Panna Cotta

Set cream with the least gelatine that will hold it, so it barely stands.

Not vegetarian — contains gelatine.

Ingredients

• 700 ml double cream
• 100 ml whole milk
• 90 g caster sugar
• 1 vanilla pod, split and scraped
• 6 g leaf gelatine
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Method

1. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes until floppy, then squeeze them out.
2. Warm the cream, milk, sugar, salt and vanilla to about 80C — steaming, not boiling — and hold it there 5 minutes to infuse. 'Cotta' means cooked and this is the only cooking there is.
3. TAKE IT OFF THE HEAT BEFORE THE GELATINE GOES IN, and stir until it has dissolved completely. Boiled after that, gelatine loses its strength and the mixture will not set.
4. SIX GRAMS TO 800 ML IS DELIBERATELY LOW. It should wobble visibly and slump a little on the plate. Most recipes use half again as much and give you something that holds a sharp edge, which is a cream-flavoured jelly rather than this.
5. Strain it, cool to room temperature, then pour into moulds or glasses.
6. Chill 6 hours. Setting it in the freezer to hurry it makes the cream grainy.
7. To turn out, dip each mould in hot water for THREE SECONDS and invert. Longer and the outside melts to liquid before the middle releases.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes