Rhubarb panna cotta is a delicious panna cotta option to enjoy when rhubarb is in season. The tart stems are used both as topping and as flavouring agent in the panna cotta itself.
Well-rounded and full of flavour, the thick creamy dessert is in full contrast with the brightly tart topping, that fuses sweet and sour for an explosion of flavours. If you love rhubarb desserts and haven't tried rhubarb panna cotta yet, you should definitely give this one a try.
Ingredients and equipment
- Rhubarb - best fresh, but you can use frozen.
- Sugar - I use regular white sugar as I don't want any colour involved.
- Heavy cream - the one with min 30% fat.
- Milk - just a small quantity to melt the gelatin in.
- Gelatin sheets - for thickening.
For detailed quantities, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
For this recipe you will need bowls and saucepans. I personally like to also use the microwave, but if you don't have it you can do everything on the stove. Some nice molds or cups for serving.
How to make rhubarb panna cotta
1. Slice rhubarb stalks into small pieces (1 cm), add to a saucepan with 40g of sugar, toss and set on medium heat. Cook until rhubarb falls apart, 5-6 minutes.
2. Pour 1 tablespoon of rhubarb compote into each serving mold and spread evenly on the bottom of each and every one. Set aside.
3. In another saucepan, cook the cream and sugar on medium heat until the cream is warm but not boiling. You can tell when it starts to steam, it's your clue to remove it from the heat. Stir from time to time to dissolve the sugar.
4. Aside, soak the gelatin in cold water for 5 minutes. Warm up the milk (this I do in the microwave), drain softened gelatin sheets squeezing out excess water and stir into hot milk. Pour gelatin mixture into cream mixture.
5. Add rhubarb compote leftovers to the cream mixture and blend until smooth. Due to the thready nature of rhubarb, you might need to scrape the blender and give it a second go.
6. Divide into molds pouring over the compote on the bottom. To ensure the stream of panna cotta layers on top of the rhubarb compote, I advise you to pour over a spoon. Chill in the fridge for a min of 2 hours.
Rhubarb panna cotta recipe tips!
You can use frozen rhubarb if you don't have access to fresh. Cook it from frozen, exactly as you would be doing if using fresh. If you thaw it prior, it will lose a significant amount of water. In that case you will need to add some water to cook the compote, and evaporate it until it reaches the texture you can see in the pictures above.
I have used molds that allow for easy unmolding of the dessert when flipped. This way, the rhubarb compote ends up as a topping. You can also choose to serve your panna cotta in cups, then your rhubarb compote will be on the bottom. Either way is fine.
Rhubarb season!
Whether your rhubarb plant is giving you plenty and you need recipes to use it, or you just love rhubarb so much you just can't get enough of it, here are some more rhubarb recipes for you to enjoy.
We start off with my absolute favourite, a rhubarb and strawberry crisp - sub the strawberry quota for more rhubarb if you want! Then we have a rhubarb syrup recipe, great to add to water or to make cocktails. Such as rhubarb Bellini or rhubarb G&T! Click the pictures below to access more recipes!
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Rhubarb panna cotta
Equipment
- Saucepan
- Bowls
- Cutting board
- Knife
- Microwave optional
- Hand blender
Ingredients
- 100 g rhubarb
- 85 g sugar divided
- 200 ml cream
- 50 ml milk
- 5 g gelatin sheets
Instructions
- Slice rhubarb stalks into small pieces (1 cm), add to a saucepan with 40g of sugar, toss and set on medium heat. Cook until rhubarb falls apart, 5-6 minutes. Pour 1 tablespoon of rhubarb compote into each serving mold and spread evenly on the bottom of each and every one. Set aside.
- In another saucepan, cook the cream and sugar on medium heat until the cream is warm but not boiling. Stir from time to time to dissolve the sugar. Aside, soak the gelatin in cold water for 5 minutes. Warm up the milk, drain softened gelatin sheets squeezing out excess water and stir into hot milk. Pour gelatin mixture into cream mixture.
- Add rhubarb compote leftovers to the cream mixture and blend until smooth. Divide into molds pouring over the compote on the bottom. To ensure the stream of panna cotta layers on top of the rhubarb compote, I advise you to pour over a spoon. Chill in the fridge for a min of 2 hours.
