Saturday, January 08, 2011

Rose Panna Cotta Recipe

When I made the panna cotta recipe from Fabio Viviani's cookbook, it reminded me of one of the best panna cotta I've had in my life, which was a rose-infused panna cotta at a trendy but cute restaurant in the Marylebone neighborhood of London. That was many years ago, before I blogged and took pictures of what I ate, but I still remember it. The restaurant itself was fun and on the leading edge of small plates (this was 2002), and everything tasted great. Then the panna cotta came at the end, and the subtle sweet flavor of rose was amazing. Then again, I love anything with rose, like rose-flavored tea.

So I used Viviani's panna cotta recipe (using the gelatin sheets instead of gelatin packs, which I think makes a difference) and found some rose extract at Sur La Table and made myself this rose panna cotta. It wasn't exactly like how I remembered during that lunch in London, but it's pretty darn close. Enjoy!

Rose Panna Cotta

Copyright 2011 by Cooking With the Single Guy

Ingredients
1.5 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 T rose extract
2 sheets unflavored gelatin

Place gelatin sheets into a little bit of milk just to wet them. (You can break the sheets into smaller pieces if needed.)

In a small saucepan, warm cream and sugar over medium high heat until bubbles appear around the edges. Set aside.

Remove gelatin sheets and ring out excess milk. Then place sheets in small saucepan over medium high heat until dissolve (they'll dissolve pretty quickly), and then whisk the melted gelatin into the rest of the milk. Add the milk-gelatin mixture to the heavy cream.

Blend well and then add the rose extract and mix well. Then divide the panna cotta mixture into ramekins. Refrigerate until firmed up, about two hours or overnight.

When ready to serve, place ramekins quickly in a shallow pan of warm water, and then place dish over it and flip to let panna cotta fall out. Garnish with mint, rose petals or rose candy.

Makes 2 to 3 servings.

Serve with dessert wine or rose-flavored tea.

SHOPPING TIPS: Rose extract can be found is specialty baking stores like Sur La Table. In a pinch, you can try rose water. For rose candy, I found mine at the Pasta Shop in Rockridge's Market Hall. That's also where I found my gelatin sheets (don't use gelatin powder).

3 comments:

Cindy said...

That looks beautiful!

Hungry Dog said...

beautiful and elegant...nice job!

Carolyn Jung said...

What a perfect, romantic dessert for the upcoming Valentine's Day! Getting the texture of panna cotta just right is no easy feat. I can just tell from the photo that yours has that perfect just-set, still-jiggly texture.