Vanilla Yogurt Panna Cotta, and a Giveaway

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a big fan of Greek yogurt. We were going through containers of Fage yogurt at an alarming rate, so much so that I said to myself “stop the madness!” and began making my own yogurt. Which, to date, has been a very satisfying and delicious endeavor, but sometimes I do miss the thick, stand-a-spoon-in-it creaminess and texture of Greek yogurt.

But, happy days, someone from Stonyfield Farm contacted me the other day to ask if I’d be interested in sampling some of their new organic Greek yogurt, called Oikos. Of course! And it’s really very good: deliciously creamy, thick, and it comes in two sizes — 16 oz tubs of the plain variety (which is what I always buy) and smaller individual cups with fruit or honey on the bottom. And as much as I love the creaminess and texture, the fact that it’s made with organic milk just gilds the lily.

In addition to eating the yogurt with fruit and granola, blending it into a dip with spinach and garlic, and making fruit smoothies, I also took advantage of the yogurt’s creamy thickness to use in a vanilla panna cotta. Panna cottas are unbelievably easy to make (David Lebovitz just had a nice primer on how to make the perfect panna cotta) and lusciously light on the tongue…I like to make them year round, serving them with seasonal fruit. Since berries won’t be in season here until May or June (arrrrgh! it can’t come soon enough!), I decided to make a honeyed pomegranate syrup to spoon over the panna cottas. The sauce is tangy, a little sweet, and a great foil for the vanilla-bean infused panna cotta.

And here’s the giveaway: the folks at Stonyfield Farm have offered an Oikos coupon package and other goodies for one lucky reader! So if you’d like to try some, go ahead and leave a comment and let me know: have you ever tried Greek yogurt? If so, what’s your favorite way to eat it? I’ll leave the comments open until midnight on Sunday, and will choose and announce the winner using the random number generator on Monday. Good luck!

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Vanilla Yogurt Panna Cotta

Adapted from Food and Wine

view printable recipe

Ingredients
1 envelope unflavored gelatin (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons cold water
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
One 16-ounce tub of Greek yogurt

Directions
Place cold water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over; let it stand until softened for about 5 minutes.

In a small saucepan, bring the cream, sugar, and vanilla bean and seeds to a simmer. Turn off the heat and stir in the gelatin; keep stirring until the gelatin is fully melted.

Whisk the yogurt in a large bowl until smooth, then gradually whisk in the vanilla cream. Divide the mixture among six 1/2 cup ramekins. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, until set.

To serve, run a knife around the inside of each ramekin. Set a plate on each ramekin and invert each panna cotta onto a plate; you may have to tap and shake the ramekins to loosen the panna cottas.

Makes 6 panna cottas.

Honeyed Pomegranate Syrup

Ingredients
16 ounces pomegranate juice, such as POM Wonderful
2 tablespoons honey

Directions

Combine pomegranate juice and honey in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and continue simmering over medium high heat until the mixture has reduced and thickened slightly into a syrup. Cool and refrigerate in an airtight container.