MANHATTAN CREAMS WITH CITRUS CARAMEL

Oh, there are so many puddings that say ‘New York’! In the end, I settled on this. It has the flavours of a Manhattan – bourbon, sweet vermouth and a dash of Angostura bitters – captured in a panna cotta. If you prefer, you can use oranges or blood oranges instead of grapefruit.

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 20 minutes, plus chilling

Cooking time: 10 minutes

For the cream:

3 gelatine leaves (about 6g) ●● 150ml whole milk ●●

300ml double cream ●●

80g caster sugar ●●

Squeeze of lemon juice ●●

2tbsp plus 1tsp bourbon ●●

1tbsp sweet white vermouth ●● Good dash of Angostura bitters ●● 1 large red grapefruit ●●

For the citrus caramel:

200ml pink grapefruit juice ●● 3tbsp lemon juice ●●

100g caster sugar ●● 1 Soak gelatine leaves in cold water for about 10min, to soften. Pour milk, cream and sugar into a heavybased saucepan; place over a low heat, stirring a little to help the sugar dissolve. Remove from the heat and leave to cool until hand-warm.

2 Lift the gelatine leaves from the water and squeeze out excess liquid. Stir into the milk and cream mixture. If the mixture is too hot it will affect the gelatine’s setting properties; if it is too cold the gelatine won’t dissolve.

3 Add the lemon juice, bourbon, vermouth and bitters. Pour into 4 125ml-capacity metal moulds; leave to cool. Set in a roasting tin, cover with cling film; chill to set for 4-6 hours.

4 For the citrus caramel, mix the grapefruit and lemon juices together. Put sugar in a heavy-based saucepan with 5tbsp water. Set over a medium heat and cook, gently tipping the pan every so often, until the sugar has dissolved. Increase heat to high and cook until caramelised (be careful, it goes from caramelised to burnt very quickly). Tip the pan as the sugar caramelises around the edges, to spread the caramelisation. Quickly add the citrus juices; stand well back (the caramel will bubble and spit).

Stir and boil for 2min; remove from the heat. Leave to cool completely.

5 Trim the top and bottom of the grapefruit (it will now have a base on which to sit). Working from top to bottom, turning the grapefruit round as you go, remove the peel and pith (use a small, sharp knife) in broad strips. Slide a small knife with a fine blade between the flesh and membrane and ease each segment out. Keep the segments as neat as possible. You should end up with 12 neat segments, 3 for each person.

6 To serve, dip the base of each mould into just-boiled water for a few seconds, then invert on to a plate, give the cream a shake and allow it to slip out. Spoon some of the citrus caramel around each cream and add the grapefruit segments.