Vanilla Panna Cotta with Bitter Gooseberry and Honey Coulis
Cape Gooseberries, with their wonderful bitter-sweet acidity, make the perfect topping for this vanilla panna cotta, cutting through the rich dessert with a fresh hit of Gooseberry flavour!
Ingredients
For the Coulis:
- 300g Cape Gooseberries (Puréed – see Method)
- 100 g Cape Gooseberries for decoration)
- ½ tsp gelatine
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 2 tablespoons icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon of honey
For the Panna Cotta:
- 2 teaspoons gelatine
- ¼ cup caster sugar
- ⅔ full cream milk
- 300ml thickened cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Method
For the Coulis:
- Grease four metal moulds (or ramekin dishes or glasses). Place four whole gooseberries in each mould; reserve remaining gooseberries. Set aside.
- Purée gooseberries – De-cape and use a blender to purée 300 grams fresh Cape Gooseberries. Use a sieve to strain the purée to remove seeds and skin. Discard seeds and skin, reserving the Gooseberry purée for the next step.
- Place the purée in a small saucepan and sprinkle gelatine and sugar over the gooseberry purée. Stir until sugar and gelatine have dissolved. Add honey and icing sugar to sweeten. Note: If the mixture tastes overly bitter, sweeten to your liking.
- Cool and refrigerate until needed. NOTE: DO NOT let the coulis set. If mixture looks like it is starting to set, whisk until it returns to a sauce consistency.
- While the sauce is cooling, make the vanilla panna cotta.
For the Panna Cotta:
- In a small saucepan, combine the milk and cream.
- Sprinkle gelatine and sugar over combined milk and cream. Stir over low heat, without boiling, until gelatine and sugar are completely dissolved.
- Add vanilla extract.
- Pour warm mixture through a sieve, into a into medium-sized jug and allow cool to room temperature.
- Once cooled, gently pour cooled panna cotta into prepared moulds. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours, or overnight.
- Once set, turn Panna Cotta onto serving plates. Serve with Bitter Gooseberry and Honey Coulis