Panna Cotta

One of my favourite desserts is Panna Cotta and I'm surprised it does not appear so often in Italian restaurants because its actually quite simple to make.

Ingredients

650ml double cream

250ml full milk

150g caster sugar

4 leafs gelatine

1 vanilla pod (or 1 tbsp. vanilla extract)

Method

In a bowl of cold water submerge the gelatine leafs and leave to soften for 5 minutes.

In a large heavy based pan add the cream, milk, sugar and seeds scrapped from the vanilla pod. cook on a high heat stirring occasionally until just before boiling point (do not let it boil). remove from the heat, add the gelatine leafs one at a time into the hot mixture stirring in until dissolved and then let the mixture cool stirring occasionally. When cool transfer mixture to a measuring jug or a water jug (I tend to pass the mixture through a fine sieve into the jug to remove any possible lumps), place in fridge for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally (until you see the vanilla seeds are not sinking to the bottom and holding in position) now that the mixture has thickened pour into moulds, I use a plastic ricotta cheese container as its the perfect size and smooth on the inside, you can also pour the mixture into dessert or wine glasses as pictured below (this is less fussy). leave to set in the fridge for around 3 hours before serving.

Serving suggestion: if your planning on serving the panna cotta as pictured above and you want to turn the dessert onto a plate you'll need a separate bowl with hot water where you'll dip your mould 3/4 into hot water for around 10 seconds until the panna cotta frees itself and then place a plate over the top and flip upside down.

Balsamic strawberry sauce

Ingredients

400g strawberry (cut in halves)

1 tbsp cornflour or plain flour

75g caster sugar

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Method

Put all ingredients into a saucepan and put on a moderate high heat, stirring gently until combined and strawberries have softened slightly and a sauce is forming, remove from the heat and leave to cool, (Tip) leave in the fridge to chill before serving on the panna cotta.