Rhubarb and custard with an Italian twist.

During March I met up with my old English teacher and his wife and they treated me to lunch in the wonderful Purslane restaurant in Cheltenham. www.purslane-restaurant.co.uk  . All three courses were wonderful but what stood out for me was the pudding. Those who know me will now be tutting and muttering "but he always has cheese, what is going on?". They would of course be right, my default position is nearly always to finish a meal with cheese but I was very glad that I did not on this occasion. I ordered The Panna cotta with rhubarb and I have no regrets, not even a nagging worry about what they might have had on their cheese board.
Rhubarb and custard is, of course, a glorious combination and the contrast of sweet and soft with sharp and firm is, indeed, a beautiful thing. The use of Panna cotta as the custard lends a certain elegance and joy to this meeting of flavours,
It was only upon my return that I remembered where I had seen this combination before: Rick Stein's book Coast to Coast. It is with great respect to Mr Stein that I reproduce his recipe here. I am not claiming this to be my own but it is so very good that everyone needs to try this. It is also very simple. I recreated this at the weekend for the visit of my brother in law for lunch. It followed Bangers and Mash (made with my own black pudding sausages)

1 Vanilla Pod
300ml double cream
300ml milk (I used full fat)
6 tbls caster sugar
2 tsp powdered gelatine
2 tbls water
For the stewed rhubarb
350 - 400 gms young pink, thin stemmed rhubarb
100 gms light muscavado sugar
Pared zest and juice of 1/2 orange
50 ml water
Cinnamon stick (I also added a couple of thin slices of root ginger)

For the panna cotta, split open the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds. Put both the pod and the seeds into a pan with the cream, milk and sugar and simmer gently for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat. Meanwhile put the 2 tablespoons of cold water into a small pan and sprinkle over the gelatine. Set aside for five minutes then heat gently until clear.
Remove the vanilla pod from the cream and stir in the dissolved gelatine. Pour into 6 dariole moulds or ramekins, cover and chill for 3 hours or until set.
Cut the rhubarb into 1 inch lengths. Put the sugar, orange zest, orange juice, water and cinnamon stick (and ginger) into a pan and leave over a low heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil for 3 minutes. Lift out the orange zest and spices, add the rhubarb and simmer until the rhubarb is just tender. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool in its liquid.
To serve, dip the moulds in tepid water, unmould the panna cotto on to serving plates, spooning some of the rhubarb alongside.
My extra bit!
Earlier I had toasted some jumbo oats in a dry pan, these I sprinkled over the panna cotta to add some texture.
Enjoy!