Don't Sweat the Aubergine

gently, and then dissolve it in the warm panna cotta mixture.)
    Allow the cream and milk to cool, and stir in the gelatine, gently but thoroughly. Pour the mixture into 6 ramekins, cover with clingfilm, and chill for at least 3 hours.
    If you want to turn out the panna cottas, grease the ramekins with a little oil first. Dipping the chilled ramekins briefly in hot water will encourage the panna cottas to contract from the sides.
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VARIATIONS
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    Dark or white chocolate panna cotta . Chop 100g chocolate into small pieces. Allow the cream/milk to cool slightly when you take it off the heat, and then stir in the chocolate until it dissolves. Or add cocoa powder – about 3 tbsp. With white chocolate , you may not need any more sugar. How much sugar you add to the dark chocolate mixture is a matter of taste – no more than 30g, I’d suggest.
    Lemon panna cotta . Add the zest and juice of a lemon ( see here ) to the cream/mixture when you take it off the hob. The extra liquid should not be enough to stop the mixture setting.
    A little fruity acidity offsets panna cotta nicely. Serve with strawberries (sliced), raspberries, blackberries, or other berries. Or try a simple blueberry compote: empty a punnet of blueberries into a saucepan, and heat with a dessertspoon of caster sugar until they burst. Chill. Serve a spoonful of compote with each panna cotta.
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WHY YOU DO IT
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    1 • Gelatine . These quantities have worked for me. But leaf gelatine in particular can vary in setting qualities. Check the packet instructions.
Fruit puddings
FRUITS IN SYRUP
    Try this ratio: 1g sugar – it doesn’t matter whether it’s caster or granulated, but remember that caster sugar will be sweeter by volume – to each 2.5ml water. So your syrup might be 100g sugar and 250ml water; put them in a pan, and bring to the boil, to dissolve the sugar. You might add the following flavourings: a cinnamon stick or pinch of cinnamon; a pinch of nutmeg; a vanilla pod or teaspoon of vanilla essence.
    You can poach any number of fruits in this syrup. For example: apricots, halved and stoned; plums, likewise; peaches; nectarines; strawberries; raspberries; blackberries; blackcurrants; any more you can think of. Put them into the pan with the hot syrup and simmer gently, until tender. Use a pan that’s wide enough to allow all the fruit to get a bath. If you need more liquid, simply add more water and sugar; but 250ml should be plenty for about 600g fruit – you don’t need to drown it, and you can use just enough syrup to come halfway up the fruit, which you turn halfway through cooking. Cover the pan; but make sure that the contents don’t boil too vigorously, or catch and burn on the bottom.
    When the fruit is tender, remove it with a slotted spoon. (Plums, turned halfway through cooking, might be ready in no more than 6 minutes. Blackberries, which should acquire a melting texture, will take longer.) Turn up the heat under the pan to reduce the liquid to a syrupy consistency. Pour it back over the fruit.
    Serve hot or cold, with cream or custard ( see here ).
Rhubarb
    It’s not a fruit, of course, but a vegetable – a leaf stalk. But we eat it sweetened, as a pudding. You can poach it, as above; but I prefer to cook it in a minimal amount of liquid. Wash the stems, and cut them into short (3cm, say) pieces. Melt enough butter in a saucepan to coat the bottom; add the damp rhubarb, and cook it, with the pan covered, over a gentle heat. The rhubarb will throw off liquid. Now you can turn up the heat a little, and add sugar. You can uncover the pan too, because you want the liquid to evaporate, and because with stirring you can give all the rhubarb access to the heat.
    Simmer until tender. Tip the rhubarb into a sieve, allowing the liquid to pour into another pan; boil the liquid to thicken it. Re-combine it with the rhubarb; check for sweetness, adding more sugar if necessary. Serve hot or cold, with cream or custard ( see here ). Or use it in a crumble (see below).
    Forced rhubarb – the slim, delicately pink stalks you get early in the year – respond particularly well to baking, which has the advantage of keeping the stalks intact. Cut the rhubarb into fork-sized pieces, place in an oven dish, scatter over the sugar, and bake at gas mark 6/200°C for 20 to 30 minutes, or until tender. Stir everything from time to time. You might include cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla essence, orange juice, or other flavourings. If you have too much