Cherry pana cotta

 

I got this recipe from a local magazine. It was indeed a nice treat for a romantic dinner dessert.

For those who don't know yet, panna cotta is an Italian dessert made with a cooked mixture of cream, sugar, and gelatin, which is then chilled until set. Normal panna cotta has mango or passion fruit flavour. I also never tried cherry flavour so this time I'm quite excited.

Step 1: make the cherry sauce. In a sauce pan, add 100g American cherry, 20g sugar, 30ml-40ml red wine, 1/4 to 1/2 tbsp lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Then turn off the heat, let the sauce cool down with the lid on. Store in a jar. Put in fridge.

Step 2: make the panna cotta. In a sauce pan, mix 90-100ml milk with 90-100ml fresh cream, 15-20g sugar, and 1/6 of a vanilla pod (use both beans and pod). Simmer for a few minutes on gentle heat and not letting it boil. 

Step 3: sieve the mixture in Step 2 to get rid of the vanilla pod, then dissolve the gelatin (2.5g, soaked in water before that) in the mixture. Wait for panna cotta to cool down, then pour it into glasses. Put in fridge.

Step 4: when you're ready to serve, gently put 3 cherries (more will be too heavy for panna cotta to hold below) together with a tablespoon of the sauce on the surface of panna cotta. 

The dessert has the creamy richness of the panna cotta, complemented by the natural sweetness and slight tartness of the cherries, blended with the tannin of the red wine. This way, you can eat the dessert with pleasure and no hate of greasiness from the fatty cream at all.