Cereal Milk Panna Cotta with Cornflake Crunch

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  Christina Tosi is a genius.  First she brought us cereal milk.  Then, she makes it into a panna cotta.  It's like combining two of my favorite things!

Cereal Milk Panna Cotta (from Momofuku Milk Bar)
makes 4 servings

3/4 teaspoon powdered gelatin
1/2 recipe Cereal Milk (1 1/4 cups)
25 g light brown sugar (1 1/2 tablespoons, tightly packed)
1 g kosher salt (1/4 teaspoon)

 
Sprinkle the gelatin evenly over 2 tablespoons of cold water and let bloom for a few minutes.

Warm a little bit of the cereal milk and whisk in the gelatin to dissolve.  Whisk in the remaining cereal milk, brown sugar, and salt until everything is dissolved, being careful not to incorporate too much air into the mixture.

 
Put 4 small ramekins on a flat, transportable surface.  Pour the cereal milk mixture into the glasses, filling them equally.  Transfer to the refrigerator to set for at least 3 hours, or overnight.

 
I found this panna cotta to be super soft and jiggly, which I thought I wouldn't like as I usually like my panna cotta a little firmer.  But I decided to trust Christina and took a bite.  Heavenly!  As Christina writes, "the secret to a profesh panna cotta is just the right amount of gelatin:  just enough to hold it together.  As little as possible, so that the second the panna cotta hits your mouth, it transforms into a silky river of flavored cream.  So little that you wonder how the dessert held its shape in the first place."  Yeah, it was definitely a silky river of cereal milk in my mouth.

 
To contrast all the soft creaminess, I made a batch of Cornflake Crunch, another invention of Christina's, to put on top.

Cornflake Crunch (from Momofuku Milk Bar)
makes about 4 cups

170 g cornflakes (5 cups)
40 g milk powder (1/2 cup)
40 g sugar (3 tablespoons)
4 g kosher salt (1 teaspoon)
130 g butter, melted (9 tablespoons)

Preheat oven to 275°F.

 
Pour the cornflakes into a medium bowl and crush them with your hands (it's fun!) to 1/4 of their original size.

 
Add the milk powder, sugar, and salt and toss to mix.  Add the butter and toss to coat.

 
Spread the clusters on a parchment- or Silpat-lined sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes, at which point they should look toasted, smell buttery, and crunch gently when cooled slightly and chewed.

 
Cool the cornflake crunch completely before storing or using in a recipe.  Stored in an airtight container at room temperature, the crunch will keep fresh for 1 week; in the fridge or freezer, it will keep for 1 month.

 
But good luck keeping it that long!  Sure, this makes a lot, and you only need a little to add on top of the panna cotta, but I couldn't stop munching on this like a snack.  And you can use 2 cups of it to make the crust of a Cereal Milk Ice Cream Pie!

Next:  Cereal Milk Ice Cream and Pie
Previously:  Cereal Milk

Panna Cotta, Take 3

Okay, I think I have finally achieved the perfect consistency after two tries. I basically followed the same recipe as before, but this time I tried orange flavored panna cotta instead of almond, and I only had half-and-half and no cream so I adjusted the ratio a bit.

Orange Panna Cotta (based on this recipe)
makes 6 small servings

2 cups half-and-half
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
Zest from 1 medium orange
1 teaspoon orange extract
1 tablespoon powdered unflavored gelatin bloomed in 3 tablespoons water
1 red navel orange (or any other kind of orange that doesn't segment well; I would not recommend mandarins for example)
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

In a small saucepan over medium-high, combine half-and-half, milk, zest, and 3/4 cups sugar; bring to a boil. Stir in the orange extract. Remove from heat, and let stand for 20 minutes.

Cut the orange horizontally (along the latitudinal planes) so that you have 6 circular slices that will fit into the ramekins you are using.

Microwave the gelatin and water for 8 seconds. Add a ladleful or two of the warm half-and-half mixture to the gelatin and gently stir until all lumps are gone. Add to the rest of the half-and-half mixture. Pass the mixture through a sieve and divide evenly among 6 small ramekins or other servings dishes. Carefully add the orange slices so that they are floating on top. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

In a small saucepan, boil the orange juice and remaining 1/2 cup sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Let cool.

Once the panna cotta has set, pour the orange syrup on top and serve.

I think because I added the warm mixture to the gelatin to dissove it before adding it to the rest of the mixture, it really helped to distribute the gelatin. I definitely noticed a lot less gelatinous lumps in the sieve this time, and as a result, the texture of the panna cotta was perfect--neither too soft or too firm. On the other hand, I realize I like the almond flavored ones better, so if I ever make this again, I know what I'll stick with.

I had originally wanted the orange slices to sit on the bottom of the ramekin so that after the panna cotta had set, I could flip it upside-down and serve it with the orange slice on top. But the slices ended up floating when I added the panna cotta mixture so I had to scrap that idea. That's also the reason why you can see some milkiness on top of the orange slice and why the circumference of the slice I chose was a lot smaller than the mouth of the ramekin. And by the way, how are people able to unmold the panna cotta anyways? I tried running a knife along the edge, but it didn't work very well; you could see the knife marks along the edge and the top (or bottom, depending on how you look at it) was all sunk in afterwards. Maybe I need to run some hot water on the outside first to "melt" the edges a bit....

I didn't take any pictures of how it looked with the orange syrup because by the time it had cooled the light sucked, and anyways, I like the look without the syrup because you can clearly see the pure white of the panna cotta and the little orange slice floating on top like a lily pad. Too bad you can't really eat the orange slice as is because of the rind. I suppose if I had had the time, I could have candied the slices so that they could be eaten as is. Perhaps next time....

Panna Cotta, Take 2

This is my second attempt at a panna cotta version of the traditional Chinese dessert, almond tofu. As you may recall, last time the major issue was that the panna cotta barely jelled. As a minor issue, I didn't like the way the white wine reduction turned out because I had been hoping the dried cherries would have pureed more to thicken the reduction. Instead it ended up being a muddy reddish-brownish liquid that the pears ended up being immersed in on top of the panna cotta. Not terribly pretty to look at, but fortunately still rather tasty.

I basically used the same recipe as before, except I only had 1 1/3 cups milk and a little more than 1 cup of heavy cream. Since my issue last time was that the panna cotta didn't set enough, I figured I'd try using the same 1 tablespoon of gelatin and hope it wouldn't get too hard. And after seeing Tartelette's beautiful panna cottas, I figured I'd try something a little different for the pears.

Red Wine Poached Pears Puree
makes enough for 6 panna cotta servings

1/2 vanilla bean
Zest from one orange
1 cup red wine (it was all I had left)
1/2 cup sugar
2 D'anjou pears

Split the vanilla bean lengthwise in half with a knife and scrape out the seeds.

Add the vanilla seeds and pod and orange zest to the red wine and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Reduce to a simmer.

Peel the pears, leaving the stem intact. Slice off the bottom 1/8" of each pear to create a flat, stable base.

Add the pears to the simmering poaching liquid, laying them on their sides. Cook, turning pears occasionally so they become saturated on all sides, until they are just tender when pierced with a fork, about 7 minutes.

Allow pears to cool completely in their poaching liquid.

After the pears have cooled, remove the core and stem and roughly chop the pear. Add just enough braising liquid to cover and let sit until the pear reaches the desired color. (I only gave it about 15 minutes.) Drain as much of the liquid as possible and reserve.

Using an immersion blender or regular blender, puree the pears.

To assemble the panna cotta, I divided the pear puree equally between 6 ramekins (oh what I wouldn't give for the cute glasses that Tartelette uses!).

Carefully pour the panna cotta mixture (after the gelatin has been added to it) through a sieve on top of the puree. I was not so careful on my first attempt and pretty much lost the bottom layer.

The other ramekins fared a little better.

There was still some of the puree that ended up floating on top of the panna cotta mixture, but I wasn't too worried because there was going to be a third layer. But before that, let the panna cotta sit in the fridge for at least 3 hours, until firm. In the meantime, heat the red wine braising liquid (you didn't throw it out, did you?) in a small saucepan and reduce to about 1/3 cup volume.

Once the panna cotta has set, spoon the wine reduction on top. For a final touch, place a peeled mandarin orange section on top as garnish.

I found that this time the panna cotta was actually a little firmer than I wanted. I also noticed that when I was straining the mixture into the ramekins that there was a fair amount of gelatin left in the strainer. According to Tartelette's recipe, she strains the mixture before adding the gelatin, so maybe the first time I made the recipe the reason it wasn't set enough was because I was leaving too much gelatin in the strainer. At the same time, I don't really want heterogeneous bits of hard gelatin settling at the bottom of the panna cotta. I guess next time I make this (yes, there will be a next time!) I will try dissolving the gelatin in a bit of reheated cream mixture before adding it to the rest of the cooled mixture.

Panna Cotta, Take 1

I think I had panna cotta for the first time 2 years ago when Karen made it for the Soul Food volunteers training dinner. She had made an orange version, and I couldn't stop consuming it. It was perfectly creamy, sweet, and tangy, and the texture was similar to tofu pudding--the silkiest, softest phase something could be while still remaining a solid. I've been meaning to make it ever since but never got around to it until this week.

I'd been playing around with the idea of makind an almond-flavored panna cotta, kind of like an upscale version of almond tofu. And instead of fruit cocktail, I'd add poached pears. This was my first time making both, so I did a little research. I did ask Karen for her panna cotta recipe, but it didn't say how many it served (I should have just asked her) so I tried this one instead. Since I wanted to serve 6, I multiplied the ingredients by 1.5, although I did end up adding a full teaspoon of almond extract because when I tasted the mixture with only 3/4 teaspoons it didn't have as much almond flavor as I wanted it to have.

Almond Panna Cotta (based on this recipe)
makes 6 small servings

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon powdered unflavored gelatin bloomed in 3 tablespoons water

In a small saucepan over medium-high, combine milk, cream, and sugar; bring to a boil. Stir in the almond extract. Remove from heat, and let stand for 20 minutes.

Microwave the gelatin and water for 8 seconds and stir it in the cream mixture. Pass the mixture through a sieve and divide evenly among 6 small ramekins or other servings dishes. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

Even after chilling the it overnight, the panna cotta still looked suspiciously jiggly, and it was definitely softer than I wanted it. I'm not sure if the answer is to add more gelatin because I don't really want the stiffness that's associated with Jell-O Jigglers. I think next time I make this I will try boiling the milk and cream mixture longer to reduce it a bit as instructed in Karen's recipe.

For the pears I found these two recipes for vanilla poached pears which were pretty different from each other, so I decided to try a amalgam of the two. I also wanted to add cherries, but the only ones I could find were dried, tart cherries, so I tried to reconstitute them in the poaching liquid, which didn't work too well.

Vanilla Poached Pears with Dried Cherries
makes 2 pears

1/2 vanilla bean
2 cups white wine
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 Bosc pears
12 dried tart cherries

Split the vanilla bean lengthwise in half with a knife and scrape out the seeds.

Add the vanilla seeds and pod to the white wine, water, and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Reduce to a simmer.

Peel the pears, leaving the stem intact. Slice off the bottom 1/8" of each pear to create a flat, stable base.

Add the pears to the simmering poaching liquid, laying them on their sides so they are almost completely submerged. Cook, turning pears occasionally so they become saturated on all sides, until they are just tender when pierced with a fork, about 7 minutes.

Allow pears to cool completely in their poaching liquid. Add dried cherries to the poaching liquid.

Once cool, transfer 1 cup of poaching liquid plus cherries to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for about 10 minutes to reduce the liquid. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Use an immersion blender to (try to) puree the cherries. Strain and set aside.

Cut each pear into thirds lengthwise, removing the core. Make vertical cuts into each section so you get very thin slices. Fan the slices out and carefully transfer to the top of panna cotta. Drizzle with cherry liquid mixture.

As you can probably tell from the pictures above, my attempts at incorporating the cherries into the poaching liquid did not turn out too well. And because the panna cotta was so soft, the pears kind of sank into it instead of nicely resting on top. But I really liked the taste of the whole dish. The almond was definitely noticeable in the panna cotta, and the texture of the pears was akin to the canned pears in fruit cocktail but the flavor was a whole lot more sophisticated. Definitely a recipe I want to try again and perfect.