Showing posts with label greek yogurt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label greek yogurt. Show all posts

January 22, 2014

Tangerine Tarragon Panna Cotta with Raspberry Sauce

Citrus is my favorite.  I cannot get enough of everything right now what with the blood oranges, meyer lemons, fun orange hybrids, and all of the rest.  I had a packet of gelatin leftover from the marshmallow experiment, so I decided to try my hand at a panna cotta with the beautiful tangerines I had.


Panna cotta means cooked cream.  Sorry, literalists, I did not cook my cream.  This being my first time with the dessert, I went to Bon Appetit for guidance and adapted a blood orange panna cotta.  The gelatin is bloomed in the tangerine juice, dissolved over low heat, cooled, and then the cream and some greek yogurt is added.  Oops.  Still tasted amazing!


So how did tarragon get into the mix?  To be honest, I was looking at the leaves attached to some of the tangerines and thought they looked like tarragon leaves.  No real burst of genius, just my weird brain being weird.  But can I just say, it was an amazing combination!  I love putting unexpected things in dessert and this was no exception.


To add a burst of color, I made a quick raspberry sauce to top the panna cotta.  More tangerine juice was combined with fresh raspberries, a little sugar, and more tarragon sprigs.  I strained the sauce to keep out the seeds and match the silky texture of the panna cotta.


For as impressive the final product is, there is very little active time in this recipe.  Just refrigerate for about 6 hours before serving and use a warm water bath (and a maybe a knife) to help ease the panna cotta out of the personal sized bowls.  Enjoy!



May 26, 2012

Blueberry Yogurt Cheesecakes

Oh hayyyy memorial day!  Summer is officially here!  Barbecues, white jeans, crabs, and beach weekends!  Can you tell this is my favorite season?  This whole weekend I will be showing off some festive and lighter options to bring to barbecues.  Today's pick is a muffin sized blueberry yogurt-based cheesecake with an orange blueberry sauce to top the baby cheesecakes.  Plus it doesn't hurt that blueberries have been on sale for use in patriotic desserts . . .


So the cheesecake base is 0% greek yogurt and cheesecake.  The base was flavored with orange zest, blueberries, and a little vanilla.  I used my food processor to blend up the filling because I wanted to be able to blend up the blueberries.  More blueberries were used with orange zest and juice to create a quick orange blueberry topper.


It is a festive and light dessert, perfect for any patriotic picnic!  And according to Foodista it is National Blueberry Cheesecake day?  Serendipity!



April 30, 2012

Chocolate Banana Muffins

Stop what you are doing.  Go to the store and buy bananas and let them go super ripe.  Okay, all set?  Let's continue.


These. are. the. best. muffins. EVER.  Overripe bananas, cocoa powder, and greek yogurt come together in this muffin to create the moistest, fluffiest muffin you've ever tasted.  The scent of banana combined with the richness of chocolate is intoxicating.  I was nonchalantly walking from my kitchen back to Mad Men after topping a still warm muffin with a little yogurt and had to stop in my tracks.  That good.


I used a recipe from Tyler Florence, my first chef crush, and changed 1/4 cup of flour with natural cocoa powder.  In order to account for the cocoa powder, I had to add more moisture by way of greek yogurt and baking powder since baking soda does not leaven cocoa powder.  A topper of cinnamon and honey flavored greek yogurt lends this chocolate confection to breakfast.


I think I have about 5 posts on the back burner (har har) but this jumped to the front of the line.  So go, go make these and enjoy them as much as I did!


February 25, 2012

Orange Carrot Bread

My apartment smells amazing right now.  I've just pulled my orange carrot quick bread from the oven, scented with orange zest, cinammon, and vanilla.  It was born out of a bag of baby carrots, a sale on oranges during a trip to get garam masala, and a desire to experiment with baking.  This is the first time that I have taken a baking recipe and completely changed it based on what I know about baking and not reading a million recipes on the internet.  BIG step, guys!  It is a play on my family's Zucchini Bread, replacing the oil with yogurt, the zucchini with carrot, and some of the cinnamon with orange zest.  I topped it with an orange and sour cream drizzle to echo the flavors of the bread.


Special thanks goes to my upstairs neighbors, who loaned me a cup of flour.  Yet another example of how I am not a baker, I forgot to check that I had everything before I started!  Luckily, I got my flour and found someone to give my extra bread.  That's what I call a keep Sarah skinny win!


This would be a perfect weekend breakfast, either with the sour cream drizzle or a smear of cream cheese!

February 14, 2012

Valentine's Day Blood Orange Yogurt Cake

If you haven't already noticed, I'm not really a baker.  I like the freedom of adding as I go along and not having to worry about the chemistry of the dish, just the flavor.  But tonight, I was inspired by the cheap bag of blood oranges in the front of my Trader Joe's.  I waited a half hour in a line wrapped around the store (ohhh foggy bottom) and thought I deserved a treat!  Plus, this cake is a twinge pink and Valentine's Day perfect!


My love affair with blood oranges began when i was 9 in Belgium.  I was visiting my aunt and I pulled what I thought was an orange out of her fruit basket.  To my surprise, there wasn't the typical sunny interior but a deep red color with a taste that was a mixture of orange and berry.  Years later, I remember the first bites and always look for them in the winter when they're in season.


I tried to stay a little healthy with this dish, which is why I chose to adapt Ina Garten's Lemon Yogurt Cake.  Greek yogurt acts as the fat along with vegetable oil.  Blood orange and lemon zest scent the whole cake with a blood orange juice simple syrup soaked into the cake.  A simple glaze punched up with blood orange sorbet (told you I was obsessed) and/or berries macerated in lemon and pomegranate juice are a great accompaniment.

July 31, 2011

Cucumber Gazpacho

In the same vein of the recent zucchini dishes, cucumber has been abundant in the local produce bins.  The 90+ degree weather calls for cold meals, so I came up with a light cucumber gazpacho with coconut milk and greek yogurt to keep it light and tangy.  After making the refreshing base, very finely diced pepper, cucumber, shallots, and celery are added for crunchy texture.  The soup is topped off with crushed and toasted macadamia nuts.


July 24, 2011

Roasted Garlic Tzatziki


Despite the fact yogurt is so good for you, I have always hated it.  Be it the texture, the sour tang, or the idea that I’m eating bacteria (that I swear I can feel moving) but it just has never been my thing.  However, I have the uncanny ability to eat yogurt ONLY if all liquid has been removed and replaced by garlic and lemon juice.  Hence, this non-yogurt eater is a huge tzatziki fan!


Tzatziki has turned into one of my favorite summer time recipes.   Shredded cucumber, mint, parsley, and lemon give the sauce its fresh taste.  It’s a healthier alternative to onion dip with the garlic and goes great as a side for grilled or roasted lamb.  The only problem with tzatziki is a heavy hand while adding the garlic.  Its a raw sauce, so adding a lot of finely minced garlic will overpower the taste of everything else.  Instead, I roasted an entire head of garlic to impart the flavor of garlic but still let the other ingredients shine.

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