A Recipe, Rain, and a Wet Bird.

I was cooking for my mother-in-law on Saturday, and when offered a choice of desserts, C opted for panacotta. I think he was hoping for the rum and raisin one I usually make. But, while tidying and purging old magazine cuttings recently, I had come across a Gordon Ramsay recipe for lime panacotta which I really wanted to try. Well - no tequila here, and I was going to be back from the shops long before licensing hours would have let me buy any. So I decided to try a coffee-flavoured one with either Tia Maria or Kahlua, of which I had plenty. 

So I took the basics of Paul Flynn's rum and raisin recipe, which was:

450ml cream

two-and-a-half leaves of gelatine, soaked until soft in cold water

55g caster sugar

Bring half the cream to the boil, take off the heat and add the sugar and the gelatine. Whisk in thoroughly. When they are dissolved, add the rest of the cream and pour into dishes. Chill overnight

I lightly crushed one ounce of coffee beans and let them infuse in the heated half of the cream, let it cool down, strained it and then reheated it and went on as usual, though I reduced the sugar a bit as I didn't want them too sweet. I made some hazelnut tuiles to serve with them. 

We have had some very wet weather this week. I tried taking a few photos of the raindrops in a kerbside puddle while I was waiting for the bus on Tuesday. It was hard to focus, even with manual focus, so only a couple of photos are worth sharing.

Today I was just preparing dinner when I saw a bird pecking at something on the grass. Curious as to what it was, I got the spotting scope and took a closer look. It's either a very wet hen greenfinch or a juvenile (probably still too early for that, though), who was making a very tasty snack from a dandelion head. I've never seen that before! The windows are dirty from the rain, which didn't make for a great photo, but here she is, anyway.