Bavarois with Kiwi Fruits Sauce

ババロア！

Portland reached and went over 100 degrees last Saturday… way above normal for this region… a great thing about Oregon summer is that the humidity is minimum and glorious. Still it made me seek for solace in an air-conditioned house with a cool dessert.

 

Bavarois is very similar to Russian dessert ‘Dreamy’ I posted in 2012. The only difference is that this recipe doesn’t use yogurt or sour cream and is supposed to be French…oui? Less rich than Italian panna cotta, slightly denser than mousse…bavorois is a go between, nice guy…I mean dessert, not too dreamy but still desirable!

Any fruits sauce is a great match for this basic bavarois. I made a quick kiwi sauce for this post.

Ingredients and Instructions for five 3 inch diameter molds (Print Recipe Here)

Advisable equipment: molds, but you can just use small cups or jars, fine mesh strainer/sieve, hand held electric mixer to be used for whipping heavy cream.

• 6-8g sheet gelatin (this determines the hardness of bavarois). Note: sheet gelatin weighs about 2 g each.  I used 3 sheets.
• 3 inch vanilla bean pod, split pod lengthwise, scrape seeds with sharp paring knife. Do not discard pod yet.
• 1 cup milk
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• ! Tablespoon rum (optional)
• 1 cup heavy cream

1. Soak sheet gelatin in plenty of water. Set aside.
2. Pour milk, vanilla seeds and pod in small sauce pan and cook at low heat till just before full boil. Remove pod and discard. Keep warm until needed.
   
3. Place egg yolks and sugar in the medium bowl. Whisk well until the color turns lighter and fluffy.
   
4. Whisk continuously while adding warm milk mixture a little at a time to the egg mixture bowl. Put mixture back into the sauce pan. Stir with a wooden spoon and cook at low heat until it thickens a little bit (until it coats the back of the spoon), approximately 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat.
   
5. Squeeze the excess water from gelatin and mix it well into the egg/milk mixture (#4).
   
6. Put ice and water in the large bowl,  then put the medium bowl on top of ice and water then set the sieve in the bowl. Strain the mixture (#5) into the medium bowl. Add rum if using.
   .
7. Be careful not to let the water overflow into the mixture, stir with a rubber spatula until cool.
   
8. Whip heavy cream until soft peaks then fold into the cooled mixture (#7).
9. Pour into the molds or cups. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until set.

Kiwi Fruit Sauce

• 2 Kiwi fruits, cut into small chunks
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 Tablespoons water
• 1 Tablespoon rum (optional)
• !-2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1. Put sugar and water in a small sauce pan over medium heat and cook until sugar melts. Cool for 5 minutes.
2. Whisk the kiwi into the pan. Add rum (if using) and lemon juice. Chill in the refrigerator.

How to remove bavarois from mold – prepare a warm bath, lower the mold into the bath 3/4 way for 3-5 seconds. Place plate over the mold and flip, voila!

As if the bavarois was not enough, I made Smore’s donuts for Tapas instagram post (#todaystapas)…luckily most of them were given away to neighbors…

Blancmange is close cousin of bavarois …milk and pretty with purple sweet potato… very smooth! Pretty soon I may have to change # to Today’s sweet!

Visit to Portland Japanese Garden…Mashiko pottery exhibit and sale were held there.
  

Japanese garden is mostly shaded so even over 100 degree temperature, it was very pleasant to stroll through the compound.And the view from there is just amazing!….Look Honey, is that your office building?

The garden reminds of Kenrokuen (兼六園) in Kanazawa.

Some people disregard the warning sign…

We drove to downtown Portland for a quick bite since it’s not far from Japanese garden. This is one of last year’s Forrest for the Trees mural project ( you could find this at SW 11th Ave. and Washington Street). Local as well as several visiting international artists including a Japanese artist participated.

Pretty neat…right?

I hope you could visit beautiful and a bit eccentric Portland soon.