RECIPE - Vanilla Panna Cotta with Strawberry Sauce

Hello foodies! I recently planned to make Panna Cotta, which is an Italian dessert made by blending thick cream, egg white and honey. The blend is then baked in a bain-marie in a low oven. The original Panna Cotta really does feel and taste like "cooked cream," but requires very careful monitoring of oven temperatures and timing. Alternative recipes, mostly used in restaurants outside of Italy, use simmering together cream, milk, and sugar, mixing this with gelatin, and letting it cool until set.

It's not difficult to make Panna Cotta. You can also make this popular dessert by yourself. It only takes less than an hour to make it. But you have to wait until the pudding is "set". 

Ingredients

For the Panna Cotta

• 3 gelatine leaves

• 250ml/9fl oz milk

• 250ml/9fl oz double cream

• 1 vanilla pod, split lengthways, seeds scraped out

• 25g/1oz sugar

For the sauce

• 175g/6oz sugar

• 175ml/6fl oz water

• splash cherry liqueur

• 350g/12oz raspberries

To serve

• 4 sprigs fresh mint

•  icing sugar, to dust

Preparation method

1.  For the panna cotta, soak the gelatine leaves in a little cold water until soft.

2.  Place the milk, cream, vanilla pod and seeds and sugar into a pan and bring to a simmer. Remove the vanilla pod and discard.

3.  Squeeze the water out of the gelatine leaves, then add to the pan and take off the heat. Stir until the gelatine has dissolved.

4.  Divide the mixture among four ramekins and leave to cool. Place into the fridge for at least an hour, until set.

5.  For the sauce, place the sugar, water and cherry liqueur into a pan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the sugar has dissolved.

6.  Take the pan off the heat and add half the raspberries. Using a hand blender, blend the sauce until smooth.

7.  Pass the sauce through a sieve into a bowl and stir in the remaining fruit.

8.  To serve, turn each panna cotta out onto a serving plate. Spoon over the sauce and garnish with a sprig of mint. Dust with icing sugar.

You gonna fall in love with this Panna Cotta. It tasted creamy in my mouth. Happy Monday foodies!