Wild Fennel Panna Cotta

It’s a very long time I don’t write a post: I’ve been very busy with preparing my Cookery School and Supper Club. But a blogger-friend asked me if I could make a recipe for a contest on wild herbs, knowing how passionate I am about this. So here I am, with a dessert made with wild fennel which I adore. I thought about making a very simple Panna Cotta flavoured with this extraordinary herb. Wild fennel gets amazing just cooked in a syrup. I chose raspberries but you can serve it also with strawberries: the acidity and freshness of fruits balances the velvety  sweetness of panna cotta. It is a  light dessert to serve after an elegant dinner.

 

Ingredients for 4 servings

400 ml of fresh liquid cream ( 30% of fat)

10 gr of jelly in sheets

150 gr of caster sugar

300 ml of water

A pinch of salt

250 gr of raspberries

Two branches of wild fennel washed and finely chopped

First of all prepare the syrup: put the water and sugar to boil, let cook slowly for about 15 mn or till the syrup begins to thicken and makes bubbles, add the fennel and switch off the fire. Let cool  and in the meantime prepare the panna cotta: pour the cream in a saucepan, add the pinch of salt and bring to boil, turn off the fire. Soak the gelatine in cold water till it gets soft, then drain it and add to the warm cream, mix very well and add 100 ml of the syrup you’ve prepared before. Stir to combine and pour in silicone moulds, refrigerate for at least 4 hours but you can keep it 1 or two days well covered with a film. Wash quickly the raspberries, put them in a bowl, add the syrup and  mix very gently. To serve: unmould the panna cotta, place in the middle of a dessert plate, garnish with the raspberries and syrup and serve.

E qui sotto in Italiano!

How to make a light dessert :Chocolate Jelly

I love chocolate. Dark Chocolate.And I love to make light desserts: after a nice meal dessert should be like an evanescent cloud just passing by, leaving a sweet memory .Some years ago I bought a book on agar-agar : I won't mention the author ,as I soon realised that she did not tested the recipes .But I found a new ingredient ,very interesting for its healthy properties so I searched for a milligram scale and began to test. Almost all the recipes containing agar-agar will tell you :a coffee spoon etc....but if you want be sure of results better to use a scale . One day I found here the recipe of a chocolate jelly and I immediately tried it . This was 3 years ago and this dessert has become one of my best-seller has a personal chef . Yes, I re-made the recipe to suit my taste , I tried differents proportions of agar-agar and this is the final result of all my experimentations . With a dessert like this you can indulge !And you can keep it some days in the fridge ,covered . Very useful when you have guests !

 

Ingredients for 6 big servings or 12 small ones 

200 gr of dark chocolate 70%

500 ml of  fresh milk

A  pinch of  fleur de sel

A  pinch of grounded ginger

2 ,2 gr  of agar-agar

200 gr of sugar ,200 ml of water  and 8 tonka beans a for the syrup or a spoon of  chopped fresh ginger

Cut the chocolate in small pieces, put all the other ingredients in a sauce pan  and bring to boil  , pay attention when milkc omes to boil you’ll have to stir for a minute . Then  turn off the fire and  pour the chocolate into the mixture .Wait  3/4   minutes and then you can mix it well till all the chocolate is dissolved . Pour in the silicon moulds  ( or in cups )and then in the fridge to cool . For the syrup : bring to boil water,sugar and the tonka beans ( or the ginger )and let cook slowly till the syrup thickens  and begin to make  bubbles You can taste it  for consistence , it should not be too liquid . Use the syrup to garnish the jelly . 

If you’d like  to make  also the white chocolate jelly you can use the same recipe but  instead than 2,2 gr of agar-agar you’ll use  2,4gr (seems like nothing but it makes a difference) though if you want make the two it’s better to divide the dose  in two  so  200 ml of milk ,50 ml of cream, 1,1 gr of agar-agar and 100 gr of dark chocolate . For the white one  1,2 gr of agar-agar.