I will just start out by saying I love black tea. I'm a little bit obsessed. Not in the traditional sense where I drink a lot of it, but I love the smell.
Red Rose Panna Cotta with Black Tea Syrup
(Makes 4 servings)
2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
6 drops vanilla extract
2 packets gelatin
3 tbsp water
tiny pinch of salt
three red roses*
To remove petals from roses easily you can grasp the head of the rose and gently twist. The rose petals should come free. Wash the rose petals in a bowl of cool to luke-warm water, but be careful it's not too hot or the oils from the rose will release into the water.
*A note on the roses. You should use the most pungent red roses you can find. You're free to use any color rose you prefer but the stronger the scent the more that scent will come across in the finished product and that's what makes this dessert special. You should also always be careful to use organic roses. Buying roses from a garden store or a food mart it's impossible to know what they've been sprayed with. No one wants to eat pesticides. By buying organic you're ensuring no chemical pesticides have been used on the roses, and thus will avoid ingesting them. The same goes for picking roses. Always avoid anything that might have been sprayed.
Prepare four ramekins by using a paper towel, napkin, or oil mister to grease the inside of the glass. This will help make the finished Panna Cottas easier to remove. I use almond oil for this, because it's not a strong flavor and contributes to the dessert rather than overwhelms it. That's why olive oil isn't a good choice for this, but you can also use another light oil like safflower.
Combine the petals and the milk in a blender and liquefy. If you're making this with red roses (as you totally should be) it will turn a deep purple-pink color. Blend on puree or liquefy until the bits of rose are very tiny. Combine the rose milk with the heavy cream and put in a pot over medium heat. Heating the rose-milk-cream mixture to lukewarm will help bring out more of the roses' scent, especially into the cream.
In a wide bottomed bowl (or I like to use my large quart sized measuring cup) put 3 tablespoons of water. Sprinkle in 2 and a half teaspoons of gelatin over the water. This is approximately a packet and a fourth of a second packet. It's best to measure this out, as the texture of a good Panna Cotta is tricky. If it's too firm it will taste mealy and ruin the texture. Too little and, well, you'll have rose-flavored slime. No one wants to eat slime, no matter how good it tastes or smells.
Okay, I'm sure some little kids out there would love it.
Back to the point. You may find you prefer another ratio, this is just the one I like for my Panna Cotta.
If there's a lot of gelatin left that doesn't look wet you can lightly dampen your fingers under the faucet and fleck water drops on top to dampen the still-dry gelatin powder. If you haven't worked with gelatin before I'll warn you now not to stir it at this point. The gelatin will just clump and become a nightmare to dissolve. Just leave it to sit and absorb the water.
You should be careful of the cream-milk mixture, you want it hot but not boiling. Once it's somewhere between like warm and hot add the sugar until it dissolves. Be sure to stir it while it's cooking so the milk and cream at the bottom don't scald. Once it's hot pour it through a small-mesh-strainer into the bowl with the gelatin and stir until the gelatin has dissolved. If you really want you can leave the bits of rose petal in the Panna Cotta, but removing them will give you a silkier end result.
Pour the finished mixture back through the same strainer into the prepared ramekins.
Store in the fridge at least 4 hours.
When serving drizzle with the black tea syrup, and feel free to garnish with extra rose petals either plain or dipped in syrup and then sugar. Most rose petals have a mild crab-apple like taste, slightly bitter, but are delicious with the syrup. (see Black Tea syrup recipe)
(Makes 4 servings)
2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
6 drops vanilla extract
2 packets gelatin
3 tbsp water
tiny pinch of salt
three red roses*
To remove petals from roses easily you can grasp the head of the rose and gently twist. The rose petals should come free. Wash the rose petals in a bowl of cool to luke-warm water, but be careful it's not too hot or the oils from the rose will release into the water.
*A note on the roses. You should use the most pungent red roses you can find. You're free to use any color rose you prefer but the stronger the scent the more that scent will come across in the finished product and that's what makes this dessert special. You should also always be careful to use organic roses. Buying roses from a garden store or a food mart it's impossible to know what they've been sprayed with. No one wants to eat pesticides. By buying organic you're ensuring no chemical pesticides have been used on the roses, and thus will avoid ingesting them. The same goes for picking roses. Always avoid anything that might have been sprayed.
Prepare four ramekins by using a paper towel, napkin, or oil mister to grease the inside of the glass. This will help make the finished Panna Cottas easier to remove. I use almond oil for this, because it's not a strong flavor and contributes to the dessert rather than overwhelms it. That's why olive oil isn't a good choice for this, but you can also use another light oil like safflower.
Combine the petals and the milk in a blender and liquefy. If you're making this with red roses (as you totally should be) it will turn a deep purple-pink color. Blend on puree or liquefy until the bits of rose are very tiny. Combine the rose milk with the heavy cream and put in a pot over medium heat. Heating the rose-milk-cream mixture to lukewarm will help bring out more of the roses' scent, especially into the cream.
In a wide bottomed bowl (or I like to use my large quart sized measuring cup) put 3 tablespoons of water. Sprinkle in 2 and a half teaspoons of gelatin over the water. This is approximately a packet and a fourth of a second packet. It's best to measure this out, as the texture of a good Panna Cotta is tricky. If it's too firm it will taste mealy and ruin the texture. Too little and, well, you'll have rose-flavored slime. No one wants to eat slime, no matter how good it tastes or smells.
Okay, I'm sure some little kids out there would love it.
Back to the point. You may find you prefer another ratio, this is just the one I like for my Panna Cotta.
If there's a lot of gelatin left that doesn't look wet you can lightly dampen your fingers under the faucet and fleck water drops on top to dampen the still-dry gelatin powder. If you haven't worked with gelatin before I'll warn you now not to stir it at this point. The gelatin will just clump and become a nightmare to dissolve. Just leave it to sit and absorb the water.
You should be careful of the cream-milk mixture, you want it hot but not boiling. Once it's somewhere between like warm and hot add the sugar until it dissolves. Be sure to stir it while it's cooking so the milk and cream at the bottom don't scald. Once it's hot pour it through a small-mesh-strainer into the bowl with the gelatin and stir until the gelatin has dissolved. If you really want you can leave the bits of rose petal in the Panna Cotta, but removing them will give you a silkier end result.
Pour the finished mixture back through the same strainer into the prepared ramekins.
Store in the fridge at least 4 hours.
When serving drizzle with the black tea syrup, and feel free to garnish with extra rose petals either plain or dipped in syrup and then sugar. Most rose petals have a mild crab-apple like taste, slightly bitter, but are delicious with the syrup. (see Black Tea syrup recipe)
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