In partnership with Vico Food Box, Italian food at low prices with free shipping throughout Europe
This summer has been a very hot one in many parts of Italy. Also here in London we had a few extraordinarily hot days, with temperatures touching 40 C for the first time in history.
For this reason, I decided to post the most delicious no-bake, no-struggle, it-is-too-hot-to-do-anything dessert: pistachio and amarena cherry panna cotta.
Panna cotta is an absolute classic Italian dessert. Funny thing is, most people don’t know that it is actually ridiculously easy to make and to personalise with your most favourite flavours.
One of my go-to combinations is the nutty and slightly salty flavour of pistachios paired with the sweetness and tartness of amarena cherries. If you never tried these cherries, I absolutely urge you to get your hands on a jar ASAP.
Thanks to the guys at Vico Food Box and their huge selection of original Italian products, I was able to order and get delivered to my place both a top quality pistachio cream (insanely good even just spreaded on some bread) and a most wanted jar of amarena cherries in syrup (“Fabbri” is THE brand you want to buy. I don’t get anything for saying this, but Fabbri cherries are, by far, the most delicious).
Panna cotta is really versatile, just play with your favourite flavour combinations and experiment with fruit syrups, nut pastes or chocolate (you might need to tweak the amount of sugar and gelatine, but that’s it).
Literally make your restaurant-quality desserts at home.
Makes 6 servings
Ingredients
- 400g double cream
- 100g whole milk
- 6g gelatine in sheets
- 220g pistachio cream (sweetened)
- Amarena cherries in syrup (I used Fabbri)
- Pistachios (whole kernels and chopped) to decorate
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
- 6 dariole moulds / mini pudding basins
Method
- Cut the gelatine sheets in half, place then in a bowl of icy water and let re-hydrate for 10 minutes
- Pour the double cream, milk and pistachio cream in a small saucepan, bring to the boil over a medium-low heat regularly and slowly whisking to melt and dissolve the pistachio cream. In the meanwhile, very lightly oil 6 small pudding basins / dariole moulds
- As soon as the mixture simmers, remove from the heat. Squeeze the hydrated gelatine to remove excess water, add to the saucepan and stir to dissolve.
- Place a fine strainer over a measuring jug and pour the panna cotta to remove any possible lumps or impurities. Pour the mix into the moulds in equal quantity and let cool down to room temperature.
- Place the moulds on a tray, cover with another tray or some alluminum foil and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours.
- When ready to serve, remove the moulds from the fridge. To remove the panna cottas from the moulds, gently run a tootpick or a very thin blade around the mould to gently detach the sides. Warm up the moulds by dipping them a few seconds into hot water (or by using a blowtorch). Quickly turn over a plate and lift the mould. The panna cotta should easily detach If it doesn’t, heat the mould a little more.
- Add three amarena cherries on the top, spoon a couple of teaspoons of the cherries syrup over the pannacotta and decorate with pistachio kernels or nibs. Enjoy!