Quick & Easy Grapefruit Cheat ‘Panna Cotta’
I am all about quick and easy desserts! I prefer savoury to sweet, which means all my energy goes into creating delicious starters and mains with little energy left to think and make desserts. Who can relate?
Instagram Cooking Video here
The lovely folks at Those Who Harvest delivered beautiful organic grapefruits and I made a lovely Grapefruit, Ginger and Lemongrass Cordial and THIS super easy dreamy dessert also called a posset.
You can easily swap the grapefruit for lemons or passion fruit, ideally you want a fruit that is sharp and sweet.
If I have to choose a dessert, it will be a panna cotta, it’s the smooth creamy texture that gets me. Panna cotta is an Italian classic dessert which is set with gelatine, in all honesty, I find the idea of cooking with gelatine a bit ‘faffy”.
A posset is basically a panna cotta without the ‘faff’
Why you should make a posset:
- a posset is made using only 3, yes THREE ingredients! Sugar, cream and fruit juice.
- a posset is flexible, you can use A N Y fruit – lemons, blood oranges or even grenadilla would work well.
- a posset is quick, simply simmer the cream and sugar, add the juice and leave to rest in the fridge, that is it!
A note on dairy:
Dairy cows can live miserable lives but we can change this by supporting small micro diary farms where the cows live on pasture and are treated with respect. Smaller really does mean better. The cream is from a farm called Camphill on the West Coast in Western Cape and I buy it online at Wild Organics.
Topping ideas:
It’s always a good idea to add some crunchy things to a smooth creamy desserts. Think meringue, crushed biscuits or crunchy nuts.
Quick & Easy Grapefruit Posset
Ingredients
- 3 Grapefruits
- 500 ml single cream
- 150 g caster sugar - a little more for caramelised segments
- a little bit of tarragon (opt)
Sesame Brittle
- 60 g sesame seeds
- 100 g caster sugar
- pinch sea salt
Instructions
- Grate the zest from 1 grapefruit and squeeze the juice, you will need 90ml in total, juice another grapefruit if needed.
- Juice and segment the remaining grapefruits, avoiding any white pith, set aside to make the topping.
- For the posset: Put the cream, caster sugar and grapefruit zest in a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer, stir until the sugar has melted, turn up the heat and let the mixture bubble for 3 minutes, no longer, stirring from time to time.
- Remove from the heat, let it cool for a few minutes and stir in the grapefruit juice.
- Pour into 6 small or 4 medium glasses or cups and leave to cool, then pop in the fridge for 3-4 hours to set. The time it will take to set will really depend on the depth of the glasses, smaller amount of 'custard' will set quicker than 'full to the brim' glasses etc.
- For the sesame brittle, line a small baking tray with baking paper (not wax!). In a large frying pan, on a medium heat, scatter the sesame seeds and toast until lightly golden, add the sugar in an even layer to the pan.
- Gently melt the sugar, swirling the pan to encourage an even dissolve until the sugar forms a golden liquid, resisting the urge to manually stir the mixture. Quickly pour the liquid caramel onto the greaseproof paper and sprinkle the sea salt as evenly as possible, leave to set. Break into shards.
- PS: If your sugar is melting in lumps and not evenly, that is also 100%, your brittle will be more, clumpy (as my pic).
- To make the caramelised grapefruit segments, add a few tablespoons grapefruit juice to a pan add a few tablespoons sugar and bring to a quick boil, gently add the grapefruit segments (they will fall apart and that's okay) and swirl in the sugary deliciousness, adding some tarragon if you have. Set aside to cool.
- When you are ready to serve and the possets are set, place a few segments on each posset and a shard of brittle before finally drizzling a little pan syrup over each posset. Enjoy!