Buttermilk Panna Cotta

 20 March 2021

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, May 2020

We enjoy the variety of pudding-like desserts: flavorful, smooth, creamy concoctions that are easy to make at home and good to eat. These include puddings, cream pies, tarts, posset, pots de creme, and crème brûlée. So when a recent issue of the Cook's Illustrated magazine included a panna cotta recipe it seemed a natural thing to try. Looking back, it would seem that making this will be a first for me and this dessert.

The panna cotta (Italian for "cooked cream") was very easy to make. The magazine article provided instructions for several variations, I made buttermilk-vanilla panna cotta. Sugar, unflavored gelatin, and salt were whisked together in a small saucepan until combined, cream was whisked in and the mixture let sit for a few minutes. A vanilla bean was cut in half; the seeds were removed and added to the cream mixture along with the bean. This mixture was cooked, with occasional stirring, until it reached 150°.  It was removed from the heat and after cooling to 110° was strained into a large measuring cup (for ease of pouring) and buttermilk was whisked in. The mixture was divided evenly among 8 ramekins and chilled for 6 hours. That's all there was to it! Total time, except chilling, was 50 minutes and a significant portion of that was hands off.

We served the panna cotta with blueberries. The instructions include a procedure for unmolding the dessert but we just ate it out of the ramekins. It was pretty good and, especially given the ease of preparation, worth making again. It was very smooth and creamy with a touch of tang from the buttermilk and a touch of vanilla. It was not too sweet and complemented the berries nicely. The vanilla bean made it a little pricey but an equivalent amount of vanilla extract could probably be used in its place.

Cast Iron Oven-Fried Chicken

 17 March 2021

Recipe from Cook's Country, October 2018

I like fried chicken and I like homemade fried chicken. However, I don't really like dealing with the quarts of frying oil that it takes to deep fry at home. So I was very intrigued with this recipe that promises to provide something very close to deep fried chicken with less mess and less work. Would it live up to the promise?

I started with 2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts and 2 bone-in, skin-on legs which I broke down into 8 pieces and seasoned with salt and pepper. A cast-iron skillet was placed in the cold oven which was turned on and set to 450°. While it heated, the coating was prepared. Eggs were beaten together with salt. Flour, baking powder, paprika, powdered garlic, cayenne, pepper, and salt were whisked together. Water was added to the flour mixture which was mixed with my fingers to form a shaggy dough. This was not as messy as it sounded as the amount of water was small. The chicken was dipped, one piece at a time, in the egg mixture, dredged in the flour mixture, then placed on a large plate. Once the oven had reached temperature the hot skillet was removed. Oil was added then the chicken, skin side down. (It was important to keep track of which was the skin side as was difficult to tell after the chicken was coated.) This was placed back in the oven and baked for 15 minutes. The chicken was then flipped and the skillet returned to the oven until the breasts reached 160° and the dark meat 175°. Total time: 70 minutes.

This was good fried chicken, especially considering how easy it was to prepare and to clean up after. The coating was reasonably crispy, nicely seasoned but not too spicy for us. As expected, it was not as good as deep fried chicken would be. But is it good enough given the ease of preparation? I'd say so, this is fried chicken worth making again.