Panna cotta, an elegant Italian dessert, is typically made with cream but this can make the dessert quite rich. This is Heleen Meyer’s favourite version and it’s much healthier as she uses less cream. The combination of smooth dairy and the heavenly flavour of the roasted strawberries is really special.
You may wonder why the fresh strawberries are roasted, but Heleen Meyer says once you’ve tasted the strawberries, you will understand exactly why.
The other typical ingredient in panna cotta is gelatine, to set the dairy mixture. This is an ingredient a lot of people are hesitant to use, but just carefully follow Heleen’s recipe step-by-step. If you prepare these in glasses, then you don’t need to worry about turning them out either. She uses double-cream yoghurt for this silky version, and although yoghurt can split easier than cream when heated, her method will guide you all the way for the best results.
Roasted strawberries are the best
Fresh strawberries are delicious to serve with the panna cotta, but the aroma of the roasted version goes incredibly well with the smooth, creamy dessert. Panna cotta is often served with berries or other seasonal fruit, making this an interesting alternative. The roasted strawberries are also delicious over a ball of ice cream for a festive dessert.
Rose water panna cotta with roasted strawberries
Recipe from Make five by Heleen Meyer
Serves 4 – 6
250 ml (1 cup) milk
125 ml (½ cup) fresh cream
60 ml (¼ cup) castor sugar
½ vanilla pod, split open and seeds scraped out
30 ml (2 tbsp) water
15 ml (1 tbsp) gelatine powder
175 ml plain double cream yoghurt
15 ml (1 tbsp) rose water
Roasted strawberries
250 g strawberries, halved
10 ml (2 tsp) castor sugar
- Heat milk, cream, castor sugar and vanilla pod in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved and heat just before boiling point. Don’t allow the mixture to boil.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly – if it is too hot the yoghurt will split.
- Meanwhile, place the water in a small dish and sprinkle the gelatine over it. Allow to stand to bloom (the dry gelatine powder will absorb the water and swell out), but make sure there are no dry bits.
- Stir the yoghurt into the milk mixture and remove the vanilla pod. Keep stirring – it may look as if it has split, but continue stirring. Stir in the gelatine until it dissolves completely in the warm mixture.
- Add the rose water and pour into six small bowls or glasses (about 125 ml in volume each). Note: if you do want to turn the dessert out, lightly grease each container with oil.
- Cover bowls or glasses with cling wrap and refrigerate for three to four hours or overnight to set.
- Strawberries: Preheat the oven to 220 °C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Place strawberries on the baking tray and sprinkle the sugar over. Roast for 5-10 minutes or until just soft. Spoon out with any pan juices and allow to cool.
- Serve panna cottas with the strawberries. If you prefer to unmould the panna cottas, rub the sides of each bowl with a hot cloth. Turn out onto individual dessert plates and decorate with the strawberries.
Tips
- If you don’t want to roast the strawberries or if they are not in season anymore, serve the panna cottas with a strawberry jam, other fresh berries or spoon granadilla pulp over them instead.
- Place small pieces of strawberries or other berries in the glasses and pour panna cotta mixture over. Allow to set as above. This works very well if you are not planning to turn the desserts out.
Visit Heleen’s website (www.heleenmeyer.co.za) for more recipes like this.
Image: Adel Ferreira