By Laura Rancie.
It was midweek and my long anticipated dinner party with my nearest and dearest top four couple friends was coming up - party of ten, total. The ornate invitations (text messages) went out last month (last week) and with days to go, I had precisely finalised every last dish and ingredient down to the finest detail (what am I going to feed them?)
Luckily for me, working at the Australian Good Food Guide these things are never too big of a deal – after all, we have an incredible selection of up-and-coming cookbooks as well as curated recipes from Australia’s top Chefs and cooks at our immediate disposal. Even better - I have them on speed dial.
A quick call to last year's MasterChef runner-up, Rhiannon Anderson and the problem fixed.
The conversation went like this: "So Rhiannon, it’s Saturday night and you’re hosting a dinner party - what do you cook?" Her response, was an immediate: "I’m always going to cook wontons."
"Okay Rhiannon, full disclosure…I am having a dinner party this weekend and I need you to tell me what to cook.”
After briefing her on the finer details, her first response was: "You can’t go wrong with a Thai green curry and a lemongrass panna cotta for dessert.”
Having never made panna cotta I questioned her about the suggestion, to which she casually shrugged it off with: "Oh panna cotta is so easy! It’s just cream, gelatine and milk. Then you can put whatever flavouring you want in it, set it and that’s it! Done ahead of time. It’s honestly the easiest thing in the world to make.”
So here you go – our top five panna cotta recipes as featured on the AGFG recipes catalogue (there are actually 18 versions, so go ahead take a look and take your pick if these five don’t suit your fancy).
Ian Thorpe’s (yes, THAT Ian Thorpe) Vanilla Panna Cotta with Berry Coulis, because we all need a vanilla version in our base repertoire.
Goats’ Cheese Panna Cotta with Saffron Candy Apples – Chef Recipe by Jason Ludwig.
Masala Chai Panna Cotta Recipe by Urban Tadka.
Passionfruit Panna Cotta – by Trish Deseine.
Greek Yoghurt Panna Cotta by Maria O’Meagher.
