The theme for a recent Gourmet Dinner Club (GDC) was ‘March Madness.’ I interpreted this as needing to have a surprise ingredient. So I was excited when I came across this recipe.

Traditional Italian panna cotta is made with a combination of heavy cream, light cream and/or milk along with gelatin and sugar. This recipe calls for not one but two surprise ingredients: yogurt (in place of the light cream or milk) and extra-virgin olive oil.

I recommend making this at least a day in advance (it can even be made two days in advance) so that the different flavors can marry. Flavors include sweet (sugar and vanilla), a bit of sour (yogurt), fruity (extra-virgin olive oil) and tart (marmalade). When I first tasted the finished product, the extra-virgin olive oil was the strongest but as it sat the flavors came together and the result was a creamy and flavorful dessert.

I used small (8-ounce) Mason jars for this dessert so that I could easily take them to our GDC dinner. If you’re not traveling, you can use 6-ounce ramekins.  

While I topped this with orange-tangerine marmalade and pistachios, you could use any kind of jam-nut combination or fresh summer berries.

Gluten-Free/Wheat-Free Option:  If you’re gluten-free/wheat-free, I’d recommend looking for an unflavored gelatin that is marked as such. While Knox is likely safe, it’s not labeled gluten-free.

Yogurt Panna Cotta

 

Yogurt Panna Cotta

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Course Dessert
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • One 1/4-ounce envelope unflavored gelatin
  • 1-1/2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 vanilla bean split lengthwise and seeds scraped
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup flavorful extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 cups plain whole-milk Greek yogurt
  • 4 tablespoons orange marmalade
  • 1/3 cup shelled unsalted pistachios coarsely chopped
  • Flaky sea salt such as Maldon

Instructions
 

  • In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1/4 cup cold water – let stand until softened, about 5 minutes.
  • While gelatin is softening, in a small saucepan, bring cream and vanilla bean and seeds to a simmer. Cook over moderately low heat for 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat and whisk in gelatin mixture.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk sugar with olive oil until combined. Whisk in yogurt until smooth.
  • Remove vanilla bean from vanilla cream mixture. Gradually whisk vanilla cream into the yogurt mixture.
  • Pour mixture into six 6-ounce ramekins (or 8-ounce Mason jars) and refrigerate until set, at least 3 hours and up to 2 days.
  • Before serving, divide marmalade and pistachios between each panna cotta. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Notes

* You can also make these in 8-ounce Mason jars (fill about three quarters full). This makes it easy to travel with them.
* Any kind of good quality marmalade will work – I’ve used an orange-tangerine marmalade.
Yogurt Panna Cotta

 

Source:  Variation on recipe from Food & Wine