Rhubarb Pannacotta

I will start by saying that I am not a massive fan of pannacotta - I usually think that it is a bit bland and subsequently a waste of being bad. I wanted to strike against the mild pannacotta and stuff some flavour in there in the form of rhubarb. Rhubarb can divide a crowd - some like it, some don’t, with school dinners being the source of the problem to those that loathe it. Breaking this down further how did school dinners ruin rhubarb’s chance of becoming a popular pudding filling? 1- Over cooked rhubarb becomes stringy which doesn’t exactly have the most appealing texture and appearance and 2- A lack of sugar leaves an overwhelming sourness on the palette. This recipe boils the rhubarb and extracts the juice which is then combined with sugar and cream, removing any chance of it being overwhelmingly sour and all those stringy bits too. Try this recipe and convince your friends and yourself that rhubarb is delicious and not something to be afraid of! – Except for the leaves as they’re poisonous. In summary, the leaves contain oxalic acid ~0.5%, and when in the body the acid bit falls off the molecule leaving behind oxalate which inhibits the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase, leading us to stop producing usable energy from glucose. I wouldn’t panic too much as you would have to eat kilos of the stuff, and before then the laxative properties of the leaves would let you know you ate an abundant amount!

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  What you need to make 4:

  
  

  • 135 g of rhubarb (plus an extra stick for the sauce)
  • 300 ml of double cream
  • 80 g of caster sugar (plus an extra 2 tbsp for the sauce)
  • 1 star anise
  • Half a tsp of vanilla extract /paste
  • 1 lemon
  • 2 leaves of gelatine 

  
  

  How to make it:

  
  

  1. Place your gelatine in a bowl and cover with cold water to soften.
  2. Chop up the rhubarb, throw it in a sauce pan and just cover with water. Bring the pan to the boil and simmer until the rhubarb has gone soft – by this point the water should have taken on a red/pink colour. Sieve the rhubarb but don’t press the rhubarb through the sieve, just let it drain and cool. You should have 140 ml of resulting rhubarb juice (if you don’t dilute it to 140 ml).
  3. To the rhubarb juice add the zest of a lemon, vanilla, the cream and 80 g of sugar. Place the mixture onto a moderate heat until it starts to simmer. At this point add in the soft gelatine and whisk to ensure it is fully dissolved and evenly distributed.  Let the mixture come to room temperature then pour it into your ramekins. Cover each with cling film and place them in the fridge overnight to set. 
     
     -as a side note do not use powdered gelatine because I find that it doesn't evenly distribute itself throughout your mixture, resulting in jelly spears in your finished pannacotta.
     
  4. When you’re about to serve take your extra rhubarb stick and slice into fine batons (as shown in picture VII) - you don’t want too many just enough to flavour your sauce. Throw the rhubarb in a frying pan and add in enough water to come halfway up the side of the rhubarb sticks. Squeeze in a little lemon juice, 2 tbsp of sugar and a star anise. Quickly bring to the boil and let the ingredients cool and infuse into your sauce.
  5. When serving run a small knife around your pannacotta and place the ramekin into a bowl full of boiling water for 10 – 20 seconds (this will melt the outside of the gel enabling you to easily release the pannacotta from the ramekin). Place your serving plate on top of the ramekin and flip everything over and the pannacotta should fall out. Pour over 1-2 tablespoons of your cooled sauce and serve with a sprig of mint.