Orange Panna Cotta With Saffron and Star Anise

Foodista Cookbook Entry

Category: Desserts & Sweets | Blog URL: http://www.recipeinterrupted.com

This recipe was entered in The Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook contest, a compilation of the world’s best food blogs which was published in Fall 2010.

Ingredients

1/2 cup orange juice
large pinch of saffron, crumbled
1 3/4 cups half-and-half
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier

Preparation

1
Put 1 tablespoon of water into a small dish and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Set it aside and let it soften.
2
In a small saucepan, heat the orange juice, saffron, and star anise over low heat and reduce by one half, about 5-10 minutes.
3
In a separate saucepan, heat the half-and-half and sugar together until the sugar dissolves and the half-and-half is hot (but not boiling), about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
4
Strain the reduced orange juice mixture and add it to the half-and-half mixture.
5
Stir in the softened gelatin until it is completely dissolved.
6
Distribute the liquid into four 4-ounce ramekins. When they cool down to room temperature, cover the ramekins with plastic wrap, and chill for at least 6 hours.
7
About 30 minutes before serving, segment the clementines to remove the outer membranes. Pour the Grand Marnier over them and let them sit at room temperature.
8
Invert the ramekins onto small plates. To loosen up the panna cotta and get it to slide out of the ramekin, it may help to warm up the ramekin in a bath of hot water for a couple of seconds and/or run a very thin, small spatula or knife around the edge of the panna cotta.
9
Garnish the panna cotta with the clementine segments and a drizzling of the Grand Marnier.

Tools

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About

This dessert is deceiving. The reduced orange juice and saffron add such a beautiful custardy color to this panna cotta that it is hard to believe there are no eggs in it. Creamy and scented with fragrant spices, it looks and tastes like a refined treat that involves a lot of work and skill. The truth is, the preparation takes hardly any time at all, you just have to give the gelatin about 6 hours to set. And if you can make Jell-o, you've got all the skills required.

Always on the lookout for a shortcut, I tried sprinkling the gelatin directly into the hot orange and half-and-half mixture. It didn't work. The pudding I ended up with was not fully set and had tapioca-like lumps in it. So now I take the extra 3 seconds and soften the gelatin in a bit of water first.

Yield:

4.0

Added:

Monday, February 22, 2010 - 6:49pm

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