I bet you thought I’d forgotten all about Cooking the Boot, didn’t you?

Well, I have been cooking quite a bit of regional Italian food, I’ve just been very lazy about blogging about it. Very lazy indeed.

Panna cotta, literally “cooked cream”, is generally accepted to hail from Piedmont in northern Italy. Traditionally it is flavoured with peach eau-de-vie (according to Anna del Conte), but there are numerous modern variants flavoured with just about anything you can think of! From Chestnut Honey Panna Cotta, to Green Yea and Vanilla Panna Cotta, and Gordon Ramsay’s very unusual Pannacotta with Tomato Confit… see what I mean?

I usually stick to vanilla beans or cinnamon sticks as flavourings for my panna cotta, but this saffron panna cotta caught my eye when I was surfing the Babbo site earlier this year. Of course, it helped that my fridge was stuffed full of bright pink rhubarb at the time.

The panna cotta was just set and wobbled softly on the plate, as though it was about to melt and collapse. Perfect. I must admit that I’m not a huge fan of saffron in desserts, so next time round I’d probably flavour the panna cotta with a dash of liqueur and keep the marmelleta exactly the same. Now… the marmellata. That was completely and utterly gorgeous. So simple and so good. Marmellata is just the Italian for jam and indeed you could happily spoon some lovely soft-set jam over your panna cotta and be deliciously content.

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In other news, last week I was honoured to receive the Yummy Blog Award! Thank-you so much. Srimathi from Few Minute Wonders for nominating me. The Yummy Blog award was started by Roopa.

“Yummy blog award is the award given to the blog with most yummy recipes/photos”

Rules for the ‘Yummy Blog’ award receiver:

The person who receives the award should display the “Yummy Blog !” logo on their blog and also the meaning of the award which is “Yummy blog award is the award given to the blog with most yummy recipes/photos”.

The receiver should also quote their favourite yummy-licious dessert(s) that they have ever prepared/eaten and pass on this award to at least 4 blogs which the receiver considers yummy.

Well, I’ve eaten a lot of desserts in my time and made quite a few, too, so this is going to be hard!

1. Bacon and eggs at The Fat Duck. This would always rank highly, purely for the sheer humour of the dish, but as it also tastes wonderful it is my #1.
2. Ethereal Pear Charlotte. This was a fair amount of work, but the result was stunning!
3. Although I haven’t made these in a few years, I have very fond memories of Pierre Herme’s chocolate macarons.
4. Last, but by no means least: Banana Praline Parfait. The absolute best banana dessert ever!

And now I would like to nominate the following yummy blogs!

1. Not Quite Nigella
2. Katie at Apple and Spice
3. Jeanne at Cook Sister!
4. Tartlette!

Saffron Panna Cotta with Rhubarb Marmellata

Makes 4-6, depending on the size of cup or glass you use.

For the Saffron Panna Cotta:

5 sheets gelatin
3 1/3 cups heavy cream
¾ cup sugar
zest of 1 lemon
½ tsp. saffron threads
1 cup milk

Place gelatin sheets in cold water to soften and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, place cream, sugar, lemon zest and saffron threads.

Bring mixture to a boil, stirring gently, then remove from heat; let rest for 10 minutes to develop flavor and color.

Remove softened gelatin from cold water and squeeze out excess water. Stir gelatin into cream mixture until completely dissolved. Strain the cream through a fine-meshed sieve or chinois, then stir in milk.

Pour into chilled dessert cups or wine glasses and chill until set.

To serve, unmold each panna cotta onto a plate and spoon a bit of the rhubarb over the top and alongside.

For the Rhubarb Marmellata:

½ cup granulated sugar
3 rhubarb stalks, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

In a small saucepan, stir together the sliced rhubarb and the sugar. With the tip of the paring knife, scrape the insides of 1 vanilla bean into the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the rhubarb is soft, about 15 minutes. Cool completely.