28 January 2014

Heston: Lemon and Earl Grey Panna Cottas (@Waitrose) [By @cinabar]


It hadn’t been my intention to write about two Heston products in a row, but somehow fate stepped in and it seemed the best thing to blog about tonight. I had got a new meal kit to try out which will have to wait till friday, circumstances dictated that we ended up waiting on an emergency plumber and had the water turned off! Eek - but it is all sorted now.
Anyway, I digress. After a quickly put together tea of toasted bagels with cold meats and cheese, we thought we’d treat ourselves to a posh pudding at least, and I still had goodies from Heston to try.
These rather fancy Panna Cottas are flavoured with Early Grey tea, a favourite ingredient from Heston, and have lemon curd and a lemon crumble. The crumble is actually housed separately and looks a little like a third dessert in the pack, but is just to ensure it stays crunchy before being placed on the dessert. I feel I do have to mention the packaging, there was lots of it. A cardboard sleeve was inside the clear plastic shell cover, which was also around a black plastic base. Each of the two desserts were in plastic pots, both with plastic lids and the crumble also had its own plastic container and again a plastic lid. Thats quite a lot of materials for what is essential a pudding the size of two yoghurt pots. At least they recycle in my area!


Once we had set up the desserts they did look pretty, and the clear container did allow us to see all the layers. I thought the crumble made the dessert, it had a fresh lemon taste, and worked well with the Earl Grey Panna Cotta, the taste reminded me of putting a slice of lemon in a cup of hot tea. The Panna Cotta was super creamy, but quite soft. I’ve had them before and they have been a little firmer, but the softness worked well with the crumble giving a nice mix of textures. Once I’d worked my way down to the bottom of the pot, the lemon curd waiting there was quite full on. It had a strong zesty lemon flavour which was sweet and tangy. That too worked well with the creamy Earl Grey taste, playing on the contrast.
It was a really good fresh citrus dessert, that went down rather well after out quick tea. It is one I’d have again, as it is a nice twist on a classic pudding.
By Cinabar

No comments: