Panna Cotta means ‘cooked cream’ in Italian, and making this tasty dessert is so simple. It’s very versatile, you can flavour a panna cotta with virtually anything. This vanilla bean panna cotta served with balsamic strawberries is absolutely perfect! Serves 6 Ingredients 1 ¼ cups (300ml) thick cream 1 cup (250ml) full cream milk 50g castor sugar 1 vanilla pod, split down the middle, seeds scraped out 2 tsp (10ml) gelatine 250g strawberries, washed Balsamic reduction, for drizzling 6 dariole moulds or ramekins Method 1 Place cream, milk, sugar, split vanilla pod and seeds in a sauce-pan and heat slowly until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside. 2 Pour 50ml water in a small heatproof bowl and sprinkle the gelatine powder on top. Leave for a few minutes and allow to form a sponge. 3 Heat the sponged gelatine in the microwave for a few seconds to melt and then pour into the warm vanilla cream. 4 Allow to cool completely, stirring occasionally, before pouring into moulds and refrigerating overnight. 5 Once panna cotta has set, gently turn out onto a serving plate and garnish with a couple of strawberries drizzled lightly with the balsamic drizzle.
