs amazing stewed cherries.

Original recipe from Enlightened cooking blog.

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Riesling Chicken

The idea for this meal came out of knowing our friend Iris likes Rieslings and I love an excuse to buy a wine I dont usually drink much of, she would be happy and wed all get to drink. Everyone wins. At about the same time I invited her and her fella Will over for a meal I stumbled across a recipe in the French cookbook of scary pictures for something called Riesling Chicken. It sounded good and since it had the name of the wine I wanted to serve in the title of the recipe it would save me a lot of trouble trying to figure out a main dish that went with the wine.

For something with Riesling in the name I was a little disappointed in how little Riesling flavor was actually in this dish however. It wasnt that it was a bad recipe it was just a little blah. Ultimately its baked chicken with a cream mushroom sauce which was fine, everyone liked it just fine. It would probably be improved a bit if I had cooked with bone in chicken pieces rather than breasts which I used to save all of us the trouble of trying to politely de-bone greasy bits of chicken.

Problem is I had obsessively shopped for the perfect Rieslings the week before cooking this. I ended up buying three different bottles trying to find a semi dry Riesling that wasnt expensive. Thats more difficult that one might imagine. The dry Rieslings were plentiful but started at the $30 range. I like my friends but knew wed rather have a couple decent bottles I knew nothing about in order to try them out than nursing one snobby bottle we might not even like. So I decided to trust the advice of San Fransisco Chronicle in their article about $10 Rieslings that werent sugar monsters. I bought the Relax and the Mosel River Rieslings that they suggested and the Bex Riesling that I remember liking from a tasting.

The fella and I opened them all to see which one was dry enough to cook with and not overwhelm the chicken and leeks, both of required wine to cook in. They were all pretty sweet so I used a little of each in the food and hoped for the best, figuring the chicken wouldnt care if I mixed wines. While dinner finished up we drank the Mosel River and moved onto the Bex as we ate. Both are from the Urzig region and so where pretty similar. The Mosel River being slightly sweeter with a heavy pear syrup flavor and a slight effervescence. Where as the Bex had a tartness that made my mouth water while still being Riesling sweet. Both were easy to drink and would be perfect for summer drinking. There was a nice limestone minerality to them that added a bit of character to the fruit.

The Relax was a bit of a shock after the other two wines. It was tight in a way only red wines usually are. I dont usually open a bottle of white and think about it needing to get a bit of air before drinking but this was apparently the exception. It was sweet but it held back its sweetness until the finish. This would be a great Riesling for someone who likes sweet but doesnt like the cloying fruitiness of many white wines. They were all great choices for the meal, they didnt overwhelm the chicken or roasted vegetables. All in all I was happy with all the wines. And we were all pretty happy with dinner. Or at least everyone made enough believable yummy noises that I assumed they were pleased.

We finished off the evening with a puppy walk and a silly card game that got even more silly when I opened a bottle of red. Its no secret that Im in love with Cline wines but their Moudevre is out of this world. Light bodied with very little tannin. It was as if the perfect California coast Pinot Noir and a fruit bomb Zinfindel had a super smooth love child. This is one of those times where the wine was so good I have no words for it.

My new food fantasy is to disappear for a day with a bottle of Cline Moudevre and a beet torte. Ive found my new favorite wine. Sorry Conquista Malbec youve been replaced.

Other recipes from the Riesling Feast:
Almond Soup
Saras Braised Leeks
Roasted Cauliflower and Fennel
Beet Torte

Riesling Chicken

4 pounds whole chicken or chicken parts
2 tablespoon oil
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 pound mushrooms, chopped
1 small white onion, chopped
2 shallots, chopped finely
1/2 cup Riesling
1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 325.

Cut chicken into servings size pieces or purchase pre-cut pieces of legs, thighs, and breasts (this works just fine with all chicken breasts but will end up on the dry side.) Rub chicken pieces with salt and pepper.

In a large oven safe skillet over medium heat, warm the oil and butter. Brown the chicken pieces on all sides, adding more oil if needed. Add mushroom and onion to pan, cover and place in oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until chicken is tender and cooked through.

While the chicken bakes, in a small pan cook shallots in a small amount of oil, about 2 minutes until tender but not browned. Add wine and simmer until reduced to half. Stir in cream and cook without boiling until sauce thickens. Pour over chicken when serving.

Original recipe from Modern French Culinary Art.

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