Panna cotta: A simple Italian delight for warm days

Panna cotta is the queen of Italian desserts. You can find it in many restaurants and patisseries, but the one prepared in your own kitchen tastes just as good as the one you enjoy at a small table on one of the Italian streets.

Panna cotta is not only delicious but also an extremely simple dessert whose roots go back to northern Italy. The name of the dessert, meaning simply "cooked cream," perfectly captures its essence. Traditionally, panna cotta is served with a fruit mousse - it tastes best in summer, taken straight from the refrigerator, with a sauce made from blended strawberries or raspberries.

Panna cotta is the best dessert for warm days. Taken straight from the refrigerator, it is refreshing, sweet, and, above all, delicious. It's perfect for parties, is almost a must-have element of sweet tables, will lift your spirits on a bad day, and sweeten a weekend afternoon.

Classic panna cotta is a delicious base for experiments. You can add vanilla, lemon, or orange zest to the cream and even liqueurs such as amaretto or limoncello. Gelatin serves as a stabilizer, but if you want to prepare a vegetarian version of the dessert, you can replace it with agar. It's also worth using real vanilla or good extract to enhance the flavour of the dish and give it an aroma.

To make panna cotta set faster, chill the dishes you'll be serving it in beforehand. You can put them in the refrigerator for a few minutes before use.

Ingredients:

Cream Base

        
• 5 mL gelatin,
• 420 mL cream (30%),
• 120 mL milk,
• 60 mL sugar,
• 10 mL vanilla extract or scraped vanilla seeds.

Raspberry Jelly

      
• 300 g raspberries,
• 10 mL sugar,
• 7 mL gelatin,
• fresh raspberries for decoration.

Preparation:

                
1. Pour cold water over the gelatin, just enough to cover it. Let it sit for a few minutes to bloom.
2. In a pot, heat the cream with milk, sugar, and vanilla extract. Stir until the ingredients combine and the mixture becomes hot, but not boiling.
3. Remove the pot from the heat and add the bloomed gelatin. Gently stir until completely dissolved. Allow to cool and slightly thicken.
4. Pour the cream mixture evenly into previously chilled dishes. Place in the refrigerator and wait until the dessert is completely set. Be patient, as this can take several hours.
5. Place the raspberries with sugar in a pot and simmer over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the raspberries completely break down and release their juice.
6. Strain the hot raspberry mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds. Allow to cool slightly.
7. Add the bloomed gelatin to the cooled raspberry mousse. Gently stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved and mixed with the mousse.
8. Carefully pour the prepared raspberry jelly over the set panna cotta.
9. Place the dessert back in the refrigerator and wait until the raspberry jelly is completely set.

Before serving, decorate the panna cotta with fresh raspberries. Enjoy!