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Monday, April 29, 2013

Strawberry Panna Cotta with Roasted Rhubarb

Strawberry Panna Cotta with Roasted Rhubarb
I have had a strange relationship with panna cotta. A weird fact about me; until about the age of 14 I was an extremely fussy eater. I couldn't handle any amount of chilli, I hated most vegetables and hardly ate any seafood. I'd rather stay home and eat a bowl of spaghetti bolognese than go out with my family and eat Malaysian hawker food. All those years living in KL were completely wasted on me. Sad, I know. But I remember on my first visit to Melbourne we went to this Italian restaurant (which I totally can't remember anymore) and I had my first vanilla bean panna cotta. I fell in love. It was so silky smooth and creamy with little pops of vanilla bean and just the right amount of wobble from the gelatine; it was heaven on a plate. My brother and I spent the better half of the next year trying to recreate that panna cotta at home, trying all kinds of gelatine leaves and all sorts of recipes but we could never get it quite right. But I like to think that was the end of my fussy period and the start of my love of trying new things.
Strawberry Panna Cotta with Roasted Rhubarb
So panna cottas have a special place in my heart. Unfortunately they did seem to become the default dessert on the menu at a lot of restaurants all over the place for a couple of years, so it became a little bit less exciting for me. But I still love it. This weekend we had a BBQ and I decided to try a bit of an untraditional panna cotta, flavouring it with fresh strawberries instead of vanilla bean. I thought it would be a nice refreshing way to end the day after all that meat. And since it's coming into the cooler months of the year, some roasted rhubarb was the perfect way to top off these pretty pink panna cottas. 
Strawberry Panna Cotta with Roasted Rhubarb
I found a great recipe for strawberry panna cotta from Gourmet (link below). It's really packed full of strawberry flavour, and surprisingly smooth even though it uses powdered gelatine instead of leaves. But feel free to try to convert it to gelatine leaves if you prefer. Unfortunately I made the mistake of chilling them in the top shelf of my fridge (the rest of it was packed full of sausages and potato salad), which made some of them freeze a little and ruined the smooth texture a little. Bummer. But the flavour was still great, and the roasted rhubarb had such a vibrant colour and tasted amazing with the strawberry.
Strawberry Panna Cotta with Roasted Rhubarb
The one bad thing about collecting props from all over the place is that I rarely have more than 3 of the same serving glass. So I used all sorts of random glasses and teacups to hold my panna cottas. I thought the tea cups were pretty cute but sometimes you can't go past a regular clear serving glass, especially when the dessert has such a pretty colour on its own! Either way, this dessert went down so well at the end of our BBQ and really is the perfect light way to end any meal.
Strawberry Panna Cotta with Roasted Rhubarb
Strawberry Panna Cotta with Roasted Rhubarb
(adapted from Gourmet, serves 6)
2 punnets (500g) sliced strawberries
1 3/4 cups well-shaken buttermilk
6 tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp gelatine powder
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup pure/heavy cream (min 35% fat unthickened)

Blend strawberries, buttermilk, and sugar in a blender/food processor until very smooth, then pour through a very fine sieve into a medium bowl, pressing hard on solids. Discard solids. Sprinkle gelatine over milk in a small bowl and let stand 1 minute to soften. Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and add gelatin mixture, stirring until dissolved. Whisk cream mixture into strawberry purée and pour equal amounts into 6 molds or serving glasses. Chill molds/glasses, covered, until firm, at least 8 hours.

(If using moulds; dip molds in a small bowl of hot water 2 or 3 seconds, then invert panna cottas onto dessert plates and remove molds.) Let stand at room temperature 20 minutes to soften slightly.
Strawberry Panna Cotta with Roasted Rhubarb
For the roasted rhubarb (from Dorie Greenspan):
450g (1lb, trimmed weight) rhubarb
1/2 cup sugar (or more to taste)
Grated zest of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F). Cut rhubarb into pieces 1-2 inches long (whatever you prefer) and place in a baking dish/roasting pan that will hold them comfortably. Sprinkle over sugar and zest and stir until the rhubarb is covered in sugar. Set aside for about 5 minutes, or just long enough for a little syrup to start to form. Cover baking dish with foil and roast in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Take a peek and if the sugar isn't almost completely melted, stir the rhubarb, re-cover the pan with the foil  and roast a few mintues more.  Remove the foil and let the rhubarb roast for another 5 minutes or so, until the syrup is bubbling. Remove from oven and cool before serving. Can be prepared the night before serving and chilled in an airtight container.
Strawberry Panna Cotta with Roasted Rhubarb

28 comments:

  1. I've never even tried panna cottta! So strange, but I figure I might as well hop on the train and make it myself. Totally saving this recipe for a hot day :)

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  2. no matter what you serve it in, you always make it look SO pretty! love the addition of the rhubarb on top.

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  3. Look at that gorgeous striking red colour from the rhubarb!

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  4. These are absolutely stunning and I will DEFINITLY give these a try as soon as there is strawberries on the market!

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  5. this looks beautiful! i was a pretty fussy eater up till around 16 then overnight i just started trying new things. weird huh?

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  6. Look at that gorgeous striking red colour from the rhubarb. Love pannacotta anything!

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  7. Your panna cotta is gorgeous but can we talk about those spoons? Oh my! So beautiful!

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    1. Aren't they lovely?? I was so lucky my Mum kept her little spoon collection.

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  8. Looks delish Steph! Do you know I was THE fussiest eater growing up as well. All I would eat was vegemite sandwiches, biscuits and jelly...literally! Maybe all foodies grow up this way and that's why we're so obsessed with food later on in life...it's because we missed out on so much when we were younger...hmmmm interesting thought

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  9. Harika, enfes görünüyor ellerinize sağlık sevgiler:)))

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  10. Amazing! I love the idea of serving it in teacups! So very beautiful :)

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  11. I made the same on my blog.
    I love your blog. yur blog is very popular in sweden

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  12. Such beautiful teacups and spoons. And this looks so silky and delicate! I need to eat something like this right now!

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  13. Yummyyyyy.. this looks awesome and the photos are stunning!!!!!!

    Regards
    Johlene

    http://flavoursandfrosting.blogspot.com

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  14. Oh my....
    This is food porn at its greatest!

    Also I love the tea cups! Lady Gaga would be proud haha!

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  15. mmm, sounds delicious & the colour is so beautiful :)

    plus I love all your pretty tea cups & teaspoons

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  16. I think we all tended to have less of an appreciation of food when we were younger, although I look at kids these days and marvel at their sushi consumption (and more brie too, please!). This sounds amazing, and I love your spoons as well!

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  17. Delish!! And I'm loving the chinaware and teaspoons too.

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  18. Yum, beyond the panna cotta, I love the different props you used here!

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  19. Oh, what a nice combination and what pretty pictures! Did you actually put artificial colour into your rhubarb compote - I've never come across rhubarb looking that red after being cooked..?

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    1. Haha there is absolutely no artificial colour in the rhubarb, that is just the natural colour after roasting it in the oven.

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  20. I have never even thought of strawberry panna cotta, what a great idea for spring! That roasted rhubarb looks amazing, as well!

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  21. This looks sooo yummy! Gorgeous photography, too! I love the spoons :)

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  22. MAMMA MIA CHE MERAVIGLIA ,DALLE FOTO MI SEMBRA UNA VERA BONTA'...COMPLIMENTI DAVVERO...UN ABBRACCIO.

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  23. So pretty! Although I don't share your passion for panna cotta because although it's tasty, I find it a little boring texture-wise. It is probably better with the topping...

    I've also sent you an e-mail with a question a week ago or so, and it occured to me that it might have reached the spam folder, because it happened before for some reason, with other people. The address of the sender starts with "roor".

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  24. This looks like the perfect dessert after a spring inspired meal!! Lovely :)

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  25. I made it using frozen raspberries (which I defrosted first and treated like strawberries) because strawberries are still so expensive. It was delicious and so easy to make. I took it to a friends for dinner and it went down a treat. Unfortunately I don't have such a beautiful selection of tea cups so I put it in a large glass bowl and decorated with whipped cream rosettes - it looked very retro! Thanks for sharing all your beautiful recipes.

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