I’m forever forgetting and trying to reconstruct this recipe, so this is another aide memoire blog post. I use Bryn Williams’ base recipe but have been steadily dialing down the gelatine to help give it a lovely wibble. I would also advise less sugar than he recommends.
Buttermilk panna cotta
284g buttermilk (1 St. Ivel carton, available at Waitrose)
284g double cream
100g caster sugar (too much, try 50-75g to taste)
1 vanilla pod
2 leaves gelatine (specifically, Costa fine leaf gelatine – in the blue pack)
Scrape out vanilla pod and add seeds and pod to pan with double cream. Bring to boil. Remove from heat.
Whisk in soaked gelatine leaves ensuring they are completely dissolved.
Put buttermilk in bowl and pour hot cream mixture over, removing vanilla pod. Mix.
Pour mixture into small Pyrex bowl, cover with cling-film and refrigerate until set (~4 hours).
Turn out onto plate and serve with berries, poached rhubarb, etc.
Update 25 Nov 2011
OK, I’ve nailed this recipe now. I genuinely can’t see how it can be improved. Here’s the updated quantities:
Buttermilk panna cotta
284g buttermilk (1 St. Ivel carton, available at Waitrose)
284g double cream
75g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod
1 + 2/3 leaves gelatine (specifically, Costa fine leaf gelatine – in the blue pack)
The only remaining problem with this recipe is that if you make one large one, as I do, it will tend to spread out a little when turned onto a plate. Doesn’t really matter though.
I now do this with buttermilk to cream in 2:1 ratio. You get more of the tang of the buttermik – and it’s healthier! Reducing the gelatin to the minimum is a good idea and can only be done by trial and error till you get the desired consistency.
Yes. Although I think that if you stick to the same brand of gelatine and follow the recipe exactly this should work well.
I don’t understand this concept of “healthier”.