Sweet, Green! Make This Butter Lettuce Panna Cotta
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Portland chef Jenn Louis' cookbook is one of our favorite collections of vegetable recipes in recent memory. Packed to the gills with all the information you could ever need to up your leafy greens intake, The Book of Greens is a must-own for lovers of kale and everything kale-like under the sun. This butter lettuce panna cotta is a sweet, green way to switch up dessert!
Dessert is probably the best way to eat your greens. The herbaceousness of butter lettuce lends itself perfectly to panna cotta. There is a gentle bitterness that cottons to the fat in the cream here. Then here come the strawberries and their bright sweetness. A finish of olive oil, and this truly wows. Use the outer leaves for this recipe. They are often larger, and they are not as pretty on salads. The inner leaves are a little bit more gentle and often don't have quite the flavor.
Note: To substitute plain gelatin powder, replace the gelatin sheets with 1 1⁄2 teaspoons plain gelatin powder softened in 1 tablespoon water for about 5 minutes. Whisk the softened gelatin and soaking water into the cream.
- 3 1/2 sheets gelatin
- 4 cups heavy cream
- 2 sage leaves
- 4 strips lemon zest
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 6 ounces red or green butter lettuce leaves
- 18 strawberries
- olive oil
- Put the gelatin in a small bowl, cover with cool water, and set aside.
- Combine the cream, sage, lemon zest, and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and warm just until it starts to simmer. Turn off the heat and allow the flavors to infuse for 5 minutes.
- Then using a tablespoon or fork, remove the lemon zest from the pan and puree the lettuce leaves into the cream using an immersion blender or regular blender.
- Remove gelatin sheets from water, squeeze water from the sheets, then whisk the gelatin into the cream. Strain the mixture though a fine-mesh sieve and pour into twelve ramekins (3 1⁄4 ounces). Chill until set, about 8 hours.
- Unmold by running a knife around sides of molds and invert onto plates. Decorate the tops of panna cottas with strawberries and drizzle with olive oil.