Panna cotta con fragole al balsamico e pepe verde

Panna cotta with balsamic strawberries and green peppercorn

This recipe was passed on to me by a gentleman by the name Francesco; he was a chef at Nola, a little town in the province of Naples.

He loved cooking but his passion was desserts. This panna cotta has a beautiful aroma, is delicate on the palate and is strangely light.

You will need;

Ingredients

1200 ml of thickened cream

150gr of icing sugar

150ml of milk,

3 sheets of gelatine

1 vanilla bean,

1 punnet of strawberries

20 ml of aged balsamic vinegar and lemon zest

Method

In a heavy bottomed pan add 900ml of thickened cream and vanilla bean that you have cut in half at length and the lemon zest that you have grated off the lemon carefully to avoid as much white pith as possible.

Simmer the mixture until it has reduced by about a centimetre and lower the heat.

In a small pot, warm the milk and then pour it over the gelatine, leave to soften. Whisk the icing sugar and the remaining cream to form soft peaks, add the gelatine and the milk to the mixture on the stove and then fold in the whisked cream, strain with a sieve and remove all the beans from the vanilla and discard the rest. Pour into moulds and let sit for a least 1 hour.

Whilst you are waiting for the panna cotta to set, iIn a large bowl crush the strawberries and add the balsamic vinegar and the crushed green peppercorns and let macerate until you need to pour over the dessert.

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