Buttermilk Panna Cotta
with Black Cherry Compote

I love all things Alice Medrich and so this Buttermilk Panna Cotta didn’t convince me of anything I already didn’t know. She has been a superstar in my book for years. These days I come to think of Alice as if she is my own personal culinary secret weapon when it comes to menu planning. Her recipes are always simple to make, use easily available ingredients (and never too many) and they are always well tested and dependable even though she is definitely not the editor of Vogue Magazine.  It takes a whole lot of skill to put together an entire book full of winners as she has clearly done in “Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts” the book that inspired this Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Black Cherry Compote recipe you see before you. (Her tweed tort from the same book was featured here earlier this year – also an easy to make winner.)

Alice Medrich first showed up on my radar several years ago while I was surfing online looking for a classic brownie recipe. I ran across her now iconic brownie recipe (made entirely from cocoa powder –as opposed to melted bakers chocolate) and decided to give it a go.  She titled the recipe “Best Cocoa Brownie” and although I am always a bit of a natural skeptic when superlatives are being thrown, around I was willing to give the recipe a shot based on the sheer number of adoring bloggers who had tried and featured the recipe.

The brownies were fantastic and I’ve been in love with this Medrich woman ever since.   Her brownie recipe is all of perfect and easily lends itself to all manner of simple adaptations not the least of which was my own spicy hot Salted Mayan Almond Brownie recipe. Last year even she got in the adaptation act and modified her own recipe by simply browning the butter and taking something already perfect to new heights. This simple tweak is classic Alice and teaches us that even with recipes that have only a half dozen ingredients the simplest device can reinvent it.  I’m in awe of cooks who can do this so effortlessly.

In many ways I believe this brownie recipe became something of a template for the many wonderful treats Alice has graciously shared over the years since. And while her expertise will always be forever associated with chocolate in our brains (the name of her famous pastry shop in Berkely was called “Chocolat” after all), her non-chocolate recipes are just as seductive and just as dependable.

And infinitely adaptable to suit your particular style.

Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Black Cherry Compote

I’m always looking for ways to use up “the rest of the buttermilk” the delicious, delicate tang and silky texture of this panna cotta make it a perfect foil for just about any fruit you have on hand. So even though black cherries will be taking their time before making a return you can always top it with some sugared sauce fresh berries — or just do as Alice would have you do and get creative on your own. I think these panna cottas are the perfect excuse to raid any of the preserves you put up last summer!

As written, Alice didn’t include black cherry compote for her panna cotta dessert recipe. But that just proves the point. She throws down the panna cotta itself and then invites you to engage your own imaginations to finish the job. I had black cherries on hand but you can just as easily cut up any fresh fruit you have on hand, give it a bit of a chocolate drizzle, or just eat it plain because it is good enough to do just that.