In my mind, panna cotta was always the stuff of 90s menus. I had had few good experiences except for a handful of recent times when I found it so soft and creamy, I forgot about the early gelatinous versions and heralded it as a misjudged underdog of modern menus; possibly a perfect dessert.
One moody evening in Canterbury lately, I had time to spare visiting my friend Nancy, whose kitchen looks over the cathedral, and decided to give it my own go. Panna cotta always seems to be served in restaurants with sharp, tart red berry sauces and I wanted to give it the seasonal treatment. Essentially, it's just a cooled, wobbly cream, so it pairs well with a lot of different fruit and it makes the shopping list short and cheap. It's also gluten-free so ticks a lot of boxes. Vegetarians, watch out for that gelatine, though. I've heard that agar agar works just as well.
Using a Great British Chefs recipe for the panna cotta, which was so simple, I also sliced flat peaches, sprinkling them with brown sugar, fresh thyme, and lemon juice. Once they'd baked in the oven for 20-minutes, I tossed in lemon zest and fresh cherries and scooped warm spoonfuls onto the plate, with crumbled amaretti biscuits.
As the rain poured down inside, and the summer night hung close around us, it was the perfect dessert.
As the rain poured down inside, and the summer night hung close around us, it was the perfect dessert.
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