Of course, I was quite ecstatic to see these blood oranges as I've been impatiently waiting for their arrival here in Istanbul this winter.
My husband saw me get that hunger-lust look in my eyes and moved out of my way. I was on a mission!
My husband saw me get that hunger-lust look in my eyes and moved out of my way. I was on a mission!
Every time, we visit the pazar, I buy a few kilos of the tasty kanli portakal (also labeled as kan portakal). Honestly, I haven't had enough time to play around with some blood orange-flavored desserts so we've been juicing them instead and enjoying the fresh juice for breakfast.
But for Valentine's Day this week, I saved a few blood oranges for this special occasion. Normally, I'm a dark chocolate kinda gal for this day, but I decided to make an exception to my kitchen rules.
I can't resist the bright, sunset burst of color once I slice into these kanli portakal.
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| Fresh blood oranges in my Istanbul kitchen. |
I relied on a standard recipe I used in my restaurant days, which uses sheet gelatin. I have a large stash to use up so I'm not sure how to substitute the powdered Turkish version here. (Any ideas?) In the meantime, please refer to this handy guide about gelatin by one of my favorite food bloggers, David Lebovitz.
Afiyet olsun!
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| I love using these glass containers from my local Pasabahce store! Only 1 TL each. |
Panna Cotta with Kanli Portakal (Blood Orange)
16 oz. (473 ml.) fresh whole milk
1 ea. vanilla beans, split, seeds scraped
5 oz. (142 g.) granulated sugar
4 ea. gelatin sheets, bloomed in cold water
16 oz. (473 ml.) fresh whole milk
Garnish: fresh blood orange segments and juice
In a medium-sized pot, heat the milk, sugar and vanilla bean pod.
Bring to a simmer, whisking often, and making sure the sugar is dissolved. Strain.
Add the bloomed gelatin and whisk to combine.
Add the remaining cold milk, whisk and pour the panna cotta base into individual molds. Let the base set for several hours before eating.
When set, garnish the molds with fresh blood orange segments.