Lemon Panna Cotta Recipe from Tony's Town Square Restaurant

 
Ingredients

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Cannoli filling:
1/2 pound ricotta impastata cheese (see note)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon heavy cream
8 tablespoons confectioners sugar
Zest of 1/2 orange, chopped
Zest of 1/2 lemon, chopped
Ground chocolate

Candied zest:
Zest of 3 lemons
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
Granulated sugar for dusting

Lemon panna cotta:
1 quart heavy cream
6 ounces sugar
2 ounces fresh lemon juice
2 vanilla beans
4 ounces warm water
1/4 ounce powdered gelatin
Zest of 1/2 orange, finely chopped
Zest of 1/2 lemon, finely chopped

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Method

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For the panna cotta, he slits vanilla and scrapes off the flavorful bits inside the bean. Dissolve powdered gelatin in warm water. Add heavy cream, lemon zest, fresh lemon juice, the vanilla scrapings and sugar. Stir and let cook until it reaches 160 F. Portions the liquid into 5-ounce ceramic dishes. Chill overnight in the refrigerator.

For the cannoli filling, combine ricotta, vanilla, chopped lemon zest, chopped orange zest, heavy cream, ground cinnamon and confectioners sugar. Set in the refrigerator. When chilled, pipe mixture into pastry shells. Gently press ends into ground chocolate.

For candied zest, combine the water and sugar in a saucepan. When the sugar dissolves, add the lemon zest. Cook 5-7 minutes or until the zest is tender. Drain into a fine mesh sieve and place zest on paper toweling. Dust with sugar. Let air-dry for 1 hour.

To serve, present panna cotta with a cannoli and some of the candied lemon zest.

Yield: 8 servings.