“It doesn’t matter where you’re from – or how you feel.
There’s always peace in a strong cup of coffee.”
Gabriel Bá
Coffee White Chocolate Panna Cotta, time for an indulgent dessert that screams coffee! It’s been a busy few days, or maybe weeks. A lot happening on every possible front which barely leaves me time to blog. Sometimes I fall into a guilt trap for starving the poor hungry PAB, so I figured the sweet coffee indulgence should be a nice way to offload my guilt. This dessert rocked, the flavours of local Bru shone through, the taste nice and mature after an overnight chill! For those who know me, coffee is my first choice in dessert.Of course it’s another matter that I was in Bangalore a couple of days ago styling tea for a shoot; tea that was almost too pretty to brew!!
Panna cotta has been in the news at home of late for all sorts of reasons. Good because this was an experiment that rocked, and one that I have made several times over. Made it most recently for my friends from the Swiss Made Grand Tour crew who visited last week. Bad because it was part of a plagiarism row that hit our small local food bloggers community. A similar panna cotta recipe, Espresso Panna Cotta, from PAB was one of many to be ‘copy pasted‘ verbatim! We live and learn, and hopefully ‘the copiers’ will too!
Moving on, it’s also a panna cotta coz I’m happy; happy about a media mention that The Asian Entrepreneur carried about me yesterday. It was quite a fun interview and I am eternally grateful to them for offering me such a wonderful platform.
This calls for a cuppa coffee!!
[print_this]Recipe: Coffee White Chocolate Panna Cotta
Summary: Indulgent, indulgent, indulgent. If you are a coffee lover, then this Coffee White Chocolate Panna Cotta is the dessert with you. The addition of good quality white chocolate adds depth and body to the dessert. Serves 6
65g good quality white couverture chocolate, chopped
400ml single cream {Amul low fat}
100g brown sugar
2tbsp instant coffee {Bru}
100ml warm milk
2tsp gelatin
Method:
Sprinkle the gelatin over the warm milk and leave to soften.
Meanwhile, put the white chocolate, cream, brown sugar and coffee into a heavy bottom pan, and simmer over gentle heat.
Stir the cream mixture and take off heat when small bubbles begin to appear around the edges at the bottom. Stir in the gelatin mix. Taste and adjust sugar if desired.
Allow to cool until lukewarm, then pass through sieve and pour into serving glasses/bowls.
Chill for at last 6-8 hours, better overnight.
Note: Top with a dark chocolate ganache for added indulgence. Or skip the coffee and add any flavour you like, then top with seasonal fruit or a fruit coulis.
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“I’m not a vegetarian! I’m a dessertarian!”
Bill Watterson
Kokum Coconut Milk Panna Cotta … as if the Italian version of the panna cotta wasn’t delicious enough, the coconut milk version is glass scraping good too. So when the very sweet Ajit posted about a kokum cooler on FB, I was instantly on his case. “Want Want Want”, I said {read pleaded}. The fine, ever obliging and efficient man that he is, ensured that I had a ‘kokum’ package in my hands a few days later. It was a 100 watt smile on my face I tell you!
Ever since we had the sol kadi {top left corner, and just above} at Baramati on the wine fam trip to Four Seasons Winery a couple of years ago, kokum has had me smitten. Must be a taste bud thingy. I might bake and make a load of sweet stuff, but my heart belongs to savoury. Piquant, tangy, sharp, citric … flavours that make my mouth water. Add garlic, astoefetida, sumac, phalsa berries, raw tamarind to the list and you just might hear my heart sing out loud.Kokum or Garcinia Indica is indigenous to the Western Ghats region of India located along the western coast of the country. It is used as a staple souring agent typically in Goan cuisine and some parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Kokum yields a peculiar flavour and blackish red colour. It is a preferred substitute for tamarind in curries and other dishes from the Goa and Konkan region.
So you can imagine my happiness when the package with kokum arrived. With it, a sweet hand written note from the A of A & N, a blog that I first connected with several years ago. At the time A & N were in the US, and regaled their audience with tales of getting flood waters in their home, food and a lot more. The they came back to India, and we reconnected. A and me exchanged notes over ingredients, oohed and aahed over experiments with 100% whole wheat bread, and a lot more…
The N of course is the sweetest thing to walk the earth… joyful, exuberant and uber talented. She works with of my most fave online furniture stores Urban Ladder. Anyway, to cut a long story short, A in his note said “I’m sure you’ll work your magic and turn it into something wonderful. Looking forward!” The pressure that didn’t allow me to make just a simple cooler. I wanted to make something to embrace sweet & savoury for summer….
I knew it was panna cotta. To tie in the coastal flavours from where kokum is born, it was going to be a coconut milk panna cotta. Vanilla bean because I love it so, and it flavours the panna cotta gently. More flavours because I have bunches of lemon grass growing outside, and a box of kaffir lime leaves in my freeze. The pairing was beautiful. The basic panna cotta pairs well with most fruit …. so think strawberries, cherries, blueberries, mango, blackberries…
[print_this]Recipe: Kokum Coconut Milk Panna Cotta
Summary: Kokum Coconut Milk Panna Cotta … gentle, tropical, flavourful, this panna cotta gone light comes alive with the zing of kokum. The pairing is beautiful. The basic panna cotta pairs well with most fruit …. so think strawberries, cherries, blueberries, mango, blackberries if you can’t find kokum. Serves 6
Kokum concentrate {makes enough for a jugful of kokum cooler. Can be made a day or two in advance}
12-15 kokum halves soaked for an hour in 250ml hot water
200g raw sugar
Pinch of Himalayan pink salt
White chocolate shavings or coconut chips, fresh mint to garnish
Method:
Kokum concentrate
Run the soaked kokum halves, sugar and salt in a blender to get a smooth concentrate. Pass through a sieve if you like.
Store covered in a glass/non reactive container in the fridge , covered, for 4-5 days.
Coconut Milk Vanilla Panna Cotta
Warm 75ml coconut milk in a small bowl, and sprinkle the gelatin over to allow it to soften. Leave to stand.
Place remaining coconut milk, cream, scraped vanilla bean, sugar, bruised lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves in a heavy bottom pan, and bring to a simmering boil. Turn off heat, add the bloomed gelatin and stir in well to mix.
Allow to cool while the flavours seep in.
One it has cooled down, strain and pour into serving bowls/glasses, leave to set for 3-4 hours.
Kokum White Chocolate Ganache
Pace white chocolate and cream in a heat proof bowl and microwave for 30 seconds to a minute until the chocolate has almost melted. Stir until smooth, then stir in the kokum concentrate. Add more concentrate if you like.
Spoon the concentrate over the set panna cotta, drizzle some .extra concentrate over if you like.
Garnish with white chocolate curls, coconut chips and fresh mint.
“If music be the food of love, play on.”
Shakespeare
Buttermilk Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Balsamic Strawberries … dessert for someone you l♥v, or dessert for someone who loves dessert! Panna cotta, or cooked cream, is one of the quickest Italian desserts you can make. Minimum fuss, quick to make, do ahead and divinely delicious, a winner every single time.
The tempting option of going a teeny bit healthy on a cream dessert, yet keeping it indulgent, is perhaps worth the bait! I’ve done a Berries & Buttermilk Puddng in the past, so the idea of a buttermilk panna cotta was going to be worth every delicious spoonful! Delightful tangy undertones, a gentle wobbly set cream, smooth vanilla overtures…what more can you ask for? Pretty darned good as it is, you can take it a step higher with luscious red strawberries as topping. Use any seasonal berries for that matter, or fruit like figs too. A salted butter caramel sauce would be really nice as well.
If you have the time, gently simmer strawberries to make a balsamic strawberry topping. And if time is not your friend that day, simply macerate the berries in castor sugar and a dash of lime juice, or maybe just toss them in honey. It adds a nice sweet touch to the fruit while making it shiny and attractive to top the panna cotta.
The colour contrast weaves a magic spell. What’s not to love about red and white? And what’s not to love about strawberries and cream. AND what’s not to love about make ahead, fuss free dessert? Go on, take the plunge! Spoil those you love on V Day with this gorgeous Buttermilk Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Balsamic Strawberries.
Oh yes, and make sure you get them to do the dishes! Share some love!!
[print_this]Recipe: Buttermilk Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Balsamic Strawberries
Summary: Delightful tangy undertones, a gentle wobbly set cream, smooth, vanilla overtures…what more could you ask for in a Buttermilk Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Balsamic. This must be the quickest make ahead dessert ever! It’s a great Valentines Day dessert too.
Serves 6
Prep Time: 5 minutes Total Time: 10 minutes Ingredients:
Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta
1 tbsp + 1/4 tsp gelatin
2 tbsp warm water
300ml low fat cream
150g vanilla sugar {or Castor sugar}
1/2 tsp vanilla bean powder
1 vanilla bean pod, scraped
450ml cultured buttermilk
Balsamic Strawberries
200g strawberries, chopped
30g brown sugar
15ml balsamic vinegar
15ml honey
Method:
Panna Cotta
Put the warm water in a small bowl and sprinkle the geltain over. Leave to soften for 10 minutes.
Put the cream,sugar, scraped vanilla bean and pod in a heavy bottom saucepan and simmer gently for 5-7 minutes. Do not allow to come to a rolling boil. Stir often.
Take off heat and stir in the buttermilk and softened gelatin. Whisk to blend well, then strain and pour into serving goblets or ramekins.
Chill for 5-6 hours, better overnight.
Top with balsamic strawberries, garnish with fresh mint and serve.
Balsamic strawberries
Gently simmer brown sugar, honey and balsamic vinegar in a small pan until the sugar has melted and is thick and syrupy.
Take off heat and add lime juice. Mix in the chopped strawberries. Leave to macerate for 10-15 minutes.
If the strawberries leave a lot of liquid, strain the liquid out, and reduce over medium heat. Mix back into the strawberries and then chill until required.
“Only one thing is certain about coffee…. Wherever it is grown, sold, brewed, and consumed, there will be lively controversy, strong opinions, and good conversation.”
Mark Pendergrast
I love the theme for the latest Femina. It’s an issue celebrating the art of slowing down. Rat races and deadlines threaten to burn us out. I screamed a big hearty YES in my head, and then decided to get the better of life! Of course it didn’t happen. The Bru Coffee Panna Cotta did though! It gave me an opportunity to use the beautiful mason jars that Finla sent.
It was for a shoot for a magazine in China, they were doing a feature on fridges and lifestyles. Yours truly was contacted, and yours truly said YES! NEVER say yes to a fridge photoshoot! I was spring cleaning till kingdom came, discovering things I hadn’t seen in ages, scrub-a-dubbing forever … and cursing my poor foresight! At the time I really wished I hadn’t said yes!
On the brighter side, I have a sparkling clean fridge that looks almost as good as new, I now know every little crumb that lives in there. It’s so organised that it barely looks like mine! In there too was some Indian Coffee Panna Cotta that I made that day. I am on a coffee overdrive, what with the recent Coffee Vanilla Bean Layered Cake.
There’s been a chocolate overdrive of late too, but then, no one seems to be complaining! In the past few days I also made Whole-wheat Mocha Brownies for the kids. They were delicious.And on the trot yesterday, Whole-wheat Chocolate Lava Cakes in 4 and a half minutes in the Philips AirFryer. Some gadgets are such a blessing.
Bru is my morning cup of coffee, my coffee connect! It’s instant, a mix of chicory and coffee, and I love its deep flavour. It’s been a favourite for years and years. Anything Bru works for me, the original Bru that is. None of the new flavours appeal to me like the old rustic original!
A coffee panna cotta has been tempting me for long ever since Cookaroo posted one with an espresso syrup. What’s not to love about this quintessential Italian dessert of ‘cooked cream’? It’s one dessert where all flavours work magically and very few people would refuse a serving … the kids always want seconds and thirds!
So without further ado, here is one of my all time favourite desserts, a Bru Coffee Panna Cotta … make ahead, indulgent and deliciously coffee! For those who have known me over the years, sorry it’s coffee again. For those who don’t know me – nothing wins my palette over like coffee in dessert! My guilty pleasure, my relaxation. {And if coffee is not your thing, I have a whole string of other flavours ... Dark Chocolate & Orange, Saffron Caramel, Strawberry Tangerine Quark to tempt you with!}
Oh, did I tell you that the sun is back? It is indeed. The horrid smog has finally cleared and ‘lazy creatures‘ are enjoying the morning sun!
[print_this]Recipe: Bru Coffee Panna Cotta
Summary: Whats not to love about this quintessential Italian dessert of ‘cooked cream’? It’s one dessert where all flavours work magically, coffee is one of my most loved versions. Serves 8
Sprinkle gelatin over cold water and let stand for five minutes.
Stir coffee into 30ml of the cream.
Place the cream, coffee cream mix and sugar in a heavy bottom pan and gently bring to a simmer, but not a full boil. Stir often.
Take off heat. Add 1-2 tbsp of this hot cream to the dissolved gelatin to loosen it further, and then pour the gelatin mix back into the hot cream through a sieve. Stir well.
Let the mixture stand for about 10 minutes, then distribute among your serving bowls/molds/ramekins/goblets.
Allow to set for 6-8 hours/preferably overnight. Serve with chocolate shavings.
