Did you believe a complicated and ornate dish name was more intricate to cook..well i always thought so until I was in college….For example Tiramisu,Pavlova,Baklava and my dear Panna cotta which is the Hero of my recipe today…or is she a heroine ! In a À la carte menu I choose the dish with the most ornate names like yesterday I ate BAGHALI POLOW sounds nice right Or are you the cautious menu trotter simple names and tried and tested tastes! Well to each its own…
Memories of Panna cotta date back to my days in Finland where I was working with a Telecom Giant.My first job and my first assignment outside my country with excitement levels touching sky high and the mercury dipping -5 degree centigrade….brrr brrr cold right…should be as it kisses north pole.Finnish people are warm,open and sincere.And if a Finn jokes with you and welcomes you to see his/her sauna means they like you ! 🙂 I had the most wonderful time in that country which is deadly cold but warm in its spirits.It was my send off party before I moved back to my country and to my surprise I was taken by my client to a place called as Hvitträsk in Kirkkonummi which is a romantic style Saarinen home, built of logs and natural stone.It has now been converted into a museum and talks of its rich national heritage.
Then comes my favorite part or maybe the gulping part.We proceeded to this lovely restaurant called Ravintola housed within its premises.It has the a very nice Finnish-Scandinavian inspired menu and first-class raw material-based food.When you start earning then the value of money becomes the new mantra of life as you deal with the complexities of credit cards, mobile phone contracts and house rents etc etc.I had never had the guts to visit a lavish restaurant leave apart the gourmet menu.The butterflies in my tummy had already emerged from their cocoons.It was a full five course meal man……boy o boy! All my bosses were present at the very table trust me I didn’t want to cast a lousy impression.
Camera Roll Action:
Client : We will order Red wine as a great food paring.
Me : Gulp 1…Inner voice you have never tasted wine you fool apart from some secretive sips of whisky left out from my dad’s glass.I just smiled.
Client : We will have Cray fish soup as an appetizer.
Me: Gulp 2…Inner voice remember you detest fish (Read What the Fish story).Smile became a half smile.
Client: We will have Caeser salad as a salad.
Me:Gulp 3…Tummy voice I am ravenously hungry a salad keeps me starving.Half smile became a tight lip smile.y
Client :We will order Roasted Duck with boiled Veggies for Main Course.
Me:Gulp 4….Inner voice I have never gone beyond the humble chicken.Tight lip smile became a Open Mouth Smile.
Client: We will order Vanilla Panna Cotta for dessert.
Me: My heart said that a dessert can never go wrong.I always consider Dessert is Happiness in a bowl and I am never wrong till date.To that i would say All’s well that ends well.Since then I have never turned back and I decided to be spontaneous and embark on a new culinary adventure, sampling a brand-new cuisine each time.
Panna cotta is perhaps the most delicate dessert of all, a fragile mound of purest cream, speckled with grains of vanilla, and set with a leaf of gelatine. The sort of recipe you might consider if angels were coming to dinner.
Yuzu is the world’s sexist fruit from Japan it tastes like a mix of lemon, mandarin and grapefruit.It has three times more vitamin C than orange.Its juice sells for £4.59 for a 60ml bottle.
Madagascan vanilla pods are long, thin and oily characterized by a rich (yet smooth) creamy flavour with floral overtones is best used for baking where it complements other flavours instead of overpowering them!
Remember don’t believe before you have have eaten just as a Fin doesn’t believe before he has seen.On that note lets start with Madagascan Vanilla Panna Cotta.
- For the panna cotta
- 3 gelatine leaves
- 250ml milk
- 250ml double cream
- 1 Madagascan vanilla pod, split length-ways, seeds scraped out
- 25g/1oz sugar
- For the jelly
- 2 Gelatine leaves
- 100 ml Mango pulp
- 50 ml Yuzu juice
- 1 tbsp icing sugar to taste
- For the panna cotta, soak the gelatine leaves in a little cold water until soft.
- Place the milk, cream, vanilla pod and seeds and sugar into a pan and bring to a simmer. Remove the vanilla pod and discard.
- Squeeze the water out of the gelatine leaves, then add to the pan and take off the heat. Stir until the gelatine has dissolved.
- Divide the mixture among four ramekins and leave to cool. Place into the fridge for at least an hour, until set.
- For the jelly, place the sugar, yuzu juice and mango pulp into a pan and make it just warm.
- Squeeze the water out of the gelatine leaves, then add to the pan and take off the heat. Stir until the gelatine has dissolved.
- Pass the jelly through a sieve into a bowl.
- Then take out the chilled ramekins and spoon out the jelly on top of the chilled panna cotta.
- Place into the fridge for at least an another two hour, until set.
- To serve, immerse the ramekins in warm water for 5 seconds and then turn each panna cotta out onto a serving plate.
