The LBD of sweet treats

Panna cotta- the epitome of a classic dessert. The LBD of sweet treats. The glory of Italian deliciousness. Elegant and versatile- paint it with any colour, everything matches with it's innocent angel like white allure. Could it be one of the most beloved culinary delights in the world?
Inject some citrus energy into it, and you've got an orange-clementine panna cotta ready to be devoured. Even though such a thing has no place in my detox plan (eheeem)... but I just could'nt resist!

Actually, can you believe it- this is probably only the second time in my life that I've made panna cotta. I know that I've made it before back in university, but I wasn't such a big fan of it then, which led me to pay almost no attention to how it's prepared. Gees, I can't believe that I actually did not pay attention to how a panna cotta is fabricated! That's like a kitchen-crime!

Well, to catch up, here is my panna cotta which I now realize is probably one of the easiest desserts to make in the world- and plus, is always a crowd pleaser. Could it be anymore perfect, may I ask?

For the photos, I had fun peeling off clementine twirls, and figuring out how to wrap it around the glass...even though it did take many trials until I got something decent looking. I'm wondering if I should start a series of desserts that include fruit ingredients, and photograph them as if they were bursting out of the fruit itself... I guess I'll get to it one day. Maybe I need to work on how to make proper use of lighting first. Sigh. Sometimes I wish I had some ultra professional studio and tons of equipment to help me take better photos... but all I have for the moment is a secret corner I found in my kitchen, and patience to wait for the right moment of the day when the natural light seems to work best.

Anyhow, as I'm extremely tired and soon I'll probably be writing complete jibberish, I better cut this short and save energy to write the recipe.

Oh by the way, I also changed my blog's layout and colour scheme. Ditched the dominant dark brown look- was never really too comfortable with it! I hope my blog looks nicer now :-)

Recipe for orange-clementine panna cotta:

Ingredients:

• 400ml liquid cream


• 200ml milk


• Sugar (optional - I didn't use any)


• 3 gelatin sheets (each sheet being 2gr)


• Orange coulis


• Clementines
  
• Sugar

How to make it:

1. Place the gelatin sheets in a bowl of cold water for about 5 mins- until they become all soft and gooey.


2. In the meantine, heat the cream and the milk (and sugar-optional) in a pan. Do not let it boil however!!
   
3. When it's liquid is hot, pull out the gelatin sheets (that have been drained) and place them in the hot liquid. With a wooden spoon, mix well until gelatin has dissolved completely. Let liquid cool just a bit.


4. Rinse your panna cotta glasses with cold water- do not try them. Then pour in each the liquid mix, and then place in fridge for at least 4 hours until panna cotta sets.


5. When ready, dice some clementine slices and slightly caramelize them in a hot pan with sugar. Add in the orange coulis, and mix all together to obtain a somewhat "chunky" coulis. Drizzle over panna cotta, and enjoy!

LBD dress from http://www.fancyephemera.com/