Recipe: Lemon panna cotta with strawberry-rhubarb sauce by Linda Marrone

Well, it looks like spring will show up just in time for the early Spring Farmers Market. The early Spring Farmers Market will start on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot behind Due Sorella, at Musser and Curry streets, and will run through May 26. We will have five farmers this week selling everything from honey, eggs, bison, chicken, beef, spring greens, kale, carrots, asparagus, beets, onions, and strawberries. Bella Vita will be there selling its wonderful addictive chips and dips along with the Bakery Gallery from Yerington.

This early market has wonderful first of the season produce and, as always, we ‘ll have music by Ricky D and Randy Ide.

The recipe I’m going to share this week is an easy one and can be made ahead of time. I had our good friends, the O’Shaughnessys and Vances, over for dinner and they all gave this a thumbs up!

Lemon Panna Cotta with Strawberry-Rhubarb Sauce

Ingredients

1 envelope gelatin, stirred into 1 tablespoon cold water and 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup half and half

1/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions

Bring the cream and half and half with the sugar and vanilla to almost a boil, strain, then put back into your saucepan and incorporate your gelatin into this mixture. The best way to do this is to add a little of the hot cream mixture to the gelatin, then, using a whisk, mix it all together making sure the gelatin is completely dissolved. You can put this back on the heat for just a minute if need be.

Pour your mixture into six greased custard cups. I like to use walnut oil, but a plain canola will do. Let them set four hours in the fridge.

To un-mold, you can dip the cups in hot water for 30 seconds and use a small spatula to help with this.

For the sauce:

This is really just a guideline: cut your rhubarb into half-inch slices and add about an equal amount of chopped-up strawberries — I zip mine in the Cuisinart for just a minute. Put them in a saucepan with just a little water because the rhubarb and strawberries have their own, you can always add a little more if you need it.

Cook about 10 minutes, on low heat more or less, and add your sugar at the end to taste. You add the sugar at the end because this will burn in an instant if added at the beginning.

You can use this as a sauce over almost anything — ice cream comes to mind — or just eat it as is too.

Linda Marrone, a longtime Carson resident, manages the 3rd & Curry Street Farmers Market and is the director of Nevada Certified Farmers Market Association.