Gur'ev Kasha (for Chef J)
1. Cream of wheat
I used Cream Of Wheat: Whole Grain Hot Cereal (Wheat Farina, Wheat Bran And Germ, Defatted Wheat Germ).
1 cup of whole milk (3.5% fat) + 3 Tbs of wheat farina + pich od salt produce a very creamy and runny kasha. If we use 4 to 5 Tbs, it'll keep its shape better. Starting from cold milk gives cream of wheat more creamier consistansy than starting form boiling milk, but both are eceptable. When kasha was cooked, I mixed in 2 Tsp of honey and 1 tsp of whole butter (per 1 cup of milk) and left it sitting in room temterature.
2. Milk skins
We need about 1 cup of milk for 1 portion. The less fat in milk, the longer it takes and the skinnier skins form.
To make it fast and with more pleasant mouthful, we need half-n-half, or 1:1 whole milk and heavy whipping cream mixed. It is more efficient to start in a large diameter sauté pan, low heat, bring sream to boil, than move it to the 300F oven (no convection). It takes about 10 minutes to form a good puffy skin. We'll need no more that three layers. Larger diameter will produce skins for 2-3 layers depending on what is the final diameter of our dish.
3. Assembly.
Fresh fruits and/or berries should be ready. I used a pastry bag to spread cream of wheat. The bottom layer was cream of wheat, followed by milk skin, a layer of blueberries and toasted almonds, cream of wheat, and so on. The last layer was milk skin. I assembled it in a spring form, but it slowly lost its shape after being removed. To hold the shape, cream of wheat needs to be thicker.
