WanderSups creator and MasterChef quarter finalist Hannah Gregory shares an ‘easy’ recipe inspired by Turkish Delight, a sweet that doesn’t have the happiest memories for her!
Ahhhh rose, a flavour that can divide the nation. Some think it tastes of soap and Grandma’s drawer liners, others appreciate the gentle floral aroma that instantly transports them to the Middle East. This dish perfectly balances the flavour due to the tang of the yoghurt used.
There seems to be an unwarranted fear around making panna cotta, I think it stems from the problematic gelatine, but this is honestly such an easy recipe, anyone can do it!
The dish is inspired by the famous sweet Turkish Delight – a sweet that is personally quite traumatic for me. When I was very young, at a typically opulent 90s dinner party (the parents wouldn’t stretch to a babysitter, I wasn’t a guest), my mother was tucking into a box of her favourite Turkish Delight and pulled out a crown from her tooth. As it was around Christmas time, there were no dentists open and I had to endure my mother looking like a crazy old witch for the whole festive period.
Reminiscing on this now, I’m not sure why it scarred me so much, but it did, and ever since I haven’t touched Turkish Delight. But this dessert transports me straight back to those heady rose flavours and I am safe in the knowledge that no teeth will be lost.
You’ll need to make a rose syrup, which sounds long-winded but believe me it is worth it, and I find there is something quite fun and therapeutic in steeping your own rose petals. Plus, it looks great on instagram and that’s what life is all about in 2021, right?!
This recipe will yield a bottle and you only need sparing amounts. It is absolutely glorious dashed in a glass of prosecco. You can find dried rose petals in most good supermarkets or if you really want, you can harvest your own from the garden. However, last time I did this my boyfriend – the gardener – went absolutely mental, so tread with caution when picking someone else’s plants.
My last pearl of wisdom. . . everyone knows to complete the panna cotta challenge it has to have ‘the wobble’ – the quantities in this recipe will ensure that wobble. BUT, if you reduce the amount of gelatine by a quarter you end up with what can only be described as the most wonderful grown-up Petit Filous. To all the parents and child care givers out there, do not tell me you don’t swipe your child’s PF pot before they have had a chance to clean it out. I was a nanny. I know. Well now you have your very own adult version and it is everything you ever dreamed of.
ROSE PANNA COTTA
(Serves 4)
Ingredients
For the rose syrup:
150g granulated sugar
50ml rose water
5g rose petals
1 teaspoon red food colouring as needed
For the panna cotta:
280ml double cream
100ml full fat milk
2 vanilla pods
2 gelatine sheets
3-4 tablespoons icing sugar
3 teaspoon rose syrup – or to taste
150ml thick plain yoghurt
For the rose syrup:
Put the sugar, rose water and rose petals into a saucepan with 150ml of water and bring to the boil.
As soon as it starts to boil, turn down the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.
Strain and decant into a bottle. If the syrup isn’t a deep rose colour (this can happen depending on the rose petals), add in your food colouring as needed.
Method
For the panna cotta:
Put the cream and milk into a saucepan.
Split your vanilla pods and scrape out the seeds with a knife and add to the cream and milk mixture, along with the scraped pods.
Heat the mixture gently till scalding – make sure it doesn’t boil, so keep your eye on it. It is ready as steam starts to rise and you see the surface of the mix start to bubble.
Whilst the cream mix is doing its thing, soak your gelatine leaves in cold water for about 5 minutes.
Take the cream mixture off the heat and stir in the sugar until dissolved.
Remove your gelatine sheets from the water and squeeze to get all excess water out and then whisk into the cream and milk with the rose syrup. Rose syrup is quite punchy so taste as you go here. The flavour will develop whilst it sets.
Fold in the yoghurt.
Pass the mixture through a sieve into a jug and then pour into 4 pudding moulds/ramekins/espresso mugs.
Allow to cool to room temperature and then cover with cling film and pop into the fridge to set. Make sure the cling film is resting on the surface of the panna cotta to avoid any skin.
Leave to set for at least 6 hours, ideally overnight.
If you have used pudding moulds, turn them out by dunking the mould into a bowl of water and then quickly upturn onto a plate, or use a chef’s blow torch.
Serve with rose petals if you want to look extra boujee – be warned though, they do get stuck in your teeth.
WanderSups: Food created with love, inspired by journeys around the world, dished up on home turf
Find out about Hannah’s upcoming Supper Clubs and what she is currently cooking via Instagram @WanderSups or visit wandersups.com
