CREAMY LEMON PANNA COTTA WITH VANILLA, SET SOFTLY IN A GLASS. REDUCTION OF CRÈME DE CASSIS, BLACKBERRIES, RASPBERRIES, AND STRAWBERRIES. FRESH BERRIES, CANDIED LEMON PEEL, AND MINT.
Late one evening, Pea and I were mindlessly taking one of the many “Which dessert must go?” Buzzfeed quizzes when a supermajority picking against panna cotta dumbfounded me. How could so many people not understand the indulgently creamy, yet cool and refreshing features of panna cotta, not to mention that you can make it at home in about 20 minutes (even faster than the vastly more well-known crème brûlée) and leave the rest of the work to the fridge? I’m going to chalk it up to a name recognition contest, and leave this recipe here.
Although the most traditional version sets the dessert using egg whites and is cooked in the oven like a crème brûlée, the modern version with gelatin is much easier and much faster. The cream is warmed just to completely melt the bloomed gelatin before pouring into ramekins or glasses to chill and set, and all the other ingredients and flavors are simply stirred in. Depending on how well set you want your panna cotta (especially if you want to turn it onto a plate), you could add a tiny bit more gelatin (maybe 0.5 ts).
Don’t be like the people who answered the Buzzfeed quiz with blasphemy. Eat panna cotta. – Boo
Servings: 6 (dessert portions)
Difficulty: 
Lemon panna cotta:
- 0.75 tb gelatin
- Cream mixture
2 c heavy cream
1 c milk
0.66 c sugar
0.25 ts salt - lemon zest
- 0.33 c lemon juice
- 2 ts vanilla extract
- In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 2-3 tb water, and set aside to bloom, ~5 minutes.
- In a saucepan, heat and stir cream mixture over medium heat to just under a simmer. Remove from heat, and add lemon zest and juice.
- Stir gelatin and vanilla into cream mixture until dissolved.
- Divide panna cotta into 6 serving containers.
- Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until set, 4 hours. Meanwhile, make glaze.
Berry cassis glaze:
- 0.5 c blackberries
- 0.5 c raspberries
- 0.33 c strawberries
- 0.33 c sugar
- 3 tb water
- 0.25 ts salt
- 3 tb crème de cassis
- In a saucepan, cook and mash fruit, water, sugar, and salt over medium heat until berries have completely broken down, 10-15 minutes.
- Sieve berry sauce, and add crème de cassis. Refrigerate until chilled.
- Spoon glaze over set panna cotta, optionally garnish with fresh berries, and serve.
