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| The Rhubarb patch today (10/03/24) |
Roobarb and Custard was a cartoon shown from 1974 about a green dog and a pink cat who lived next door and had silly, 5 minute adventures just before the news at 6 pm. I was voiced by the late Richard Briers and was a cherished part of my childhood. Rhubarb, with its merciless sourness has long been paired with ingredients that calm its sharpness: simple sugar, cream and, of course, custard. The combination of rhubarb and custard is clearly a timeless classic and the following recipe is really a version of this glorious combination.
The first plant to go into our tine garden was a rhubarb crown. We planted more out of curiosity than expectation but since then we have had to lift and split the crown four or five times and it has produced enough stalks to completely fulfil our need and leave us with loads to share. The offspring of our crown are now scattered all over the Bucks / Oxon border.
There are hundreds of recipes for Panna Cota so, over the years I have honed mine down to the following. In short, find a recipe that works for you.
Panna Cota (serves 8)
- 7 or 8 gms of leaf gelatine
- 700 to 750 ml double cream (adjust as to fat content. See note)
- 150 to 200 ml full fat milk (match so that liquid is 900 ml)
- 1 vanilla pod
- 200 to 250 gms white caster sugar (to taste)
Take the pan off the heat and, having squeezed all the water out, add the gelatine; stirring to dissolve. share the liquid between 7 or 8 small moulds (ramekins work well here). Pop these in the fridge for 3 hours or longer.
Just before serving, put the moulds in a frying pan with an inch or two of warm water for just a minute. Invert the Panna Cota onto a plate and serve with the rhubarb.
Poached Rhubarb
- 3 sticks of Rhubarb
- Sugar to taste
Cut two sticks of raw rhubarb into 2 inch slices, keep any off cuts. Bring a small pan, half filled with water to the boil and add the sugar to dissolve. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add your neat pieces of rhubarb to poach. This will take 5 to 8 minutes depending on thickness. Remove the rhubarb from the water and set aside to cool. Chop the spare stick reasonably finely and add, with the reserved off cuts, to the liquid boil gently for 15 minutes. Strain of the liquid, discard the rhubarb (or serve it over porridge the following morning). Set the liquid aside to cool.
Serve The Panna Cota with a few of the poached pieces of Rhubarb and the poaching juices.
The Match
Strawberries and Rhubarb are often paired together in pudding and jams. The boisterous sweetness of strawberries balancing the savage sourness of the rhubarb. Cucumber is a cool calming flavour with both subtlety and gentleness. But it is also worth remembering that a huge part of this dish's charm is the shock of the sour!
The beer is made by Brick Brewery in South East London and sold through Marks and Spencer. They specialise in sour beers. These are made in various different ways, in this case by the addition of Lactobacillus during the brewing process. This one also has Strawberry purre and Cucumber juice added.
The beer tasted a bit like fizzy sweets and, strangely, a little like watermelon. However, many of the flavours worked really well together and the acidity levels did not prove to be overpowering. The Strawberry and Rhubarb balanced each other very nicely with the cucumber offering it's balm in the background. There was a hint of malty flavours, though very much in the background, which made me think that a sprinkling of toasted oats would lift the dish to another level.
Note. Not all double cream is created equal. Super market creams will contain less fat than those bought at the farm gate. Cream from Jersey or Guernsey cows will be more full of fat and probably have a more yellow hue. I used cream from the lovely Lacey's farm. Their double cream is so thick that it needs persuading out of the bottle, hence the need for a little more thinning.
