Coconut Panna Cotta with Tamarind Sauce

[mamster]

Coconut Panna Cotta with Tamarind Sauce

Serves 6 as Dessert.

See Desperate Measures:Panna Cotta and related discussion

One of the easiest individual desserts you can make is panna cotta, and it can be prepared ahead of time and quickly plated at the last minute. My aspiring pastry chef friend Neil Robertson calls this restaurant standard "cream Jell-O," and he's right. Gelatin with cream (or Cool Whip) is the basis for some of the most devastating culinary train wrecks of Middle America, but take the combination to Italy and suddenly it's elegant.

There's very little more to panna cotta than cream, gelatin, and sugar. Another liquid such as milk or buttermilk is often added to cut the richness a bit. The cream mixture is usually flavored with fresh vanilla bean. The dessert is chilled until it sets and is usually turned out onto a plate to make an attractive plateau shape like a flan, but you can also serve it in dishes or glasses.

Another fun thing about this recipe, besides the fact that it's no harder than making Jell-O, is that it's another use for ramekins, one of the most unexpectedly versatile of kitchen tools. Plain white ramekins work, but I prefer the colorful Emile Henry "Le Potier" sets. Aside from panna cotta, we use them for souffles, molten chocolate cake, pots de creme, and serving dipping sauces.

Enjoying panna cotta is no more challenging than making it. While it looks and sounds elegant, it tastes like comfort food. While your guests lap it up, you can snicker quietly, look both ways for trademark lawyers, and ask how everyone likes the Coconut Cream Jell-O with Tropical Froot Sauce.

This recipe is based on a coconut-tamarind cocktail developed by Neil Robertson for a column I wrote about tamarind. The article, with cocktail recipe, will appear soon in the Seattle Times, so consider this a sneak preview of the flavor combination. This panna cotta would be just right after a Thai meal.

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Panna Cotta

• 1-1/4 c heavy cream
  
• 3/4 c coconut milk, fresh or canned
  
• 1-1/2 tsp gelatin
  
• 6 T sugar
  
• 1/2 vanilla bean
  
• 1 c whole milk
  

Tamarind Sauce

• 2 T tamarind pulp
  
• 1/2 c boling water
  
• 1/4 c sugar
  
• 1 tiny pinch of ground cloves
  
• 1/4 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tsp cold water
  

To make the panna cotta:

1. Combine the cream and coconut milk in a medium saucepan. If you are using canned coconut milk (I recommend Chaokoh brand), it may have separated. If it has, empty the can into a separate container, microwave or heat briefly on the stove, stir until it recombines, then measure.

2. Remove 1/4 cup of the cream and coconut milk mixture to a small bowl and sprinkle with the gelatin. Let stand 10 minutes, then stir well. (It can stand while you heat the cream in the next step.)

3. Bring the cream and coconut milk mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Add the cream and gelatin mixture and the sugar. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape the seeds into the pan, and throw in the bean halves. (Did you know that vanilla beans are the fruit of a species of orchid, and all orchids have tiny "dust seeds"?)

4. Simmer, stirring constantly, until the gelatin and sugar have completely dissolved. Remove and discard vanilla beans. Transfer the mixture to a glass measuring cup set in an ice water bath. I use a 4-cup Pyrex sitting in an 8"x8" baking pan of ice water.

5. Add the milk and stir often until the mixture is slightly colder than room temperature (test with your finger; no need to break out the thermometer).

6. Divide mixture into 6 half-cup ramekins (have the ramekins sitting in a baking pan, such as a 9"x13") and refrigerate overnight. If you want to dig in sooner, increase the gelatin to 1 3/4 tsp and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

To make the sauce and serve:

1. Pour the boiling water over the tamarind pulp in a small bowl, let it sit for 10 minutes, then use a spoon to mix well.

2. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a small saucepan. Don't push the pulp through the sieve or the sauce will be grainy.

3. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add the sugar and stir until fully dissolved. Add the cloves and cornstarch and simmer just until thickened. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

4. Unmold the panna cotta by running a paring knife around the edge and inverting the ramekin onto a plate. Spoon sauce over the plated panna cotta and serve.

Keywords: Dessert, Intermediate, Italian, The Daily Gullet

( RG216 )