Spring Recipes from the Blue Ball:

Rhubarb and Elderflower Panna Cota

Panna Cota - literally "cooked Cream" in Italian - is about as simple a dessert as you could imagine. Texture-wise, it sits somewhere between an English jelly and a blancmange, but is much lighter than the versions you generally find in pubs and restaurants. A Panna Cota should just hold its own weight and melt almost the instant it hits your tongue, leaving a velvety richness which, in this recipe, is complemented by tangy rhubarb and elderflowers - two ingredients that are at their best at this time of year. Ingredients (for four people) For the Panna Cota:
330 ml double cream
110 ml semi skimmed milk
seeds of 1 vanilla pod (or 2 tspn best quality vanilla extract - not essence)
165 g castor sugar
3 leaves of gelatine For the rhubarb:
Pre-heat your oven to 180 ° C (gas 4)
400 g young, pink rhubarb
100 ml elderflower cordial
250 g castor sugar 1. Place the cream, milk, vanilla and sugar in a saucepan and bring to boiling point. Remove from the heat. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water until softened then add to the hot cream and stir to dissolve. Divide the mixture between metal pudding moulds or ramekins (or even teacups!) then place in the fridge for 4-5 hours until set. 2. Remove the leafy top and root end from the rhubarb. It shouldn't need peeling if the stems are thin and tender but the skin tends to be a bit "stringy" if the rhubarb is older. Tough skins are easily removed with a bog-standard peeler. Cut the fruit into 2cm lengths. Place onto an oven proof tray and toss with the sugar. Pour over the cordial and cook at 180 degrees until the sugar dissolves, then give it a quick stir and return to the oven to cook until just tender but firm enough to hold its shape. When cooked, the point of a small sharp knife inserted into the centre of the rhubarb should meet with very little resistance. Transfer to a container and leave to cool then refrigerate. To serve: Carefully dip the Panna Cota moulds into a container of hot water for a few seconds then turn out into serving bowls and spoon the rhubarb and a little syrup (yes, as the rhubarb cooks it makes its own syrup!) around. Any kind of biscuit is ideal to serve with Panna Cota. At the Blue Ball we often serve homemade meringue biscuits but a decent, shop-bought shortbread or macaroon is also ideal. Monthly recipe as featured in June's edition of Fiveways magazine.

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