I am having a birthday soon and so I want to celebrate. And there is nothing more delicious to celebrate with than this scrumptious (and easy) Italian dessert, Lemon Panna Cotta. Rarely do I flat out copy a recipe and give it to you, but this one is truly worthy of being passed on. I found this recipe at www.CooksIllustrated.com which is a great resource as they test recipes umpteen times and then give you the best recipe. I don’t appreciate all the ingredients they suggest as many of them are low fat or ingredients I would not recommend using, but if you replace those, their methods are usually pretty sound. For this recipe, I used local Texas Daily Harvest Cream and my favorite local goat’s milk, Swede Farms.
Lemon Panna Cotta
Author: The Barefoot Cook
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 8
Ingredients
- 1 cup organic whole milk ((cow or goat) (ideally raw or low temp pasteurized))
- 2¾ teaspoons gelatin (I use Bernard Jensen brand but you can use the plain gelatin at the store)
- 3 cups organic heavy cream (ideally raw or low temp pasteurized)
- 2 inch piece vanilla bean, split lengthwise with paring knife (or substitute 2 teaspoons extract)
- 4 pieces lemon zest (about 2 inches long by ½ inch wide), cut into julienne strips
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice from 1-2 medium lemons
- 6 tablespoons organic cane sugar (you could also use honey)
- Pinch good salt
Instructions
- Pour milk into medium saucepan; sprinkle surface evenly with gelatin and let stand 10 minutes to hydrate gelatin. Meanwhile, turn contents of two ice cube trays (about 32 cubes) into large bowl; add 4 cups cold water. Measure cream into large measuring cup or pitcher. With paring knife, scrape vanilla seeds into cream. Place pod in cream along with seeds, add julienne lemon peel, and set mixture aside. Set eight wine glasses or 4-ounce ramekins on baking sheet.
- Heat milk and gelatin mixture over high heat, stirring constantly, until gelatin is dissolved and mixture registers 135 degrees on instant-read thermometer, about 1½ minutes. Off heat, add sugar and salt; stir until dissolved, about 1 minute.
- Stirring constantly, slowly pour cream mixture into saucepan containing milk, then transfer mixture to medium bowl and set bowl over ice water bath. Stir frequently until thickened to consistency of eggnog and mixture registers 50 degrees on instant-read thermometer, about 10 minutes. Strain mixture into large measuring cup or pitcher, stir in lemon juice, then distribute evenly among wine glasses or ramekins. Cover baking sheet with plastic wrap, making sure that plastic does not mar surface of cream; refrigerate until just set (mixture should wobble when shaken gently), 4 hours.
- Serve panna cotta in wine glasses or ramekins. Feel free to top with sliced fresh fruit, coconut flakes or shaved chocolate.
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