If I remember correctly, I made this Honey Panna Cotta, which I adapted from A16: Food + Wine, because K had mentioned to me that she wanted very much to try Panna Cotta and if I could make some for her one day! Well, I gladly obliged 🙂 [On a side note, I must say that while A16’s food blew me away – not in a fancy moleculargastronomy sense but in a comfort food I can eat everyday sense, the cookbook, I found is a little hard to follow/ tedious in its recipes. This I suppose makes my meal at A16 that much more precious 🙂 All visitors to San Fran Listen Up! A16 is a must go you hear me?]

Anyways back to the dessert, I made a no. of modifications along the way ’cause I didn’t want to spend TOO much time making buckwheat cookies, so here’s my adaptation of A16’s Honey Panna Cotta:

Honey Panna Cotta with Blueberries and Graham Crackers (adapted from A16: Food + Wine)

Ingredients

Honey Panna Cotta
2 tbsp cold water
2 tsp powdered gelatin
2 cups heavy cream
2 tbsp milk
¼ cup honey
Pinch of salt

Topping
1 punnet of blueberries (wash and drain)
1 tsp lemon juice
2 – 3 tbsp caster sugar
6 basil leaves
Black pepper to taste
6 graham crackers (crumbled)

Makes 8-10 panna cottas

Method
For Honey Panna Cotta
1. Add the gelatin to the cold water in a small bowl. Set aside.
2.  In a medium saucepan, heat the heavy cream and milk just until it simmers. Do not boil.
3. Once bubbles appear on the sides of the pan, add salt and honey and stir to dissolve.
4. Remove cream mixture from heat and stir in gelatin mixture until it dissolves.
5. Pour the mixture into jelly moulds/ muffin moulds (I used muffin trays actually :P) and cover with plastic wrap
6. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.

For Topping
1. Place blueberries, lemon juice and caster sugar in a bowl and toss just enough to coat blueberries. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour.
2. Tear basil leaves into bite-sized pieces and toss with the blueberry mixture.
3. Add graham crackers to the mixture and toss to moisten.

For Assembly
1. Remove panna cotta from moulds and place on a small plate or bowl.
2. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of topping on each panna cotta.
3. Crack/ Sprinkle some black pepper over panna cotta.
4. Serve!

Now, I was pleasantly surprised how well the basil and blueberries got along with each other. Really really interesting flavours melding together + graham crackers really do add a nice crunch with each bite. Make sure you have each ingredient in every spoon yea? I ate this with a regular spoon – don’t bother with teaspoons ok?