Panna cotta a wobble to please.

Having just eaten a tasty, but somewhat firm panna cotta from a Mary Berry recipe I fell upon an article from The Guardian's series 'how to make the perfect....'
This is definitely on my to try list.
I might even try MB again but with 50% less gelatine although I had better test it out without visitors!

"My biggest challenge, once I've decided to use a 2:1 ratio of double cream to milk and buttermilk in order to give a rich, but not sickly flavour, is judging the set. It's a delicate balance: too much gelatine and the panna cotta will be unpleasantly chewy, too little, and you've got yourself a sauce. Eventually, after a fair few failures, I achieve that perfect wobble.

Flavourings

The Oxford Companion to Food's entry on panna cotta stresses that, "if a flavouring is used, it should be delicate." Nigel Slater, Denis Cotter and Giorgio Locatelli all choose rose water and vanilla seeds – I like the subtle summery hint of flowers, but, in defiance of modern mores, I'm not so keen on the vanilla, which makes it taste, to my mind, like custard.

Each to their own though – panna cotta is an amenable dessert which will work with anything from caramel to saffron, although a good tip from Locatelli is not to add alcohol-based flavourings, such as rosewater, until the mixture has cooled slightly, or the flavour will evaporate. I prefer to leave my panna cotta plain, and serve it with fresh fruit (late summer berries are a brilliant choice) as a sharp contrast.

Perfect panna cotta


Felicity's perfect panna cotta. Photograph: Felicity Cloake for the Guardian
Panna cotta is such a simple dish that both the flavour and the texture have to be spot on – there really is nowhere for the cook to hide with this one. Once you've cracked it, though, it's the perfect make-ahead stuff for those (few) occasions when Angel Delight just won't cut the mustard.

Serves 4

2 x 2g leaves gelatine
300ml double cream
115g caster sugar
100ml full-fat milk
50ml buttermilk
Vegetable oil, to grease

1. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water. Pour the cream into a pan, add the sugar and heat gently, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Bring just to a simmer, and then take off the heat.

2. Squeeze out the gelatine and then stir it into the warm cream mixture to dissolve. Pour through a sieve into a clean bowl and stir in the milk and buttermilk. Taste for sweetness and add more sugar if necessary.

3. Grease the inside of 4 espresso cups or small ramekins and divide the mixture between them. Cool and then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

4. To turn out, put the dishes briefly in boiling water and then invert on to plates. Serve with berries or fruit compote.

Panna cotta – one of the few truly great Italian desserts. What flavourings do you add to yours (any top tips for savoury versions?) and what do you like to eat them with? And will anyone come out in support of the great British blancmange?"

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