Panna Cotta with baked orange blossom rhubarb

I'm not ashamed to admit I am hooked on Masterchef Australia's current season showing here in New Zealand. It does appear to be a bit "kinder" than most of these types of shows. Granted it's still a competition, but the focus is less on "who did/said what to who" and more on the food.

Well there's been a few panna cottas whipped up in the Masterchef  kitchen which has got me in the mood to revisit, even though I've made a similar one a few years back. It's such a simple, prepare-ahead dessert perfect for a balmy, summer evening  - something else which we've been having a few of recently.

This latest is topped with some exquisitely fragrant orange blossom rhubarb (recipe from Sweet Treats from Little & Friday cookbook). I cut back heavily on the sugar stated in the book (1 to 2 cups - either that's a typo or someone has a very sweet tooth!) as a 1/2 cup was plenty.

Bake the rhubarb in advance and leave it to cool in the fridge. It will keep for a few days in a sealed container in the fridge and you can use the rest in your breakfast cereal.

A small biscuit such as shortbread (whole or crumbed) or tuile is a nice touch and adds some extra texture.

For a superior vanilla flavour, I urge you to use either the seeds scraped from a vanilla pod or vanilla extract or even vanilla essence in preference to imitation vanilla which has an artificial flavour and will really do nothing for the taste.

I like that you can see the vanilla seeds in the final result but if you don't want the seeds showing in your panna cotta, strain the final mix through a very fine sieve or muslin cloth.

Lastly, I admit to being a bit of a coward. I didn't go the whole Masterchef way and upend the panna cotta onto a plate from a mould fearing a disaster! One day I must give it a try...


For the Baked Orange Blossom Rhubarb

5 stalks rhubarb, washed & trimmed*
juice and zest of 3-5 oranges
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/8 to 1/4 cup orange blossom water

*I had more stalks but there was a mix of thick and thin so I cut the thick stalks horizontally to ensure they were all of a similar thickness to cook evenly.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Cut rhubarb into 4cm-5cm slices and place in a large bowl. Add the orange juice and zest, sugar and orange blossom water and toss to coat evenly.  Transfer to a baking tray and cook in oven for approximately 20 minutes or until rhubarb is tender.

Cool and store in the fridge in a sealed container.



For the Panna Cotta (makes approximately 6-8 serves)

3 level tsp gelatine powder
2 tbsp cold water
2 cups single cream
1 cup whole milk
1/4 tsp vanilla paste concentrate (or substitute with scraped seeds from vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract or essence)
1/3 cup caster sugar

Have 6-8 ramekins or glasses ready.

Whisk the gelatine powder into the cold water until it is fully mixed and set aside while you make panna cotta.

In a heavy based saucepan, slowly bring the cream, milk, vanilla and sugar to the boil and just as it bubbles, remove from heat.

Give the gelatine mix a final whisk, then whisk it into the panna cotta mix in the saucepan until it has all dissolved.  Leave to cool slightly.

Pour the mixture evenly amongst the ramekins or glasses.  Transfer to the fridge to chill until set.

To serve: Top panna cottas with about 3 pieces of baked rhubarb (choose the pink ones!) or other fruit of your choice and shortbread or tuiles if desired.

Panna cottas will keep in the fridge for about 2 days.

Roasted Rhubarb Bircher Muesli

My last words on my very first blog post, aptly titled A Fine Start, were:

I also love Bircher muesli – but that’s another story…

So whilst it may be a bit late, I’ve finally gotten around to that other story, with a bit of a twist on the original.

It came about when I was swirling some just-cooked roasted rhubarb in its sticky, gingery-sweet syrup and I thought of scooping it into a creamy muesli instead of using the traditional grated apple.  

I could almost claim it’s a healthy food version of rhubarb fool (which was the original plan I had for the rhubarb) as rhubarb and cream do feature, but with wholesome oats, nuts, dried fruit and yoghurt.  Adding just a splash of cream balances the tartness of the rhubarb and gives a luxurious touch to breakfast time.  Hallelujah to that. 

There’s a touch of recipe here for the roasted rhubarb and Bircher muesli but the finished dish is more of a tailored assembly.  In other words you are free to change the amounts or ingredients to suit your own preferences. 

I stole a few toasted nuts from the jar of my homemade toasted muesli, but raw nuts would be fine too.  It’s a bit like standing in front of the selection of toppings for ice creams or frozen yoghurts in a food mall (not that I actually do this, you understand); the options are many, although in this case probably healthier.  I like to keep it fairly simple.  

If you are a fan of raw food, stick with the original and substitute the rhubarb with one green apple, grated (with skin on).  

And so my story, started so long ago, is finally complete.  I do like a sense of closure, don't you?

Roasted Rhubarb Bircher Muesli

Serves 2

Start this recipe the day before you want to eat it.  You will have enough rhubarb for the Bircher muesli and some left over.

Roasted rhubarb 

1 bunch (approx. 500g) rhubarb, washed & cut into 2.5cm chunks

¼ cup brown sugar

the juice and rind of 1 small orange

½ teaspoon ground ginger

Bircher muesli

60g (1/2 cup) porridge oats

1/2 cup milk* (use apple juice if you prefer)

½ tbsp single cream

* I used full cream milk

To serve: 

Greek yogurt

Roasted rhubarb

Juice of 1/2 a small orange

a drizzle of maple syrup or honey

almonds, chopped

brazil nuts, chopped

a few cranberries

some extra rhubarb for the topping

Roasted rhubarb

Preheat oven to 180 C. 

Place the rhubarb on a lined baking tray.  Add the sugar, orange juice, ginger and rind and mix thoroughly until the sugar and ginger dissolve in the juice and the rhubarb is coated. 

Place in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the rhubarb is tender.  Pour rhubarb and syrup into a covered container and leave to cool or refrigerate overnight.

Bircher Muesli

The evening before, place oats in a container and cover with the milk and a splash of single cream.  Mix well.  Cover with lid or cling wrap and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning when you are ready to serve, add about a 1/3 cup of Greek yoghurt, 1/3 cup of the roasted rhubarb and the fresh orange juice.  Mix well – if it’s too dry, add more yoghurt or orange juice or both until you get the consistency and taste you want.

Drizzle with maple syrup or honey.  Sprinkle with the chopped nuts and some cranberries.

Top with the extra chunks of roasted rhubarb.

You might also like toasted muesli
from my very first blog post.

Strawberry season

 

Unless strawberries are very sweet and juicy, I'm not so taken with them in their natural state.   I just have to enhance them with sugar or vanilla syrup or cream, such is my wont (and sweet tooth).    Here's a couple of things I've done recently whilst we are in strawberry season.  The second is more of a what to do with just the wrong side of fresh strawberries assembly than a recipe - great for breakfast though.

Strawberry, rhubarb and vanilla crumble

Filling

2 punnets of strawberries, hulled and cut in half

1 bunch of rhubarb, washed and chopped into 2.5cm (1-inch) slices

zest and juice of 1 orange

1 teaspoon vanilla syrup* (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence)

1/3 cup brown sugar (use less or more according to taste and sweetness of fruit)

Crumble topping

1 cup (120g) plain flour

1 cup (140g) brown sugar

1 cup (100g) porridge oats

100g butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F)

Place the strawberries, rhubarb, orange zest and juice, vanilla syrup or essence and brown sugar in a large bowl and mix to combine.  Pour into a medium sized baking dish.

For the topping, place the flour and sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine.  Add the porridge oats and pulse a couple of times to combine.  Pour in the melted butter and pulse just to combine.

Distribute the topping evenly over the filling and bake for 30 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the rhubarb is cooked.

Serve with cream or custard.

Sweet strawberry yoghurt muesli 

Simply soak the strawberries, preferably overnight, in the juice and zest of an orange (just enough to coat the fruit) and a teaspoon of vanilla syrup* (or a couple of drops of vanilla essence).  In the morning, put a layer of muesli (see my recipe here) or cereal in a glass or bowl, top with a layer of yoghurt and finish off with the strawberries.  (I zap the strawberries in the microwave for about 10 seconds just to take the chill off before using).

*In both recipes, I used Equagold's Tahitian Vanilla Syrup - another of those divine products given to us at the Food Blogger' Conference.