Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Vanilla and Raspberry Panna Cotta


Panna cotta is a very well known Italian dessert which simply means cooked cream. It is very easy to make and can be flavored in countless ways to suit any palate.
It´s not sure when this recipe came to be but the mountains of Northern Italy, famous for their rich milk and cream, is its most likely place of origin. There, the rich cream was eaten with fruits. Later on gelatin was added to give a different texture to the cream.



This  dessert is close to perfect. It is so easy to make, delicious, inexpensive, gluten free and can be made and kept in the fridge a day or two ahead of consumption. When you want to serve it, you just take out of the fridge, drizzle some fruit sauce or coulis and you enjoy the silky smooth texture and the refreshingly sweet taste.



For 3 servings you need:
  • 200 ml cream (35%)
  • 20 g sugar (I used homemade vanilla infused sugar)
  • 20 g raspberry
  • half vanilla pod (only seeds)
  • 1 and 1/2 gelatine sheets (or 2 if you want a denser texture; note that one sheet of gelatine equals to 2 grams of powdered variety)

First, put the gelatine sheets in a small bowl and cover them with cold water.

In a saucepan, combine the cream, sugar, vanilla and the raspberry, let it simmer for few minutes.

Take the gelatine from the water and squeeze to let the liquid out, add to the cream and whisk vigorously.

Pass the cream mixture through a fine sieve to get rid of any seeds or gelatine lumps. Pour the panna cotta in small serving cups or tubes and leave in the fridge for at least 5 hours.

Before serving, decorate as desired; I used fresh strawberries and raspberries.

And there you have it,  a beautiful, delicious and refreshing dessert a la Italiana!

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