Daniel Goldwater
Chef CMRJ
Jerusalem
Israel
Panna Cotta: Stylish, tasty…
Obviously everything changes. If it didn’t we would all still be living in caves, eating berries and bark and sitting in a family line picking over each other’s heads.
The world of desserts has taken a new direction partly influenced by the early 2000s trend of “molecular cooking” or breaking foods down and tasting separately but in context all their combined flavours. The new trend, as was in fashion is now in dessert, is known as “deconstruction”. Deconstruction desserts are desserts where the collective whole of ingredients are deconstructed and offered on the plate with all the combined parts presented separately.
Now, this can provide an opportunity to be more aesthetically creative and allow the punter to enjoy pure bursts of individual flavours and experience some unique textures. By and large, though I am not that impressed with the whole philosophy behind it. For example, a traditional lemon meringue will have the lemon curd and the meringue piped onto the plate separately and the short crust crumbled over or next to it. But instead of creating new and exciting desserts the culinary world has taken to deconstructing the old ones.
It sounds pretty much on par with the postmodern ideological malaise infecting the west socially and politically today where the woke are busy as bees deconstructing everything from the nuclear family to sexuality. Personally, I prefer to have my creme brûlée with its Brenner crisped demerara sugar on top of the cooked vanilla creme and to eat it out of a ramequin. The Panna Cotta is one of those desserts that cannot be deconstructed no matter how you try.
Panna cotta, or literally “cooked cream”, is the Italian answer to the German Creme Bavaria. Unlike the Bavaria which is combined using eggs the panna cotta is partly cooked by reducing half of the cream (without eggs), whipping the other half to soft peaks and then combining the mixture with gelatine. Then leaving in the fridge to cool and set. Traditionally flavoured with vanilla, today there are no holds barred when flavouring panna cotta. Lemon zest, with Bacardi, arak, tehina, you can infuse it with whatever goes. Panna cotta is usually accompanied with a coulee of some exotic fruit or berry. It’s a delightfully light and refreshing dessert. A bellissimo way to top off a tasty Italian meal.
Lemon Zest and White Rum Panna Cotta
Ingredients:
- Whipping cream x 500ml
- White sugar x ¼ cup
- Sugar powder x ¼ cup
- Zest of one lemon
- White Rum x 2 tablespoons
- Gelatine x 1 tablespoon
- Milk x 2 tablespoons
Method:
In a small bowl mix the gelatine and the milk; set aside and leave to set. Add the sugar powder to 250 ml of cream and half of the lemon zest; whisk to soft peaks, set aside. In a small frypan on a low to medium heat add the remaining 250 ml of cream, the white sugar and half the lemon zest. Once the mixture is bubbling and the sugar dissolved reduce to low heat, add the white rum and reduce the mixture for a few minutes. Once off the boil add ¾ of the set gelatine and stir in well (gelatine, if boiled, will form undesirable threads). To check the strength of the gelatine: using a teaspoon, place a little of the mixture on your lips and do a guppy imitation, feeling how sticky the mixture is between your lips. If not sticky add the remainder of the gelatine. Add a little of the heated cream to the whipped cream and gently fold it in. Once temperatures are more even between the two mixtures you can slowly add the rest while folding the two mixtures together.
Grease four ramequins with a small amount of vegetable oil, turn over and leave so they will be ready for you to pour in the panna cotta mixture. Make sure you stir the mixture each time before you pour into the ramequins to ensure an even distribution of the zest.
The panna cotta needs to be refrigerated for several hours before serving to allow the gelatine to set.
Blueberry Coulee:
Coulees are ‘cool’ and add the colour and balance in flavour to give a little bit more edge to what would otherwise could become a more pedestrian dessert.
Ingredients:
- Fresh or frozen Blueberries ¼ cup
- Sugar half a ¼ cup
- Water half a ¼ cup
- Zest ½ of a lemon
- Small shluk of white rum
- ½ cap of vanilla essence
Method:
Put everything into a small frypan, bring to boil, simmer for a couple of minutes, turn off to cool.
Presentation:
Remove panna cotta from the fridge, place on a hot surface for a moment (to release the hold of the gelatine). Using a small knife run it around between the ramequin and the dessert, turn over above plate and give a little shake. It should fall out onto the plate. Spoon a little of the coulee over the panna cotta.
Next week we will take a big leap back in time and do something very traditional from these parts, something that should have gained popularity in NZ as there are so many vineyards throughout that country: Stuffed grape leaves.
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