Panna Cotta "Mille Nuit" my contribution to Macarons et Delices blog....

I considered myself blessed because I live in a multicultural country where I have been exposed to different cuisines, cultures and friends. I have friends from different religions (Hindus, Brahmas, Buddhists, Catholics, Jewish, Christian Orthodoxs, Muslims, Ethiopian Orthodoxs, and Sikhs among others), and we always try to share our heritage through our cooking. I have learned a lot from them not only about cooking, but also about peace and respect.

I have been looking and enjoying many of your blogs, and one that capture my attention is Macarons et Delices . If you have not visited it, then I would recommend you to do it. This blog is making a contest of Middle-Eastern pastries for Ramadan. Since I love Middle-Eastern pastries, I wanted to try a recipe to contribute to this great occasion. Nevertheless, and to be honest, I did not have the time to make something from the Middle-East, and those pastries are delicious, but time consuming. This month has been full of challenges and time was something that I did not have a lot. 

Therefore, I wrote to the owner of the blog to ask her if I could send my own creation with Middle-Eastern ingredients, and she agreed. Thus, I did this recipe and served it in a dinner that we had with friends that know about this Middle-East cuisine....and they loved it!. They told me that was very nice to have their taste in a different dessert. I enjoyed this experience, and I only wanted to contribute to this fabulous Middle-Eastern cuisine......

Here goes the recipe:

Panna cotta:

3 cups of cream
200 grams of mascarpone cheese

65 grams of sugar

3 teaspoon of gelatin powder

5 tablespoon of water

Seeds of a half of vanilla bean

3 teaspoon of Orange Blossom Water

Apricot compote

250 grams of dried apricots (you can use fresh if you have, and more quantity as you desire)

60 grams of sugar (more or less depending on your taste)

4 tablespoons of rose water

2 tablespoons of gelatin

4 tablespoon of water

Pistachio to garnish

For the panna cotta:

Put the gelatine in a cup, and add the water. Wait until the gelatine absorbs the water and makes a gel.

In a pot, place the cream over medium heat with the sugar, the orange blossom water and the seeds of vanilla bean. Mix it. Once the cream starts to boil, add the mascarpone cheese and mix it well. Then add the gelatine and cook for two or three minutes. Distribute on glasses, let it cool and put in a refrigerator.

For the compote:

Soak the dry apricots overnight with two tablespoons of rose water. Put in a pan, cover with sugar and let it cook for 5 minutes at low heat. Once they are soft, let it cool and chopped them in a blender or food processor (I used a blender). I did not make a smooth paste because I like it with some texture, but it is up to you how you like it. Put this mix in a pot again, and make it to boil at low/medium heat. Once start to boil, add the gelatin (previously hydrated with cold water) and let it boil for two minutes. Then add the remaining rosewater, let it cook for one minute more and turn off the stove. Leave it over the stove for 5 minutes. You can refrigerate after. Once is cool, place this compote over the panna cotta and garnish with pistachio....Enjoy!