Vanilla Panna Cotta with Berry Coulis
Silky set cream with a tart ripple
Panna cotta is the most elegant of puddings and one of the simplest: barely-set cream, just firm enough to hold a wobble, scented with real vanilla. The twist is in the contrast, a quick homemade berry coulis whose sharpness ripples through the rich, silky cream and stops it cloying. Use a whole vanilla pod for those tell-tale flecks of seed, and aim for the softest set you dare. The reward is a dessert that quivers when you tap the plate.
Vanilla Panna Cotta with Berry Coulis
Ingredients
- 3 sheets of leaf gelatine
- 500ml double cream
- 100ml whole milk
- 60g caster sugar
- 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped
- For the coulis: 250g mixed berries (raspberries, strawberries, blackberries)
- For the coulis: 2 tbsp caster sugar
- For the coulis: 1 tsp lemon juice
Method
- Soak the gelatine sheets in a bowl of cold water for about 5 minutes until soft and floppy.
- Put the cream, milk, sugar and the vanilla seeds and empty pod into a saucepan.
- Warm gently over a low heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is steaming but not boiling, then remove from the heat.
- Squeeze the excess water from the gelatine and stir it into the warm cream until fully dissolved.
- Fish out the vanilla pod, then pour the mixture through a fine sieve into a jug.
- Divide between four glasses or lightly oiled moulds, cool to room temperature, then chill for at least 4 hours until set.
- For the coulis, gently heat the berries, sugar and lemon juice in a small pan until the fruit collapses, about 5 minutes.
- Blend or mash the fruit, then push through a sieve to remove the seeds, and leave to cool.
- To serve, spoon the coulis over the set panna cotta, or turn the moulds out onto plates first if using moulds.
3 The Story
Panna cotta means simply “cooked cream” in Italian, and the name tells you almost everything about it. It is cream sweetened, gently warmed and set into a tender, trembling pudding. The dessert is associated above all with Piedmont, the region of north-west Italy famous for its dairy, its hazelnuts and its rich, indulgent puddings. In a part of the country where good cream is plentiful, a dessert that celebrates cream above all else feels entirely at home.
For all its refinement, panna cotta is a humble thing built from a short list of ingredients. The art lies almost entirely in the setting. Gelatine is the traditional setting agent, and the goal is to use just enough to hold the shape and no more. Too much gelatine produces a firm, rubbery block; too little and it slumps. The ideal sits somewhere in between, a custard so barely set that it shivers when the plate is moved and dissolves the moment it touches the tongue. Leaf gelatine, soaked and squeezed before use, gives a clean result and is easy to measure by the sheet.
Vanilla is the classic flavouring, and there is a real difference between using a whole pod and reaching for extract. Splitting the pod and scraping out the tiny seeds perfumes the cream with a rounded, floral warmth and leaves behind those characteristic black flecks that signal the real thing. The scraped pod is steeped in the cream too, then strained out, so nothing of its fragrance is wasted.
The fruit coulis is where a plain cream pudding becomes something more interesting. Panna cotta is rich by nature, and a sharp, brightly coloured sauce provides the acidity and the contrast it needs. A coulis is nothing more than fruit cooked briefly with a little sugar and lemon, then sieved smooth, and berries are the natural partner: raspberries, strawberries and blackberries all bring tartness and a vivid colour that pools beautifully against the pale cream. Made well, the two halves balance each other perfectly, the cream soft and soothing, the fruit keen and fresh. It can be set in pretty glasses for an easy life, or turned out from moulds onto a plate for a more dramatic finish. To unmould cleanly, lightly oil the moulds first and dip them briefly in hot water before inverting onto a plate, giving a gentle shake to release the wobbling cream. Made a day ahead, it sits happily in the fridge and needs only its ruby sauce spooned over at the table.
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