Wow your loved one with this stunning strawberry panna cotta this Valentine’s day and rejuvenate the love & warmth of your relationship amidst the mundane tasks of daily life!
There have been many instances during my culinary journey that I have surprised myself but nothing could ever beat the overwhelming joy I felt after making this super-stunning strawberry panna cotta!
I have been eyeing this recipe of strawberry panna cotta since a very long time but was always intimidated to try my hands on it. I was always under the impression that I won’t be able to pull it through!
But this strawberry panna cotta taught me a lesson, a very essential one that not all good-looking food is difficult to make!
If you want to learn to make one dessert and amaze your friends & family with its ‘wow’ factor, then without a doubt that has to be this gorgeous strawberry panna cotta!
You will be simply be flabbergasted when you realize how easy it is to make such a beautiful dessert like this strawberry panna cotta!
And when you serve your strawberry panna cotta as individual serving in cute little glasses, your guests are bound to be awed at your creativity!
Strawberry is in season now and you will get the freshest produce from your local market; so, it’s the best time to make this strawberry panna cotta to indulge in one of the most luscious dessert of all time.
Panna cotta is an Italian dessert and the name means ‘cooked cream’ and that’s all there is to this recipe of strawberry panna cotta.
The only difficult part of this recipe is to wait and that too for long time like 6 to 8 hours suppressing your temptation. You need to ensure that your panna cotta is completely set before pouring the strawberry compote on top to get than clean & sharp dividing line between the two.
Otherwise the white & red will mix up and create a new variety of strawberry panna cotta which will taste equally good but the presentation will be different.
Also, you can always use different fruit sauce substituting strawberries with any other berries, peaches or even chocolate if you are not too fond of fruits.
Strawberry is definitely one of the most beautiful fruits available to us and for some mysterious reason it is closely connected with representation of love & romance.
Valentine’s day being around the corner, you will be overwhelmed by the volume of beautiful Valentine’s special strawberry desserts surfacing all over the internet.
I am joining the bandwagon too with my lovely strawberry panna cotta and I am sure you guys will love it as much as we did. This strawberry panna cotta does not only look stunning but it is superbly delish.
Being an Italian dessert, I haven’t made panna cotta very frequently but had tasted it in Italian restaurants but was never as awed as I have been with my own creation of strawberry panna cotta with its melt-in-mouth creamy decadence!
I am not trying to boast here but only wish to convince you all that with little patience anyone can create as beautiful and as yummy dessert as this strawberry panna cotta at home anytime!
Only thing you need to ensure to successfully produce a good panna cotta is to use a good quality gelatin. I used gelatin leaves which I had got from USA during my last trip as I wasn’t very sure of the gelatin I get here in India.
Gelatin leaves are very easy to use; you just need to soak them in very cold water for 5 to 10 minutes to soften them and then just take them out from the water and dissolve in hot liquid.
They will dissolve immediately. Also make sure to use the right proportion of gelatin sheets for the amount of liquid you are using to set. As a rule of thumb, you will need 1 gelatin leaf per 125 ml of liquid.
For my panna cotta portion where I had used 250 ml each of milk & heavy cream, I used 4 gelatin sheets for a total of 500 ml liquid and the consistency of the panna cotta turned out to be absolutely perfect.
It was completely set to hold the perfect angular shape but still retained a creaminess and when mixed with the strawberry compote while eating, it tasted simply heaven!
Trust me, this strawberry panna cotta had transported me to cloud 9 by not only its look but also by its deliciousness! Make it at home and thank me later! Enjoy!
Looking for more Valentine’s Day special recipe? Check out my yummy chocolate mousse here!
- Milk – 250 ml
- Heavy cream – 250 ml
- Gelatin leaf – 4
- Sugar – ¼ cup + 2 tbsp
- Vanilla extract – 1 tsp
- Fresh strawberry – 500 gms
- Gelatin leaf – 2
- Sugar – ⅓ cup (70 gms)
- Water – 2 tbsp
- Take a bowl of very cold water and soak the 4 gelatin leaves in them. You may break the leaves into small pieces to fit making sure they are entirely submerged in cold water. Leave it for 10 minutes.
- To serve your strawberry panna cotta as shown in my pictures, take 4 serving glasses of size about 200 ml each and make them stand on a baking pan at a 45-degree angle. I used a muffin tin for the same and placed the glasses inside the cups at a 45-degree angle.
- Pour the milk and heavy cream in a sauce pan, add sugar and vanilla extract to them. Heat the milk & heavy cream mixture over medium heat and stir continuously to dissolve the sugar. As soon as the milk comes to a light simmer, reduce the flame to minimum.
- Take out the soaked gelatin leaves from cold water. They will turn very soft and will remain invisible inside the water, so make sure to fish them all out carefully.
- Try to squeeze out the cold water from the gelatin sheets and drop them into the hot milk plus cream mixture stirring at the same time with a wire whisk or spatula.
- As soon as the gelatin will dissolve in the hot milk, switch off the flame. Your panna cotta mixture is ready.
- Pour the panna cotta mixture into the serving glasses filling up to the rim keeping them in 45-degree angle and do not disturb the glasses after that. Let it cool on its own for about an hour. Then chill them in refrigerator for 4 to 5 hours or until completely set.
- Again, take a bowl of very cold water and soak the 2 gelatin leaves in them. You may break the leaves into small pieces to fit making sure they are entirely submerged in cold water. Leave it for 10 minutes.
- Hull the strawberries and wash them thoroughly. Then cut them into small pieces like 6 to 7 pieces each.
- Take the chopped strawberries in a saucepan and add sugar & 2 tablespoons of water to it. Place the saucepan on medium heat, stir is using a spatula and let the liquid come to a simmer. Stir until the sugar dissolves completely and strawberries turn soft and mushy.
- Once the sugar is dissolved, remove the saucepan from heat and using a stick blender, blend the strawberries until smooth. You will get a strawberry sauce of thin consistency.
- Strain the strawberry sauce using a coarse sieve to remove all the remainder seeds. Do not skip the straining part; otherwise you will not get the velvety smooth texture of strawberry compote on top of your panna cotta.
- Pour the strawberry sauce back into the saucepan and place on medium heat. As soon as it comes to a simmer, drop the squeezed-out gelatin leaves into the strawberry sauce and stir using a spatula until the gelatin dissolves completely. Remove from heat.
- Take the panna cotta glasses out from refrigerator and let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. If you pour the hot strawberry compote into the chilled glass immediately, the glasses may break. So, wait for the compote to cool down a bit and the glasses to come up to a little higher temperature.
- You can make the glasses stand straight as by this time, the panna cotta should have completely set and will retain the angular shape.
- Then carefully pour the strawberry compote into the glasses on top of the panna cotta. I used a ladle; you can pour directly from saucepan if you have a steady hand.
- Put the glasses back into the refrigerator for 6 to 8 hours so that the strawberry compote also sets lightly. The strawberry compote will not be as stiff as the panna cotta; it will have a wobbly texture and that’s exactly what you want. The creamy moussey texture of panna cotta is best complemented by the velvety smooth strawberry sauce which is slightly liquidy in texture.
- Garnish with some fresh mint leaves on top and serve the individual strawberry panna cotta chilled. Enjoy!
i had tried ur recipe of straberry pannacotaa came out really very well….thanks to u