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.

Citrus + Almond Cake with Yoghurt Drizzle

I keep making these type of cakes and then forgetting which recipe I used or where I even got it from. This makes it frustrating when I'm trying to recall my favourite (and I know there is one!). Losing one's marbles was not the only calamity in the kitchen this morning.  My attempt at making a yoghurt icing saw it start off creamy and end up runny - fail!  So it transformed into a yoghurt drizzle. Ah well, in the end we still got to eat cake and sometimes that's all that matters, as Marie Antoinette was wont to point out (maybe?).

I was given a lovely homemade present of a jar of brandied kumquats (thank you, Penny) and used the last of them in this cake, making up the difference in quantity with some homegrown oranges.  I am sure the liqueur in the kumquats adds greatly to the taste (hic). Now I get to keep the leftover liquid for six months until it has reached a thick, sweet syrup - can't wait to try it.

Before you start this recipe, bear in mind you will need to boil the oranges first and let them cool before you start baking.

Citrus & Almond Cake with Yoghurt Drizzle

Approx. 3 smallish oranges (375 grams)
6 eggs
225g sugar
250g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder

Place the whole oranges in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil then simmer for one hour. Drain and leave until cold.

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Butter and line a 20cm cake tin.

Cut the cooked oranges in quarters and remove the pips. Place the whole fruits in a food processor with a metal blade and blitz until finely chopped. Add eggs and sugar and process until well combined. Finally add ground almonds and baking powder and pulse until just mixed.

Pour the mix into the cake tin and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. If the top of the cake starts to brown too much, cover loosely with tin foil.

Remove from the oven and leave in the tin but place on a wire rack to cool.

Once cool, dust with icing sugar or a lemon glaze or the yoghurt drizzle below.

Yoghurt Drizzle

1 cup Greek yoghurt
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ cup icing sugar, sifted
100g cream cheese

Whisk (by hand or electric) the ingredients together until smooth. Keep refrigerated until required. Spoon or drizzle over the cake.

I decorated my cake with some edible flowers (well the pink one on the left may not be edible but the others are) and freeze-dried raspberry powder.

This will be my October entry for Sweet New Zealand which I am hosting here.

Mocha Mousse & Caramelized Oranges

When I was younger I’d take the cut half of an orange and dip it straight into the sugar bowl. I assume mum wasn’t watching at the time although, given my sweet tooth, it may have been something she encouraged.

I was tempted to do a similar thing with our latest crop of oranges just to sweeten them up a little.  They are just a tiny bit tart to eat au naturel.   

A quick flick through an old cookbook and I came up with these retro caramelized oranges – a little sticky syrup to sugarcoat the citrus.

From there it wasn’t too hard to think of a chocolate match – or in this case chocolate and coffee – for a winning combination.  Oh, and did I mention there’s also lemon liqueur, for a little extra citrus kick?  This mousse really has a lot going for it. 

The caramel sauce turned out less sticky than it was originally.  I am going to suggest that this was the result of it mingling overnight with the juice from the oranges and not another unsuccessful attempt at a toffee sauce by me.  It didn't matter, the rich, dark mocha mousse was heaven.

This will be my entry to Sweet New Zealand hosted this month by the talented Nicola who has a wonderful blog at Homegrown Kitchen.

Mocha mousse & caramelized oranges

Makes about 6-8 serves

175g (6oz) dark chocolate, at least 70% cocoa

2 tbsp strong black coffee

4 eggs, separated

1 tbsp Limoncello or Cointreau liqueur

Mocha Mousse

Break chocolate into pieces and place the chocolate and coffee in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.  Do not let the water touch the base of the bowl.  Heat gently until the chocolate melts, stirring occasionally.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a couple of minutes.

Beat the egg yolks and gradually stir into the chocolate mixture.  Add the liqueur and stir to combine.

In a clean mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff with an electric mixer. Now, using a metal spoon, fold a tablespoon of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to loosen it.  Gently fold in the rest of the chocolate mix into the egg whites until thoroughly combined. Be patient, it needs gentle folding and cutting movements to retain all the air, which makes the mousse light.

Spoon into individual ramekins or glasses and chill in the fridge for several hours, preferably overnight.

Serve with the sticky oranges on the side or on top and some whipped cream.

Caramelized oranges

4 oranges

115g sugar

150ml water

Using a sharp knife, peel and remove the pith of the orange, keeping the shape intact.  Slice into rounds, remove the pips and set aside.

Place the sugar and half the water in a saucepan and dissolve the sugar slowly over a gentle heat.  Once dissolved, increase the heat and boil until it turns a rich, caramel colour.

Remove the pan from the heat and immediately pour in the remaining water being careful not to splash any of the hot caramel. 

Return the pan to a gentle heat and dissolve the caramel.  Remove from the heat and leave to cool before pouring over the oranges.

Chill in the fridge before serving.

If you don’t want to serve the mousse with the oranges, a chocolate coated coffee bean or two on top finishes it off nicely.