Panna cotta

Panna cotta

Your cut-out-and-keep guide to the fundamentals of cooking

For a dessert for a small dinner party, or even a family dessert with kids, panna cotta is such a handy one. It sounds very fancy, but panna cotta just means cooked cream, and that’s what it is. It’s very simple, but very delicious, and almost everyone likes it. People might be a bit fearful of using gelatine, but if you follow a few simple steps, you can’t go wrong. When you put gelatine leaves in cold water, you’re just rehydrating them and softening them up. You’re not dissolving the gelatine. That happens in the warm liquid — which must be warm when you put in the gelatine, and not boiling. If you put gelatine in boiling liquid, it won’t do what it’s supposed to do. It won’t set, and it might go lumpy, and then you’ll have to start all over again. In a restaurant kitchen, we would leave panna cotta to set in ramekins or moulds, and then hold them over boiling water or use a blowtorch to loosen the panna cotta before turning it out. This is probably more problematic to do at home, so I’d recommend pouring individual portions into nice wine glasses, through which the panna cottas’ creaminess will look very pretty when you serve them. At Bow Lane, we serve panna cotta with an orange and Cointreau gel, which is a lovely sharp contrast to the delicate vanilla. It’s also great with some late-season summer berries. You can also replace the vanilla extract with almond extract, but be careful to introduce a tiny amount first, maybe half a teaspoon, and then increase if you want, according to taste. Not all almond extracts are the same, and the cheaper ones can be very aggressive, so start with just a hint. Another way to serve it, a more sexy version, would be to use a bit of balsamic glaze and a sprig of basil. You can make your own balsamic glaze — put 100ml (4fl oz) of balsamic vinegar and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a heavy-bottomed pot over a medium heat and reduce it by half. Or you can get very good balsamic glazes in the supermarket now. There’s no need to complicate it for yourself. Serves 4.

You will need:

3 gelatine leaves, soaked in cold water 125ml (4½fl oz) double cream 125ml (4½fl oz) full-fat milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 vanilla pod, deseeded

Method:

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water. Pour the double cream, the full-fat milk, the vanilla extract and the vanilla pod into a pan. Gently warm everything and then remove the pan from the heat and briskly whisk in the drained, soaked gelatine leaves until they are fully dissolved. Return the pan to the heat and bring it to the boil, before removing it from the heat again and allowing the mixture to infuse in the pot for 30 minutes. Then strain the panna cotta into a jug to remove the vanilla pod and ensure the mixture is lump-free, and pour it into ramekins or nice wine glasses. Leave the panna cottas to set for at least two hours in the fridge. Gary Tilley is head chef at Bow Lane, 17 Aungier St, D2, tel: (01) 478-9489, or see bowlane.ie In conversation with Sarah Caden