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My house is located an ideal location in long island (not to brag about it), but I am very fortunate. On one hand, about 10 minutes drive, I have an open ocean with beautiful empty beaches … on the other hand I am close to the north fork with its casual wineries, plenty of green, lush farms. Best of all it’s only 1,5 hours from the city, which is the big bonus when you travel every weekend and have to sit in the Hamptons traffic

Visiting farms is a great option on a “ not so beach weather “ day. A lot of them have the “pick your own” option. I love good deals and picking my own produce again provides me with the best of both worlds. Last week I decided to get blueberries. The day was hot and humid and I didn’t last long, My dog was especially suffering, laying down under each bush of blueberry trying to get some shade without the benefit of picking or at least eating the berries…and on top of that he got his face covered in cling-ons that were very hard to pick from his hair. Overall the visit was successful, I came back with plenty of blueberries, some blackberries which are just starting to get ripe, and a little bit of raspberries, which are almost out of season. I completely snoozed the season for this delicious and beautiful fruit.

I had a hard time coming up with an idea for a good skinny dessert using these berries. I decided on berry Panna Cotta, incredibly easy to make italian dessert, and if it takes you more than five minutes to make, you are doing something wrong. That is the beauty of italian cooking: it’ straightforward and almost effortless in its simplicity. Popular italian saying is: ”spend more time shopping and less time cooking”.

My last Panna Cotta was a fiasco… not very tasty and looking rather grainy and not smooth and creamy as it should be. I tried to cut the richness of panna cotta and swap the heavy cream with milk and the results were very disappointing. This time I mixed milk and heavy cream; I let the cream cool for a while before I mixed in some yogurt. I think this combination is the best if you want to cut some calories and not compromise the taste and look of this fool- proof dessert. I served this batch with a pile of berries, very juicy and lightly sweetened with a whisper of citrus. But if berries are not in season you can make it with lemon or lime, gooseberries or just drizzled with a bit of honey. The best Panna Cotta is made in advance make it few days before and keep it well covered in the fridge.

Recipe

2 cups of heavy cream

1 cup of milk

1 cup of greek yogurt

1/2 cup (100g) sugar or equivalent of stevia

2 tsp of vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean, split

lengthwise

2 packets powdered gelatin (about 4 ½ tsp)

6 tablespoons (90ml) cold water

Heat the heavy cream, milk and sugar in a saucepan. Once the

sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla

extract. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium-sized bowl and let stand 5 to 10 minutes.

Pour the very warm Panna Cotta mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.

After 5 minutes mix in the yogurt

Lightly oil eight custard cups with neutral-tasting oil.

Divide the Panna Cotta mixture into the prepared cups, then chill them until firm, which will take at least two hours but I let them stand at least four hours.

Run a sharp knife around the edge of each Panna Cotta and unmold each onto a serving plate, and garnish as desired.

Przepis

2 szklanki slodkiej smietany

1 szklanka mleka

1 szklanka jogurtu greckiego

½ szklanka cukru, lub ekwiwalent stewi

2 lyzeczki olejku waniliowego

2 saszetki zelatyny ( okolo 4 ½ lyzczeki

6 lyzek zimnej wody

Podgrzac mleko I smietane w sredniej wielkosci garnku, dodac cukier olejek, mieszac dopoki wszystko sie nie polaczy. Rozmieszac zelatyne w zimnej wodzie I odstawic na 5 min. Wymieszac goracy krem z zelatyna . Po 5 minutach dodac jougrt I wymieszac do momentu uzyskania jednolitego kremu. Przygotowac foremki, smarujac je lekko olejem ( najlepiej bezsmakowym. Wlac krem do foremek I odstawic do lodowki na kilka godzin. Przed podaniem przejechac ostrym nozem po krawedzi foremki aby latwiej bylo wyjac panna cotta. Podac na talerzu z wybranym przybraniem, jogdami , malinami, lub miodem.

Weekdays morning everyone is on its own when it comes to breakfast. I eat pretty much the same food every day: berries with plain goat yogurt and granola.

But weekends are different i love to experiment with breakfast and have something new. I usually get up early and enjoy my morning coffee with my dog snoring next to me in the quite house. Around 9-10am I get bored and start making noise with pots and pans. This weekend it was time to face a challenge that my friends set upon me after they had the French toast served at the restaurant Extra Virgin. I had to come up with something even richer, tastier, over the top, something much better then what EV serves.

So I did. I decided to stuff the french toast with mascarpone cheese and bananas then soak them for a few hours,a trick a learned from a French chef friend. He told me that as a kid his parents use to soak the brioche, or any other leftover bread overnight. When I make the regular version of this dish, without stuffing, I leave it overnight as well. It makes the bread very soft and moist.

I have to say, the french toast came out great. Make sure you cut each piece a little thicker to help hold the stuffing so it does not fall apart in the soaking process. They also need to be transferred with extra care onto a rack to let drip the access liquid. They are super rich, scrumptious, and finger licking good, all at the same time. After one each we were too full to eat lunch that day. I think I might have won this battle over the best french toast on the block.

French toast remains our favorite breakfast choice. Done right, there is an unpretentious beauty to this classic comfort food. There is rarely something as tempting as a plate of crisp, thickly sliced, perfectly prepared french toast piled high on a plate with a sprinkling of powder sugar.

Recipe:

1 Loaf of brioche bread (or less depends how many people you serving)

Butter for frying

Batter:

4 eggs

½ of cream

1 cup of milk

½ of sugar (or any substitute, I use stevia)

1tbs of maple syrup

2 tsp. of vanilla extract

pinch of sea salt

stuffing

1 cup of mascarpone cheese

1 tsp. of vanilla extract

2 tbsp. of sugar

1, 2 bananas sliced

Slice bread, about 1,5 inches thick cut a “pocket" on the side of each slice for stuffing, mix all batter ingredients until well combined.

Mix mascarpone cheese with vanilla and sugar, place one or 2 slices of banana in the bread pocket, put cheese in the piping bag and stuff each slice of bread, be careful not to over fill.

Soak bread for a few hours. Than drain well. On a hot pan with a little butter sear each slice until golden brown, turn carefully and sear the other side. Serve with maple syrup and berries.

Przepis:

Bochenek chleba, najlepiej brioche lub chalka

Maslo do smazenia

“marynata”:

4 jajka

½ szklanki slodkiej smietany

1 szklanka mleka

½ szkladnki cukru ( lub zamiennik, ja uzylam stevia)

1 lyzka syropu klonowego

2 lyzeczki olejku winiliowego

szczypta soli morskiej

nadzienie

1 szklanka serka mascarpone

1 lyzczka olejku waniliowego

2 lyzki cukru

1, 2 banany

Pokroic chleb na grube plastry okolo 2 cm. w kazdej kromce zrobic kieszonke z boku na nadzienie . wymieszac wszystkie skladniki marynaty, banany pokroic na cienkie plastry I wlozyc po kilka do kazdej “ kieszonki” ser wymieszac ze skladnikiami I nadziac nim chleb, uzywajac woreczkow do nadziewnia. Moze byc zwykly worek z dziurka w rogu. Zanurzyc kromki w marynacie I moczyc przez kilka godzin. Odsaczyc delikatnie na sitku lub kratce ( na plasko). Rozgrzac maslo na patelni I smazyc przez kilka minut na kazdej stronie na zloto- brazowy kolor. Podawac natychmiast z syropem klonowym, miodem lub owocami I bita smietana.