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Liam Charles’s rhubarb and honey panna cotta terrine.
Liam Charles’s rhubarb and honey panna cotta terrine. Photograph: Yuki Sugiura/The Guardian. Food styling: Aya Nishimura
Liam Charles’s rhubarb and honey panna cotta terrine. Photograph: Yuki Sugiura/The Guardian. Food styling: Aya Nishimura

Liam Charles’ rhubarb and honey panna cotta terrine recipe

A sumptuous slab of rhubarb jelly and honey panna cotta, on an amaretti blondie base

When rhubarb is in season, you have to use it to the utmost advantage. Like in this rhubarb jelly and honey panna cotta, standing proudly on an amaretti blondie base. Oh, and make sure you get a few pictures of the terrine cut into slices – it’s the best.

Rhubarb and honey panna cotta terrine

Prep 1 hr
Cook 40 min
Serves 8-10

For the blondie base
250g unsalted butter
420g light soft brown sugar
3 large eggs
1½ tbsp vanilla extract
330g plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
200g amaretti biscuits, roughly chopped

For the jelly
500g rhubarb
4 tbsp water
100g caster sugar
4 gelatine leaves

For the panna cotta
100ml whole milk
100ml double cream
40g runny honey
Seeds from 1 vanilla pod
3 gelatine leaves
100g caster sugar
300g Greek yoghurt

For the white chocolate shards (optional)
200g white chocolate

For the French kisses
200ml double cream
2 tbsp caster sugar
½ tsp almond extract

Keep any leftover amaretti biscuits to crush and sprinkle over the top of the terrine, to finish.

Heat the oven to 170C (150C fan)/335F/gas 3½. Grease a large loaf tin and line it with clingfilm.

Make the base: heat the butter in a saucepan until it turns a deep amber. Set aside in a bowl to cool. Line a 28cm x 33cm baking tin with parchment. Mix the sugar into the butter, add the eggs one by one, then the vanilla extract, flour, baking powder and salt, then fold together. Add the amaretti biscuits, fold again, then tip the mix into the tin and smooth the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. Leave in the tin to cool completely.

Make the jelly: gently heat the rhubarb, water and sugar in a saucepan until the juice starts to turn into a syrup. Cook the rhubarb until tender, then blitz the fruit in a food processor. Pass through a sieve, then return the rhubarb to the pan.

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water, until soft. Remove, squeeze out the excess water from the gelatine, add to the rhubarb and stir. Pour into the loaf tin and in the fridge to set – I put this in the freezer first for 20 minutes before transferring to the fridge for about an hour and a half.

For the panna cotta, heat the milk and double cream in a medium-sized saucepan with the honey and seeds scraped from the vanilla pod. Bring to a gentle simmer, then set aside for a couple of minutes.

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water, until soft. Return the honey and milk mix to the heat, then add the caster sugar, stirring until just dissolved. Once the gelatine is softened, drain and stir into the milk mix. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Tip the yoghurt into a large bowl, whisk in the milk mix, pour on to the rhubarb jelly and leave to set in the fridge – about an hour and a half, but check from time to time.

Trim the blondie into a rectangle large enough to cover the terrine, then gently put on top of the almost-set panna cotta. Wrap in more clingfilm and leave to chill in the fridge.

Now’s the time to make the white chocolate shards if you’re using them. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring in between. Pour the chocolate into a baking tray and put in the fridge to set. Once set, break the chocolate slabs into triangular shards.

To make the French kisses, whip the double cream, sugar and almond extract in a bowl, then transfer to a piping bag with a nozzle attachment.

Once the terrine has set, unwrap, put a serving board on top of the tin and flip it upside down. Carefully remove the tin, peel off the clingfilm. Pipe a few French kisses on top of the jelly and arrange the chocolate shards around them. To finish, crush a handful of biscuits and sprinkle on top, if you like.

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