The transition from spring to summer happened quickly here in Philadelphia with weather topping eighty degrees. While I still like ending the day with something sweet, the hot weather makes the prospect of a heavy cake or sweet dessert unappealing. With that in mind, I set out to prepare an interesting plated dessert appropriate for a warm summer evening. I knew I wanted something that would not need to cook long so I would not need to spend long in a hot kitchen. In addition if the dish was served cold that would be a bonus.
When building plates I like to try to play with as many contrasts as I can. For example, pairing sharp flavors with richness, bold colors with subtle shades, and crunchy textures with creamy. As important as the contrasts are to a plate there also needs to be something toothsome and substantial that draws you to the plate; something you’ll want to eat. Finally, everything needs to be held together in a logical way. This may be because all the elements share common tastes, smells, or something even more obscure. In molecular gastronomy chefs are pairing foods based on chemical esters that they share like mango and pine or white chocolate and caviar.
I started developing this plate at the farmers market. I knew I wanted something sour to be refreshing on a hot evening. I was lucky to find some early rhubarb in one of the stalls. The crisp flavor of rhubarb is often overlooked. The only time it seems to turn up on menus is in a pie paired with another spring fruit, strawberries. In books from the late nineteenth century rhubarb is often referred to as pie plant. I bought a bunch to make a sour rhubarb jam.
With the jam I knew I wanted something rich. I didn’t want rich like a cheesecake that would be cloying, just enough to offset the crispness of the jam. I choose to make a panna cotta. A specialty of the Piedmont region in northern Italy panna cotta (or cooked cream) makes good use of the great dairy products the region is known for. You can think of panna cotta as a milk jello. Sweetened heavy cream and flavorings, often vanilla, are cooked together and thickened with gelatin. It would seem that this dessert would be too rich for a hot summer night but cold from the fridge it is surprisingly refreshing.
Panna cotta is similar to the French crème bavarois that is also thickened with gelatin; but where crème bavarois is lightened with whipped cream the panna cotta has a thick texture. It is more like a crème caramel, it is easier to make and requires less cooking than crème caramel that uses egg yolk to bind it.
Instead of the traditional flavorings of vanilla or coffee I wanted to do something lighter and perhaps more amusing. The jam will be a vibrant red when we make it and that made me want to add some color. On the shelf I found some matcha, a powdered green tea with a very fresh taste. The red and green would be a good color contrast. The tea flavor would pair nicely with the lemony flavor of the rhubarb jam.
To make the panna cotta soak the leaf gelatin in cold water. On the stove-top combine the milk and heavy cream with sugar and heat to dissolve the sugar. A pinch of salt added at this point will make everything seem sweeter. Take the pan off the heat, everything should be at the simmer not boiling. Squeeze the water out of the gelatin sheets and stir them into the hot liquid. Use a spoon, not a whisk, as you don’t want to mix in a lot of air to the dessert. Next add the powdered green tea (matcha) and stir it in. It’s important that the milk be cool at this point. If it’s hotter than blood temperature the tea will taste more like cooked spinach than fresh tea. Strain the mix and pour into chilled molds. I used muffin tins as molds, old yogurt cups would work also work well. Cover with plastic and refrigerate the pana cotta until they are set firm, about six hours.
For the jam I used equal parts, by weight of rhubarb and strawberries. The strawberries add some sweetness to cut the sharpness of the rhubarb. Finely ice the rhubarb stalks and the strawberries and put them in a dry pan with half the weight of the rhubarb, by weight, and begin to cook over moderate heat. The fruit will begin to sweat and give up some liquid. To the pan add port to enhance the rich red color and grand mariner, an orange brandy, for a deeper flavor. A few twists of black pepper a nice exotic flavor to the jam. Cook slowly for about 20 minuets stirring occasionally until the jam thickens. Let the jam cool.
The jam is great to use at this point and would be nice with pork, chicken, cheese or toasted bread. To make it more of a sauce like consistency put the jam in a blender with 2oz of port and a splash of the grand mariner and blend till smooth. It should now be pourable, if not add a small amount of water and blend again.
With the panna cotta which has a soft texture it is nice to serve something crisp and crunchy. Often it will be served with a tuille (a crisp cookie similar to a fortune cookie) or a shortbread cookie. In keeping with the developing Asian theme of the plate I decided to try to make a taro krumbcake, a wafer shaped cookie cooked in a hot iron press similar to Italian pizzelles. I added powdered taro (a malty purple yam) and desiccated coconut to a standard krumcake formula and cooked them a tablespoon at a time in the hot iron. If you didn’t have a krumcake press you can buy pizzelle cookies ready made in many supermarkets.
To plate, pour some of the rhubarb sauce onto the center of a large plate and roll the plate to spread it thin. Run a thin knife around the edge of each panna cotta the turn them out onto a sheet tray. Place one in the center of the plate. I was delighted by how the matcha precipitated out of the mix and collected at the bottom of the mold creating a stunning jade effect. I wish I could claim it was on purpose this time. Next time I think I’ll mix in some gold powder to enhance the effect. Finally garnish with strawberry and the taro krumcake. I plumped some basil seeds in water and scattered them over the sauce. They don’t add much in the way of taste but they are visually very interesting and their slight minty flavor picks up the strawberry nicely.
All the recipes I developed for this plate follow. I hope you enjoyed watching it come together and will try one or all of the components for yourself.
Green Tea Panna Cotta
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4 leaves gelatin
1 cup milk
1 ¾ cup heavy cream
½ cup sugar
Pinch salt
2 tsp Matcha, powdered green tea
-soak the gelatin in cold water
-combine milk, cream, sugar, and salt
-heat over moderate heat till sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat
-Squeeze excess water from gelatin and stir into milk mixture
-Stir in Green Tea Powder. Let sit 1-2 minutes then strain
-pour into molds and chill 6hrs till set firm
Rhubarb Jam
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(Sorry, scale was set to metric)
200 gm Rhubarb Stalks, finely diced
200 gm Strawberries, finely diced
100gm sugar
4tbs Grand Mariner
2tbs Port Wine
-In a dry pan combine fruit and sugar, add grand mariner and port
-cook over moderate heat about 20min stirring occasionally till thickened
-add a few turns of black pepper
-cool, jam will thicken more as it cools
Coconut-Taro Krumcake
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2 eggs
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup butter, cubed and soft
1 ¼ cup flour
¼ cup Powdered Taro
(available at Asian Groceries)
(available at Asian Groceries)
¼ cup desiccated coconut
1 cup milk
-with a whisk beat together eggs
and sugar together till light and
lemon colored
and sugar together till light and
lemon colored
-beat in cubed butter
-mix taro and coconut with the
flour
flour
-alternate mixing flour mixture and milk into egg mix till you form a batter slightly thicker than a
pancake batter
-cook a scant 1 tbs at a time in a heated krumcake iron 15sec per side
-while hot the krumcake can be rolled or shaped.
(krumcake cones can be filled with fruit or cream)
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