Creamy vanilla-y goodness

It's no great secret that I absolutely adore panna cotta.

Every spoonful sends me into a rapture.

It's creamy and sweet. In my humble opinion it's sort of like the most decadent combination of ice cream and custard all at once. Which is probably why I love it so.

Whenever I have it in a restaurant, they always gild the lily by drizzling a coulis or some sort of sauce on it. This is fine, but I prefer it unadorned...and unmoulded. I do not apologize for getting out my spoon and tucking in directly into the ramekin, or any other container this luscious pudding is set in.

I've had several types of panna cotta, including cardamom, mocha and various fruit-infused ones, but I think my favourite one is vanilla. Clean and simple, I think it's one of the best ways to highlight this most amazing spice.

Vanilla Panna Cotta
Ingredients
2-1/2 teaspoons of gelatine powder
2 tablespoons cold water
250ml light cream
425ml heavy cream
100g sugar
1 dessertspoon vanilla extract

• Soften gelatine in water.
• Simmer the light cream in a small saucepan and then take it off the heat and add the softened gelatine. Stir well.
• In another pan, pour in the heavy cream and sugar and bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Take off the heat. Pour in the now cooled gelatine mixture and vanilla extract and stir well.
• Pour into ramekins and chill in the fridge until set
• If you want to unmould it, let the ramekin sit in warm water for couple of minutes an turn out onto a plate. To gild the lily, serve with a coulis, light chocolate sauce or some toasted almonds.

cheers!
jasmine