Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Recipe: Orange-Cardamom Panna Cotta

Last weekend, I invited a couple of friends over for a last minute dinner.  With my travels, I don't get much time to entertain any more so spur of the moment plans are easier.

I wasn't sure I would make a dessert but then thought of Panna Cotta since it's a fairly easy and quick dessert to make.  As I started pulling out the ingredients, I decided to put a twist on the classic recipe. The end result was a huge success and got rave reviews from my guests and my son, who ate it a day later.  I hope you will try and make this one and let me know how it turns out in comments below.



Ingredients

2 Cups Heavy Cream
1 Cup Coconut Milk
1/3 Cup Sugar
Grated Zest of 1 Orange
Juice of 1 Orange
1 Tbsp unflavored Gelatin
6-8 pods Cardamom - slightly smashed to open
1/2 tsp Cardamom powder
1 tsp Vanilla

Recipe

In a heavy bottom sauce pan, heat the heavy cream, coconut milk and sugar until just hot (do not bring to a boil) stirring often.  Add orange zest and cardamom pods and allow to steep for about 20-30 minutes.  In a small heat proof pan, add the juice from the orange and sprinkle the gelatin evenly over it.  Allow to stand for 1 to 2 minutes.  Heat the pan over a low flame constantly moving the liquid until the gelatin has melted.  Do not allow to boil or overheat.  Set aside.  Reheat the cream mixture on medium high to just under a boil stirring frequently.  Remove from heat.  Add the gelatin mixture to the cream and stir well to combine.  Strain into a large measuring cup through a fine mesh sieve to remove the pods and zest.  Add cardamom powder and vanilla and stir well.  Divide evenly into 8 ramekins and chill for at least 4 hours.  When ready to serve, you can certainly eat right out of the ramekin but for a great presentation and to show the flecks of orange & cardamon as in the above photo, place each ramekin into a larger bowl of hot water for 30-45 seconds.  Invert onto a serving plate to un-mold the Panna Cotta.

Enjoy!!