It is strawberry season and you can see it as every market and local veggie van are full of strawberry punnets with those lovely red strawberries so attractive that one can’t miss them as they are so tempting to grab and start eating them on the spot.

With this spring seasonal strawberry feast there are so many things to do and I opted to create this Strawberry Panna Cotta recipe as I have received many messages to do something with strawberries. Usually, Panna Cotta (cooked cream) which is a Northern Italian Piemontese old recipe is mainly served on plates in most places but I served mine in a transparent cup of my choice. One can serve his Strawberry Panna Cotta in dariole molds and then before serving them, you just have to dip them in hot water for 45 seconds and turn them into small dessert plates and decorate.

For the Strawberry Panna Cotta recipe, I decided to make a two-layered Panna Cotta. As I divided the mixture in two as you can see in the photos. One can opt to not divide the mixture and make it all Strawberry Panna Cotta.

In the Strawberry Panna Cotta recipe, I have used vanilla essence to flavor this dessert but other essences and liquors like Galliano liquor are a great substitution for this. Between the first layer (white mixture) and the second layer (strawberry mixture) put your serving cups in the freezer for 5-10 mins, so the white Panna Cotta mixture will set rapidly and you can pour it over the Strawberry Panna Cotta mixture on top to have an end product as you see in the photos. Then make sure to leave the Strawberry Panna Cotta to set for at least 2 hours in your refrigerator before you serve it.

Here is the recipe…

Strawberry Panna Cotta

INGREDIENTS

• 8-10 strawberries fresh
• 540ml double cream
• 60ml skimmed milk
• 4 gelatine leaves
• 60g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence or Galliano liquor

To Decorate

• strawberries, thin sliced (to lay in the cup)
• chocolate vermicelli (optional)

METHOD FOR STRAWBERRY PANNA COTTA

- Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 3 mins.

- In a medium-sized pot boil the cream, milk, vanilla essence, and icing sugar.

- Squeeze the soaked gelatine to remove access water and dissolve it in the hot cream mixture, mixing constantly with a whisk till the gelatine is completely dissolved.

- Divide the mixture in two and put one part in a food processor or in a bowl where you can use a hand blender.

- Add the well-washed strawberries to the food processor and blend.

- Lay the cups with 4/5 thin slices around the bottom of the cups and pour over the white panna cotta mixture. Half fill the cup and set in the freezer for 5-10 mins till set.

- Take out the cups and add the Strawberry mixture to top up the cups.

- Set in the fridge for 1hr 30 – 2hrs to set completely before serving.

- Decorate with strawberries and chocolate vermicelli (optional)