Sweet Corn Panna Cotta with Fresh Blueberries

-


This recipe for an amazing sweet corn panna cotta with a blueberry topping comes to you twice.  Let's talk about attempt number one.



The real name of this recipe from Food and Wine and Tracy Obolsky is Sweet Corn Panna Cotta with Blueberry Compote; however, the recipe that followed in the magazine was not for a compote at all.  It seemed more like a fresh blueberry. So I went to David Lebovitz for a rescue, and I made his blueberry compote, complete with a splash of gin.  He swears by that little hint of pine with the blueberries.  I just swear by gin. The compote was sweet with an unexpected but completely mellow earthiness.  I could eat this compote by the spoonful, and when it turned out that I had plenty left over, I almost did.  I did show some restraint and smoothed some of it onto toast the next morning.  The compote was beautiful.

However, there was one problem.

The compote was much too sweet for a corn panna cotta and you couldn't taste the corn at all.  Plus, the panna cotta was too overpoweringly sweet itself.  Everything just smacked of sugar.  Now, I love sugar as much as the next sucrose addict, but this was ridiculous.  Both the compote and the sugar in the panna cotta had to go (or at least be radically cut down).

(I didn't include the recipe for the blueberry below because it didn't work for this recipe.  However, if I make it again (and I bet I will because there are crepes and pancakes and waffles that need it), I'll link to it here).

So I tried again.



Attempt number two was much more successful.  After husking the corn (with that squeak that reminds me of summers in the Midwest.  My father would send my brother and me to the back deck to husk the corn into paper bags.  Hot, sticky, and humid, the air roared with cicadas or crickets as we watched fireflies begin blinking in the dusk.  And corn has that smell--green, sweet, summer.  Ah, corn.)--anyway, after husking the corn, I steamed it up, cut back on some of the sugar (reflected in the recipe), and renamed the recipe.  Now, it's not Blueberry Compote, but Fresh Blueberries.

The blueberries are no longer cooked, but left whole, and I removed the sugar from the blueberries and added the gin--because David Lebovitz said so.

And you'd be none the wiser if I hadn't told you that I made all these alterations, for now it's a much more delicate dessert, one worthy of sweet corn and fresh blueberries.  One worthy of the end of the summer.

If you want to see the original recipe, and to try tweaking it on your own, click the link below.  However, if you want a recipe that has been tried and verified by a Midwesterner who loves corn, follow the recipe below.  I still put the gin in the blueberries.


-------------
Sweet Corn Panna Cotta with Fresh Blueberries
Adapted from  Food and Wine

Yield:
Serves 4

Ingredients:  
Panna Cotta
2 ears of corn, husked

1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon whole milk

1 cup plus 2 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoons granulated sugar

2.5 tablespoons dark brown sugar

Blueberry topping
1 1/2 cups blueberries
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Splash of gin
Pinch of kosher salt


Instructions:
1.  For the panna cotta: In a medium pot fitted with a steamer basket, steam the corn until tender, 15 minutes. Let cool, then cut the kernels from the cobs (you should have 1 1/2 cups); discard the cobs. Transfer the kernels to a blender.

2.  Meanwhile, in a heatproof medium bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over ¼ cup of the milk. Let stand for 5 minutes.

3.  In a small skillet, combine the remaining 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of milk with the cream, salt and both sugars and bring to a bare simmer, whisking to dissolve the sugars. Scrape the hot milk mixture into the gelatin and stir until the gelatin dissolves. Pour the mixture into the blender over the corn and puree until smooth.

4.  Strain the puree through a sieve into a large bowl, pressing on the solids; discard the solids. Strain again without pressing; discard any solids in the sieve. Pour the panna cotta into four 8-ounce ramekins in an ice bath.  Cover and refrigerate overnight until firm.  (I did overnight.)

5.  For the blueberries: In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and mix. Let stand for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

6.  Serve the panna cotta in the ramekins with the blueberries.

Note:  The panna cotta can be refrigerated in the ramekins for up to 2 days. The blueberries can be refrigerated overnight.

Comments

Post a Comment

By Popular Demand

Ottolenghi's Semolina, Coconut and Marmalade Cake

-
Image
"When I stepped out into the bright sunlight, from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman, and a ride home."  This week I did two very important things: I made Ottolenghi's Semolina, Coconut and Orange Blossom Cake and I rewatched The Outsiders . These two events are not related; however, they were both delightful. Let's start with the cake, shall we? This cake is a light - in - texture - but - heavy - in - flavor take on the ubiquitous Eastern Mediterranean semolina cake. From Greece to Syria, Egypt to Turkey, this cake, well, takes the cake. Call it revani , basbousa , shamali, harisi , mix in yogurt, coconut, rose water instead of orange blossom water--no matter what, you're going to do all right.   Ottolenghi's version adds coconut and marmalade to a large dose of sunflower oil and semolina. He also serves it with a dallop of Greek yogurt freshened with orange blossom water. However, this is the kind of ...
Read more

Whole Roasted Celery Root from NOPI

-
Image
Okay.  This almost doesn't qualify as a recipe. But I'll admit, I have never made celeriac this way. Yes, it took Yotam Ottolenghi to convince me to do something simple. And perfect. I am not going to mess around here. I love celery root. I have sung its praises here , here , and here . It is not a pretty little root vegetable, but if you can get beyond its humble, knobby exterior, it smacks of the bright, freshness that one expects from celery (which is, really, just the stalk of the plant) and the nutty, earthiness of something that comes from beneath the ground. This straightforward recipe comes from Ottolenghi's latest cookbook, NOPI , a collection of restaurant-approved recipes from London's powerhouse foodie and his partner and NOPI Head Chef Ramael Scully . Yes, it's true, I am a bit of a fan-girl when it comes to Ottolenghi, and next time I am in London (whew, it has been a long time  since I was last there), you better believe I pla...
Read more

Ottolenghi's Lemon and Eggplant Risotto

-
Image
Risotto is such a delightful dish. Comforting, creamy, simple, stable.   And I am a huge fan . As in, I will make me a risotto any chance I get, with any sort of ingredient you can imagine. It doesn't matter--any season.  Spring--lemon and peas;  Summer--tomato and parmesan;  Fall--mushroom;  Winter--butternut squash and pancetta.  If it's in your fridge, you can put it in this Northern Italian rice dish. However, you will want a very specific kind of rice--a high starch, medium- or short-grain rice--in order separate this delicacy from any other rice dish. The high starch means that as you cook it, it releases its starch, making that requisite creamy smoothness to risotto. The most popular risotto rice in the United States is, hands down, Arborio rice. This short-grained rice isn't as starchy as some of its popular Italian counterparts, but it is the most easily procured. However, a...
Read more

Ottolenghi's Lamb Shawarma

-
Image
Summer. Summer. Summer. Hello Summer. How I  love you. How I am delighted to meet you again after you have been away for a year. How I have plans for us. Big plans. Most of them involve books and napping, but still big plans. Some of my plans also include cooking. So much cooking. Stay tuned for pasta dishes, peanut butter shakes, ceviche, pastry cream. It looks like's going to have fun together, Summer. One of my first plans was to make Yotam Ottolenghi's Lamb Shawarma. Shawarma is the Arabic fast food of choice that is closely related to the Greek gyro , the Turkish doner  kebab, and the Armenian tarna . It is also big on heavenly goodness and is brought to you from Jerusalem via London from the dear, sweet, culinary mind of Ottolenghi.  What a good man. From the Turkish word  çevirme , which means turning, shawarma can be made from chicken, veal, goat, lamb, even fish. We're going to focus on the lamb--which  Ottolenghi ensures will ge...
Read more

Ottolenghi's Salmon Steaks in Chraimeh Sauce

-
Image
Oh, what a sauce this is.   What a glorious, glorious sauce. And it comes from our new Jerusalem cookbook, from one of this blog's favorite chefs and current culinary darling, Yotam Ottolenghi.  I need not detail that this blog has featured recipes from Ottolenghi here and here and here and here ,  but I will anyway because, whoo boy, I love these recipes.  This sauce comes from the Sephardic Jews, who resided on the Iberian peninsula until the Spanish Inquisition.  After their expulsion from Spain in 1492, many Sephardic Jews were folded into the Mizrahi communities in Northern Africa and the Middle East.  Such intermingling of people and cultures has produced some culinary superstars; this being no exception.  Indeed, you can taste the Spanish, Moroccan, and Libyan influence on this sauce. Sephardim pride themselves on their chraimeh recipes, and often serve them at Rosh Hashanah and Passover celebrations (whereas Ashkenazim might serv...
Read more