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.

Orange blossom & pistachio shortbread crescents

These were another of my Christmas bakes that didn’t make the post before Christmas deadline (self-inflicted and unrealistic deadline so doesn’t really count, does it?). 

They do look very festive with their dusting of snowy icing sugar, but they are so melt-in-the mouth gorgeous you would not want to limit your tasting to just once a year, believe me. 

I have been pestering one of our book club members for his wife’s recipe for a similar biscuit.  I’ve decided it’s either a secret recipe not to be divulged or he has forgotten, so I set about looking for something similar.  I feel like I have hit gold with this one. They could easily be my favourite biscuit with their oh-so-delicate flavour and texture and crunchy bites of nuttiness.

If you can’t be bothered shaping them into crescents – which is rather fiddly I admit and, as you can see, mine are more large and rustic than perfectly formed – I am sure little rounds would taste just as good. 

Orange blossom & pistachio shortbread crescents

200g butter, softened

¼ cup caster sugar

1 egg yolk

½ tsp vanilla essence

1 tbsp Limoncello

½ tsp ground cardamom

¼ cup shelled pistachios, chopped finely

1½ cups standard flour

½ tsp baking powder

For the topping

2 tbsp Limoncello

1 tbsp orange blossom water

¾ cup icing sugar

Preheat oven to 160°C. Lightly grease a couple of baking trays or line with baking paper.

With an electric beater, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.  Beat in the egg yolk, vanilla, one tablespoon of the Limoncello and the cardamom and pistachios.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and then stir into the wet mixture to combine.

Spoon out about one tablespoon of the mixture at a time and roll on a lightly floured board into a tube shape about 5-6cm long and 2cm wide.  Place on the baking trays.  To get the crescent shape, I used a tiny round bowl (from my old tin of petit four tins and cutters below) turned upside down as a prop to mould each biscuit around to make a crescent and shaped the ends slightly (or just shape roughly with your hands).  Repeat for each biscuit.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes until pale, golden and firm to touch.  Remove from the oven and leave on the tray for 5-10 minutes.

For the topping, mix the rosewater and the Limoncello together and, using a pastry brush, brush the top of each crescent whilst still warm.  Once you’ve done this, dust all the biscuits with a good amount of sifted icing sugar and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Recipe adapted from one by Allyson Gofton in “Bake”


Alessandra has reminded me to enter these for Sweet New Zealand - a monthly blogging event created by her - and so I shall and here is the link.

Semolina, Coconut + Marmalade Cake

If you ever get fed up smelling the roses, try orange blossom water instead.  Gorgeous.  I’ve been inhaling the heady scent since dousing these cakes with it.  And in case that’s not enough, you can flavour the yoghurt with it too.

I took one of these loaves along to our December book club’s pot luck dinner. It was a lovely way to end our year of book club sessions – wine, food and conviviality.

The cake is about as simple as it can get – whisk the wet, stir the dry, mix together, pour into tins and bake.  It has that thick open texture you normally get with such cakes. The marmalade gives it a slight bitterness but it’s the orange blossom that gives it the edge in flavour and aroma.

Semolina, coconut & marmalade cake

From Jerusalem by Yottam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi

Makes two 500g loaves.  If you want to make a 1kg loaf, increase cooking time by a further 20-30 minutes.

180ml rice bran oil

240ml fresh orange juice

160g orange marmalade (fine cut or without peel)

4 eggs

grated zest of 1 orange

70g caster sugar

70g desiccated coconut

90g standard flour

180g semolina

2 tbsp ground almonds

2 tsp baking powder

Soaking Syrup

200g caster sugar

140ml water

1 tbsp orange blossom water

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°F. 

Grease and line two 500g loaf tins with baking paper.

In a bowl, whisk together the oil, orange juice, marmalade, eggs and orange zest until the marmalade dissolves.

In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients and add to the wet.  Mix until well combined – it will be quite runny. 

Divide the filling between them.  Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.  They should be orangey-brown on top.

Near the end of baking time, place the syrup ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.  Remove from the heat. 

As soon as the cakes come out the oven, brush them with the hot syrup using a pastry brush.  Do this several times, leaving the syrup to soak in before applying again, until all the syrup is used.  You’ll enjoy this as the perfume wafts into the air.

Once the cakes have cooled down a little, remove from the tins and leave to cool completely.

Serve with coconut yoghurt or Greek yoghurt flavoured with a drop of orange blossom water.

Like citrus?  Try my favourite lemon cake of all.