Panna cotta with strawberry sauce
Panna cotta means cooked cream in Italian. It’s a spoon dessert from Piedmont of great effect and taste but very easy to prepare. It can be served simply with caramel sauce on top or with different berry or chocolate sauces. The strawberry sauce that I used in this recipe consists purely of berries lightly sweetened and sieved to smoothness. I chose strawberries but they can be substituted with raspberries and decorated with black and/or blue berries. Your fantasy will be the limit as to how to decorate the panna cotta.
Ingredients:
For the panna cotta:
2 cups fresh heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean
2 gelatin sheets (10 grams)
For the strawberry sauce:
1 cup strawberries
1 Tbsp. sugar
strawberries for decoration
Preparation:
For the panna cotta:
1. In a bowl of water put the gelatin sheets and let them soak for 10 minutes.
2. Put the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla pod (cut in length) in a pan and cook at low heat just before it starts to boil and remove the pan from the stove.
3. Discard the vanilla bean from the cream mixture, squeeze the gelatin sheets, add them to the cream and mix until they’re dissolved.
4. Place 4 small cylindrical molds on a tray. Filter the cream through a fine-grid mesh strainer and pour it in the molds. Refrigerate for at least three hours.
For the strawberry sauce:
1. Place the strawberries and sugar in food processor or pure them with a hand blander.
2. Strain the sauce to a fine sieve to separate from the seeds.
3. Add few drops of fresh lemon juice and refrigerate.
To serve panna cotta:
1. Dip the panna cotta moulds, one at a time, into a bowl filled with hot water. Leave for about 5 seconds.
2. Invert onto a serving plate. Press two fingers on the bottom of the mold and then shake slightly to loosen.
3. Carefully remove the mold from the panna cotta.
4. Cut some fresh strawberries in pieces and place some on top and around the panna cotta. Top the panna cotta with a generous spoon of strawberry sauce.
Hi, love the recipe btw, but how many panna cotta’s does the recipe make?
@Chelasea: it makes 4 panna cotta.
Hello, I live here in the Philippines and vanilla beans are hard to find; Can i substitute vanilla bean with vanilla extract? How much Vanilla Extract equals one Vanilla Bean? thanks in advance!
Looking forward on making this recipe.. ^_^
additional question: gelatin leaves are also hard to find; Can I use powdered gelatin instead? How many teaspoons or tablespoons of powdered gelatin are needed? thanks in advance <33
How long does this recipe take to prepare and cook?