Pannacotta with Yoghurt and Rhubarb

Pannacotta..cooked cream in other words. Although you don’t cook it to be truthful, so the name is a bit misleading..

Full cream, sugar and gelatine basically is what it is and you can play around with aromas and tastes and additives as much as you like.

It first entered the culinary world in Italy in the 1960s, in Piedmont in Northern Italy and is listed as one of the traditional dishes of the region although its exact origin is unclear.

Anyway…I like to add a little yoghurt inside, it makes it lighter.

Traditionally I like to flavour with vanilla and also a little cinnamon stick.

It goes well with baked rhubarb which has also been seasoned with cinnamon.

For the rhubarb you will find how to cook it in the jam section. It’s incredible what you can do with it. Here with some simple ingredients you can make a really tasty accompaniment to the Pannacotta by simply roasting it for a short while in the oven.

One of those simple ingredients is the wonderful “Melgiris”sage honey made by Manolis Stefanakis from Crete. From the first time I tasted sage honey, one morning in Mani in the Pelopponese, I have loved it. And if I am unable to find some from the stunning boutique hotel “Antares” just outside Areopolis, I can always find something similar from Crete from the guys at Meligiris at the Mediterranean Diet Shop in Sofokelous Street in central Athens. I met Mr Stefanakis at the Athens Food Expo personally and now I think about it we could have been fellow students at the Agricultural University… I should ask him…

Oh! I should point out that I haven’t received any money from Mr Stefanakis to mention his honey on my blog it’s just a product I happen to love and want you to know about…

Diffuculty: 2 out of 3

Duration:30 mins cooking and a night in the fridge to set

Serves:6 people

Ingredients

Ingredients for the accompanying compote:

500gr. Rhubarb, cleaned and cut into pieces 3-4cm

The zest and juice of one orange

3 x tbsp. Meligiris Sage Honey

2 x star anise

I x cinnamon stick

For the Pannacotta:

4gr. Gelatine sheets

300g. Fresh cream in two separate portions or 100/200gr.

70gr. Sugar

1 Vanilla pod cut down the middle

I x cinnamon stick

220gr. Strained yoghurt…I use sheep’s..yes..exactly.. I love it

Method

For the compote:

Pre-heat the oven to 170c fan forced.

On a small baking tray spread out the pieces of rhubarb.

Add the zest, the juice, the honey and the spices.

Stir them lightly to evenly spread them out and bake for about 20 mins or until the rhubarb softens to the touch.

Put the rhubarb aside to cool down.

For the Pannacotta:

In bowl of cold water add the gelatine pieces. Leave them to soak well.

In a saucepan put 100gr of the cream, the sugar and the vanilla seeds and pod, and the cinnamon stick and heat on a medium setting.

Put the rest of the cream and the yoghurt in a bowl and mix with a whisk.

When the sugar has melted and before the cream boils take it off the heat and put the well strained gelatine into the mixture and stir well until it dissolves.

Take out the vanilla pod and the cinnamon stick and add the heated mixture to the prepared cream and yoghurt and stir well.

Once mixed put the mixture into glasses and allow the mixture to set for a while.

After allowing the mixture to set place the glasses in the fridge.

It’s a good idea to put all the glasses on a tray to allow for easier transport to and from the fridge.

Notes:

1)As I don’t take the pannacotta out of the glasses-I don’t use a lot of gelatine so that the pannacotta comes out lighter and not too dense.

2)Every honey has a different sweetness…not all honeys are the same and you must realise this. A honey from a chestnut tree is rather bitter and does not sit well with this recipe. Also there are different types of gelatine which behave differently as they set. It’s possible you may need more gelatine than the recipe calls for.