Panna cotta is incredibly easy to make, and if it takes you more than five minutes to put it together, you're doing something wrong. I'd made them before, but never realized what a fool-proof dessert it was until I saw my friend Judy Witts make them at one of her cooking classes in Florence.
Sometimes we Americans have a way of overdramatizing things, and make things harder than they actually are. But I saw Judy quickly put together this Panna Cotta at the beginning of her cooking class in no time flat, to be served a few hours later.
After we ate the fabulous meal which we'd all made together, she effortlessly unmolded them into bowls, and there was our dessert. I was pretty impressed.
That's the beauty of Tuscan cooking: it's straightforward and almost effortless in its simplicity. "Spend more time shopping, and less time cooking" is Judy's mantra.
Judy bypassed the traditional route and self-published her first cookbook, Secrets From My Tuscan Kitchen, which gave her the freedom to personalize each hand-written recipe. At the risk of using an over-used cliché (so I won't ever do it again...but this time, it really is true)—it's as if an Italian cook were in your kitchen, guiding you through the recipes.
If you want to cut the richness of Panna Cotta, you can swap out half-and-half for some, or all of the heavy cream. Because there's no eggs or custard-making involved, you pretty much have a lot of leeway making panna cotta. I'm thinking of infusing some with lemon verbena, fresh mint, or even experimenting with white chocolate in the future. Especially with fresh cherry season right around the corner.
I served this batch of Panna Cotta with a huge pile of berries, very juicy and lightly-sweetened with a whisper of kirsch. But if it's not the season, it's good with a bit of honey drizzled over it, too. If you have some leftover Chianti, or another hearty red wine, you can make a deeply-flavored Red Wine Syrup and spoon it over the top. It's amazing.
Panna CottaEight servings
Adapted from Secrets From My Tuscan Kitchen by Judy Witts
I love this dessert and the great thing about Panna Cotta is that it demands to be made in advance. You can make them up to two days ahead and keep them well-covered and chilled.
For gelatin-related questions, read my Tips for Using Gelatin. You can find instructions for using sheet gelatin at the end of the recipe.
4 cups (1l) heavy cream (or half-and-half)
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 packets powdered gelatin (about 4 1/2 teaspoons)
6 tablespoons (90ml) cold water
1. Heat the heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan or microwave. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
(If using a vanilla bean, scrape the seeds from the bean into the cream and add the bean pod. Cover, and let infuse for 30 minutes. Remove the bean then rewarm the mixture before continuing.)
2. Lightly oil eight custard cups with a neutral-tasting oil.
3. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium-sized bowl and let stand 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Pour the very warm Panna Cotta mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.
5. Divide the Panna Cotta mixture into the prepared cups, then chill them until firm, which will take at least two hours but I let them stand at least four hours. (Judy told me American refrigerators are colder than European ones. )If you're pressed for time, pour the Panna Cotta mixture into wine goblets so you can serve them in the glasses, without unmolding.
6. Run a sharp knife around the edge of each Panna Cotta and unmold each onto a serving plate, and garnish as desired.
To make Panna Cotta with sheet gelatin: Soften 25g (approximately six sheets) in a liter of cold water for 5 to 10 minutes. Wring the sheets out and stir them into the warm Panna Cotta mixture in step # 4, until dissolved.
You can visit Judy at her website, Divina Cucina to learn more about her market tours and classes, and her blog, Over a Tuscan Stove.
Panna cotta is my VSP's and my favorite dessert. One of our regular haunts serves panna cotta with a thick layer of caramel on top. It is divine.
I've been wanting to try my hand at panna cotta. I think this recipe will be the one. Thank you, David.
Thanx for this....fab follow up to the informative gelatin post. I will definitely be making these xxx
Where do you buy cream: fromager? market-fromager? is it raw? obviously not sterilized cream from the franprix…
This looks fantastic, I will definitely try to make it!
Hi Mike: Oddly, it's not that easy to find fresh liquid cream at my market or at the fromageries I frequent. Their thick, amazing-tasting crème fraîche is excellent, and I use that for certain things, when I can. (Although I try to be mindful of the global audience and try to use products that are widely available, whenever possible.) For those recipes, I buy crème liquide at Monoprix, which is fresh, not sterilized.
i love panna cotta! when it's made with super fresh cream it is sublime. david, do you know if it is possible to use agar agar or vegetarian "gelatin" to make it? when cooking for veg people i'm so sad that i can't serve this desser. have you heard of anyone making it by substituting something for the gelatin?
i love panna cotta! when it's made with super fresh cream it is sublime. david, do you know if it is possible to use agar agar or vegetarian "gelatin" to make it? when cooking for veg people i'm so sad that i can't serve this desser. have you heard of anyone making it by substituting something for the gelatin?
what a lovely, silky version of panna cotta. the berries make the composition beautiful - and delicious too, I'm sure. Last time I made panna cotta, it didn't gel very well. I'll try this recipe next time for sure.
How warm should the cream mixture be when you add it to the gelatin? I have had several gelatin disasters and wonder if it's because my liquid was the wrong temperature.
Wow, what a great easy recipe!
may I use crème fraîche instead of liquid cream, or is liquid cream the only choice for some reason ?
I love Panna Cotta and can't wait to try this recipe! If you were still in the US, what would be your favorite brand or type of heavy cream for this recipe? ciao
This looks dreamy! Magnifique! How much agar-agar do you think I should substitute for this specific recipe, David?
AP: I don't know the exact temperature, as I've never measured it. It should not be boiling, but it should be slightly steamy.
Warda & s. graham: The previous post about gelatin has a link at the bottom where you can find information about using agar agar.
Krysalia: I haven't made it with crème fraîche, but you might want to try using half crème fraîche and half crème liquide, and don't heat the crème fraîche since it can change the consistency of it.
I'm sure you could heat it and it would be fine, but I just haven't tried it and that's where I'd start. I love French crème fraîche...but it's too dangerous to keep around the house!
Arabella: When I lived in San Francisco, I used a lot of Strauss cream, which is one of the few that was non-UHT. Another brand I liked a lot was Clover.
This is a legitimate question -- I'm not trying to be smart-alecky or snarky.
If you're making panna cotta, which is made from cream, which comes from cows...why would using agar-agar or other non-animal gelatin make it okay for vegetarians?
Please don't be offended...I guess I'm not getting the subtlety that suggests that it's okay to eat the milk but not the gelatin (which I understand comes from the hooves -- sorry to gag anybody who didn't know that).
And I know that there are plenty of "divisions" of a vegetarian diet -- ranging from vegan with no animal products at all (I totally get why those folks would use agar-agar...but what would you substitute for the cream?)...through pescetarian to lacto-ovo to just ovo and just lacto....but this one has sailed right past my head.
Looks delish, and is something even I can make in my rudimentary kitchen, thank you!
Hi Sunny: Some vegetarians eat dairy products while others don't. Folks have various reasons for being vegetarians but since butter and milk production doesn't harm the animals (although there's likely an argument out there that it does..), some vegetarians do consume dairy products like cream, milk, eggs, and butter.
But since gelatin is made from animals parts (bones and skins), most vegetarians would find gelatin off-limits. I haven't made panna cotta with soy, rice or coconut milk, but I'd be interested in hearing from any who have tried any of them.
Thanks a lot David!
Each and every one of us may have personal reasons for not using gelatin. For my part, it is because it is not Halal and is, generally, made from pork which, being a Muslim, I am not allowed to consume.
I love this blog! My daughter is currently on a panna cotta craze. She tries it at every restaurant that offers it and she really knows the nuances that make it right.
We are going to make this together; she thinks that whole gelatin thing is positively magical, albeit a bit skeeved as to where it comes from.
I'm vegetarian, lacto-ovo, (mostly for the reason that I have never been able to swallow meat, even as a child) and I will eat gelatin, but I have to say that it bothers me a little. Has anyone else noticed the distinct barnyard-y smell when you pour the hot water over the powder? I think that's why jell-o has so many awful artificial flavours mixed in!
I would love to find a recipe for panna cotta with agar-agar, but in the meantime I think I'll plug my nose and try yours David. I've done panna cotta with gelatin before and once it's set there is no trace of that smell.
Thanks!
Panna cotta is what dreams are made of. I love a good panna cotta & yours looks wonderful. I think this is the first time I've seen the mould being oiled & it might just be the reason why my panna cottas are so fiddly.
O BTW, have made your Frozen Strawberry Yogurt with hung curd thrice this season.Once with basil, once without, & my latest batch with pistachio nuts. That recipe is a winner & with hung curd, it's almost like ice-cream!! Thank you for the perfect scoop!!
Looks so good! Especially with all those berries. I'm craving fruit right now as I see snow outside my window in April...
Thanks for this recipe. I had the most perfect panna cotta in Carpentras France last summer at Chez Serge with fresh strawberries from the Carpentras Friday Market. I've been trying to get that same taste, that same consistency that his panna cotta had, but have been unsuccessful. The fact that I was in Provence probably played into that unforgettable taste more than anything.
Warda, my apologies for not thinking about your situation -- my head was trying to work through the animal product/animal product concepts, and Halal didn't even enter my mind (neither did kosher, to be honest -- is that an infraction of the meat/milk rule?) -- that argument makes perfect sense...but still trying to get my head round the vegetarian issues.