During the course of my conversation with David Sedaris on Food, he said some hilarious things about Jell-O, and his fondness for it. I told him that it’s probably not worth making Jell-O from scratch (which, for the record, I think he agrees with), but panna cotta is a gelatin-based dessert that is absolutely worth making from scratch. Lovely with a fruit sauce or macerated fruit.
PrintPanna Cotta, Four Ways
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Makes 4 to 6 servings 1x
Time About 20 minutes, plus time to chill
Ingredients
- Good-quality vegetable oil for greasing
- 3 cups heavy cream or 1 1/2 cups heavy cream and 1 1/2 cups half-and-half
- 1 1/4-ounce envelope (about 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
- 1 vanilla bean, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sugar
Instructions
1. Use a towel and a bit of oil to very lightly grease the insides of 4 large or 6 small custard cups.
2. Put 1 cup of the cream in a medium saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin evenly over it; let sit for 5 minutes to soften. Put the saucepan over low heat and whisk until the gelatin dissolves completely, 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds with a sharp knife; add the seeds and pod to the cream mixture, along with the sugar and the remaining cream. Increase the heat to medium and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved and steam rises from the pot, another 3 to 5 minutes. (If you’re using vanilla extract, heat the cream, gelatin, and sugar until the sugar dissolves, then add the vanilla.) Let the panna cotta cool for a few minutes.
4. Remove the vanilla bean and pour the panna cotta into the custard cups. Chill until set, at least 4 hours (or up to a day). Serve in the cups, or run a thin knife along the sides to loosen the panna cotta, dip the cups in hot water for about 10 seconds each; invert onto plates and serve.
— Recipe from How to Cook Everything: Completely Revised Twentieth Anniversary Edition
Recipe variations
Buttermilk Panna Cotta
Subtly tangy and especially wonderful with macerated fruit: Use 1 1/2 cups heavy cream and 1 1/2 cups buttermilk.
Almond Panna Cotta
Almond milk replaces the cream: Substitute unsweetened almond milk for the cream, almond extract for the vanilla, and 2 teaspoons powdered agar for the gelatin if you want to make this vegan. In Step 2, follow the directions for using vanilla extract. Proceed with the recipe.
Tembleque
A Caribbean dessert made with coconut milk: Substitute coconut milk for the cream, and omit the vanilla. Soften and then dissolve the gelatin in 1/2 cup of the coconut milk, then add the remaining coconut
milk and the sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, just until the sugar dissolves. Unmold from the cups and dust with ground cinnamon just before serving.