Rosehip and Honey Pannacotta – A Conspiracy Theory

Pin It When I travel, I love to taste local dishes on the grounds that if you order food in its natural environment, it is produced by people who love the dish and who know how it should taste.

Sometimes life and waiters conspire against me.

Happiness is... Rosehip and Honey Pannacotta

In the States, I have tried repeatedly to taste an authentic American cornbread. On each occasion, my order has been misheard (perhaps the Irish accent – “so charming honey”, but clearly unintelligible) or “the kitchen’s just out”.

If pannacotta was a flower it would be sweetpea

The same goes for Pannacotta. I have tried in Venice. I have tried in Verona. I have even tried several Italian restaurants in Ireland where surely they’d be used to the accent. On each occasion I have been brought a delicious dessert but not Pannacotta. Am I saying it wrong? Pah-nah-cot-ah?  PAHna COHtah? PannaCOTTa?

Straight from the hedgerows ;-)

This has happened so often that I have evolved a theory: Some people closely guard the location of their favourite restaurant in case it gets too popular... Perhaps, cornbread and Pannacotta are just too good to share.

Clearly, I am just going to have to make my own to find out.

For 6 servings you will need...

...to lightly oil 6 ramekins, cups or moulds with a flavourless oil

4 sheets of gelatine

250mls double (heavy) cream

300mls Greek yoghurt

60g runny honey

50mls rosehip syrup or cordial (undiluted)

Rosehip and Honey Dressing

2 tablespoons runny honey

1 tablespoon rosehip syrup or cordial (undiluted)

A selection of fresh berries to serve

1                    Place the gelatine in a bowl of cold water and leave it for about 5 minutes to soften.

2                    Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan heat the cream and honey together until just simmering at the edges. Remove from the heat.

3                    Drain off the water from the gelatine and squeeze out any excess. Replace in the empty bowl and add a little of the hot cream mixture. Stir together until the gelatine has dissolved completely. Pour the gelatine mixture into the saucepan and stir to disperse it through the liquid. Add in the Greek yoghurt and stir the mixture with a whisk until the yoghurt has blended smoothly into the liquid. Don’t go too crazy with the whisk. You don’t want to incorporate loads of bubbles into the mixture.

4                    Finally, stir in the rosehip cordial or syrup until dispersed through the mixture. Divide between the oiled containers. Cover with cling film and refrigerate until set (at least 6 hours – or overnight if possible).

5                    Just before serving, make the Rosehip and Honey Dressing by mixing together the honey and syrup/cordial until combined.

6                    To remove the Pannacotta from each container, sit them briefly into hot water until they loosen at the edges, then cover with a serving plate and flip over. If Murphy’s Law doesn’t come into play, you’ll end up with a perfect Pannacotta ready to be surrounded by fresh berries and drizzled with Rosehip and Honey Dressing.

Make it the day before for a super-easy delightful dessert

(If Murphy’s Law does come into play, or you get distracted, it could end up on the floor...)

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Lemon, Honey and Basil Ice Cream - it'd be a crime to miss it !

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Some years ago a very pleasant trip to visit a friend in France took a rather strange twist that involved a very unique (and ever so slightly stolen) car, being fingerprinted by French police (who also offered great advice on where to dine in the vicinity), and a lemon. Long story.  I’ll tell you when you come round to visit.

I was given the lemon, as a souvenir of this strange adventure, which I took back to Ireland and made into ice cream. It was the first ice cream I ever made and was a convoluted process. Was it the most exciting ice cream I’ve ever tasted? No. But it served to send me on a quest for a lemony ice cream that would create for my taste buds a little of the excitement of that trip, and here it is.

Strictly speaking, this is a frozen yoghurt but because it is Greek yoghurt it is every bit as satisfyingly creamy as an ice cream. It is also dead easy to make. With such a high juice content, you really do need an ice cream maker for this. Note: This ice cream is for grown-ups.

For 4 - 6 servings you will need...
... an ice cream maker

Zest of 2 lemons, grated

Zest of 1 orange, grated

175mls fresh lemon juice

75mls fresh orange juice

10g fresh basil leaves

140g runny honey

550g Greek yoghurt

¼ teaspoon sea salt 

1                    Place everything except the Greek yoghurt in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Immediately remove from the heat and leave to cool. Strain to remove the zest and basil leaves. Leave to cool, then chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

2                    When chilled, mix with the Greek yoghurt and salt and churn in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. When the mixture has thickened to ice cream, transfer it to a freezer container and place in the freezer for 24 hours. Although it is ready to eat straight away, the flavours develop further if you can bear to wait until the following day. Before serving, allow to soften in the fridge for 20-25 minutes.

Taste-tester verdict: "Gasp!" but in a good way. 

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Rhubarb and Strawberry Popsicles - a sophi-stick-ated Summer treat !

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Sophi-stick-ated !

It’s been over a hundred years since the 11-year-old Frank Epperson went to bed, leaving a soda on his porch (so the story goes). After a freezing night, he reclaimed his drink, which had frozen around a stir stick left in the glass. I don’t imagine the soda remained untouched by the local fauna overnight and I guess if he’d looked closely he would probably have seen one or two drowned insects trapped in the world’s first recorded ice pop.

In 1923, Frank patented this frozen treat (insects not included!), calling it the “Epsicle”. His kids had a better name for it and it’s been the “Popsicle” ever since - that’s Ice Pop or Ice Lol(ly) to you and me depending on what part of the country you are from.  Anyway, whatever you call it, Summer just wouldn’t be the same without flavoured ice on a stick.

Over the years, I have gone through various unsophisticated favourites: the luridly lime-y Loop the Loop, the Iceberger, the Wibbly Wobbly Wonder, Solero, and Magnum but I have less of a sweet tooth now.

Sweetened poached fruit combined with Greek yoghurt makes a creamy but relatively healthy (and sophi-stick-ated) alternative. 

Ice pop molds are available in most supermarkets and kitchen stores at this time of year.

For 12 – 16 popsicles (depending on the size of mold) you will need…

600g rhubarb, washed and cut into chunks

200g strawberries, sliced

3 tablespoons unsweetened apple juice (or water)

200g honey (or sugar)

500g Greek yoghurt

a few sliced strawberries to decorate

Put the fruit in a medium saucepan with the apple juice or water. Place over a medium heat, and cover. As it cooks, the rhubarb will release a lot of juice, which will provide enough liquid to poach the fruit.

When the fruit is soft (after approximately 15 minutes), remove from the heat. Add the honey (or sugar) and taste. (I don’t have a very sweet tooth but you may prefer a sweeter mix. If so add more honey or sugar to your own taste.)

Place the fruit in a sieve over a bowl and leave to cool, catching any excess fruit syrup in the bowl.

Next, place the yoghurt in a bowl and stir the cooled fruit through. (It is delicious just like this, served up with a little fruit syrup drizzled over.)


Line popsicle molds with slices of strawberris and drizzle over a little of the syrup to form a thin outside layer on one side of the popsicle. (If you are using upright molds, this won’t be possible so just mix some chopped strawberries through the yoghurt before freezing.) Place in the freezer until the thin layer of syrup has frozen. Spoon the yoghurt mixture into the molds, insert popsicle sticks and freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.

You will have some fruit syrup left over. This will store in the fridge for up to a week and is delicious mixed with sparkling water or dry cava.

Taste-tester verdicts

Sister: “Mmmm! Very refreshing.”

Niece (2½): “Euugh! I don’ like it!”

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Strawberry and Rose Petal Ice Cream – practically Italian!

Pin It I cannot resist a car boot sale ... ‘one woman’s junk is another woman’s treasure’ and all that. 

Take time to stop and smell eat the roses!

My pasta maker came from a car boot sale. It was in mint condition. I figured that by the time I’d rolled out a few yards of fettucini, I’d be practically Italian.  Then I discovered that soft Irish flour - so fantastic for bread and cakes - is rubbish for making pasta. I packed the pasta maker back into its box and brought it to a charity shop.

My coffee machine came from a car boot sale. It looked brand new. I am a tea drinker, but I fancied myself a barista. I could turn out a few foaming cappuccini or a couple of gallons of espresso, and hey presto, I’d be practically Italian. One teeny problem... there were no instructions. I muddled through and drank a lot of coffee. That week I was WIDE AWAKE. Then I left the cap on the steamer and blew the damn thing up. Do you know how hard it is to remove damp coffee grinds from the ceiling?!

A spoonful of sugar does wonders for strawberries

I was so proud of myself when I managed to walk past a bloke selling an ice cream maker. Sitting innocently in the centre of his stall, it wore a price tag - €2. “It must be broken,” I thought. “I’m not taking that gorgeous retro Gelatiera home.” Later, as I was leaving, the man called me over. He’d seen me eyeing the ice cream maker. He assured me it was working.  “Tell you what,” he said, “I’d murder a coffee but I can’t leave my stall. Get me a coffee and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

I use the simplest of ingredients but if you tasted the magical ice creams this funny little machine is capable of churning out, you’d think I was practically Italian.

Strawberry and Rose Petal ice cream is my latest experiment. Because it is made from Greek yoghurt, fresh fruit and honey, it can be considered breakfast! ;-)

Rose Water adds a delicate floral note to this ice cream

For 4 - 6 servings you will need...

250g fresh strawberries, quartered
1 tablespoon caster sugar
550g Greek yoghurt
120g runny honey
10g fresh fragrant red or pink rose petals, unsprayed
3 tablespoons rose water

1                  Sprinkle the caster sugar over the quartered strawberries and set aside for about 30 minutes. Then purée 200g of the strawberries and pass the purée through a sieve to remove the seeds.

2                  Place the yoghurt, strawberry purée, honey and rosewater in your ice cream maker and churn until thick and smooth – about 30 minutes or so though this will vary according to the make and model you use. (If you don’t have an ice cream maker, mix the ingredients well and place in a freezer proof container. Stir well every 30 minutes to break up any large ice crystals. Repeat until the ice cream is smooth and thick.)

3                 Chop the remaining strawberries into small pieces.

4                 Wash the rose petals and pat dry with kitchen paper. Snip off and discard the white portion of each petal (the part where it joined the stem) and tear roughly into pieces. Fold the strawberries and rose petals into the ice cream and transfer to a freezer container. Cover and freeze until required. Ice cream matures so while this is ready to eat straight away, it is even better if you leave it overnight.

Ahh days of wine and roses...

Tip: Remove from the freezer a few minutes before serving to allow it to soften.

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