It’s St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th and whether you are Irish or not, celebrating is totally acceptable. In fact, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in more countries around the world than any other national day.
St. Patrick’s Day used to be (and still is) celebrated in Ireland to honour St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland with religious services and celebrations. But overtime, with Irish people having emigrated to many countries outside of Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is now really a celebration of Irish culture around the world.
There might even be an official celebration or parade somewhere close to your home, or an Irish pub that will run specials on the day. Off course, this year most official happenings will be cancelled so if you find out about official celebrations close to where you live, put them on your bucket list for the future.
In any case, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, wearing green, shamrocks, Irish beer and lots of Irish music are all a must.
Going one step further, many will pride themselves putting only green food on the table on March 17th.
Falling on a Wednesday this year, you might not have a lot of time on your hands preparing a fancy menu featuring lots of green food.
However, whipping up a classic Panna Cotta, the beloved Italian dessert, and add some green to it will be done in the shortest of times.
I am totally over the moon with this Panna Cotta with kiwi and sweet woodruff sauce. It adds a lovely splash of green, which makes it perfect for St. Patrick’s Day or simply to get you into a Spring-like mood.
Panna Cotta with Kiwi and Sweet Woodruff sauce
Serves 4
For the Panna Cotta
5 sheets of white gelatine
500 ml whipping cream
1.5 bags of vanilla sugar
50 g sugar
For the kiwi sauce
2 kiwi
50 ml white wine
4 tablespoons woodruff sirup
1 lime, cut into thin wheels
Method
Soak the gelatine sheets in cold water for 10 minutes.
In a saucepan over medium heat, bring whipping cream, vanilla sugar and 25 g sugar to a simmer than remove from the heat. Take the gelatine out of the water, squeeze out the excess water then add to the cream and stir until dissolved.
Fill the Panna Cotta into a large bowl or 4 small bowls. Put in the fridge and let cool for at least four hours or better overnight.
If you want to add a splash of green directly to the Panna Cotta already, add 4 to 5 tablespoons of sweet woodruff sirup directly to the mixture.
For the kiwi sauce, peal kiwis and with a hand blender, blend until obtaining a smooth puree.
Add 25 g sugar to a saucepan and let caramelize. Add white wine and the sweet woodruff sirup and let simmer until the sugar has dissolved completely. Add the kiwi puree and bring to a light boil than set aside to let cool.
Serve the Panna Cotta with the Kiwi cream garnished with some lime wheels.
Carrots and Tigers 