Recipe CXVIII - Panna Cotta with Raspberry Jelly Topping

This recipe is so easy although it takes a little time - not yours, however, its own time in the fridge. It's another spinoff of the trifle, this time from Italy. The Italians took a lot from English cuisine several hundred years ago, but changed the look drastically, which is why English desserts look decadent and sumptuous, and Italian ones look like a keyhole surgeon has found an entertaining way of using his/her tools in the kitchen on days off. So here is another one, to follow the last recipe...

Ingredients for the panna cotta:

Half of a 9g packet of gelatine

500g cream

25g fine sugar

1 vanilla pod, cut down the middle with the insides scraped out

Ingredients for the jelly topping

Some cherry or raspberry genever 

4 suitable glasses

200cl water

200g raspberries

The other half of the 9g packet of gelatine

100g sugar 

A blender

Instructions:

Put the sugar, gelatine, vanilla and cream into a non-stick pan and heat gently, making sure it never bubbles up. It is essential that it goes no further than simmering, as it will detract from the final result. Make sure all the gelatine and sugar has been melted.

I'm not going to insult you by showing you a photo of this process, so let's move on.

When everything has nicely dissolved, pour the mixture out equally into four suitable glasses. Put some clingfilm over them and leave them to cool. Then put them for at least an hour in the fridge.

In this time, you can make the jelly.

Put the genever, water and sugar into a pan and slowly heat. Do not allow it to boil if you want a more alcoholic taste to the jelly. Once fairly hot, put in the gelatine and allow everything to dissolve. Then put in the raspberries and pour everything into a blender. 

Put it back on the heat for a minute or two, and then leave it to cool, but not fully or you won't be able to pour it onto the panna cotta.

But once it's tepid, get it out and pour over the panna cotta.

Put them back in the fridge and serve when ready.

Recipe LXVII - Summer Pudding

So finally, summer has arrived. It's almost August already, but better a few weeks of sun than none at all. Anyhow... This weekend, I was invited to make an al-fresco dinner for our friends in Portz, up in the hills near Saarburg. You can see for miles there. The weather was gorgeous and the wonderful setting under the trees set me about concocting a simple yet sumptuous meal under the trees. After the starter and main course, I made a typically English summer dessert, one of my favourites alongside tiramisù or apple pie, known as Summer Pudding. The ingredients are startling, the way you need to construct them makes you doubt they'll ever work, but the final result is glorious, and a perfect end to a perfect day assured.

Ingredients:
2 loaves of thinly cut, plain white bread, preferably not too salty
800g red fruits, e.g. strawberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, raspberries, etc...
200-300g caster sugar, or fine white sugar
(A drop of cherry or plum schnapps)
Plus:
Some clingfilm & scissors
4 pudding basins (cheap ones from the supermarket work fine)
4 saucers and a weight of some kind (some cans of tomatoes, or a couple of heavy glasses, for example)



Instructions:
Take your fruit and sugar, and heat it up gently until the sugar has melted, but no more, because you do not want the fruit to burn, or the juices to evaporate. Put a little alcohol in it, if you want, although it is not necessary.
In the meantime, take the clingfilm and cut out enough to line the inside of the pudding bowls.



Cut off the crusts of the bread (do not throw them away - keep them for stuffing a chicken, for example) and mould them into the bowls, forming the outer layer of your eventual pudding.
Some say you should use slightly stale bread, but I believe fresh bread moulds and sticks better together.



Finally, cut out a layer for what will be your base, and make sure it is completely sealed so nothing can cause too much leaking, and is at the same height as the top of the bowl. Save some juice for the opening, as not all the puddings may turn purple, although that has its charms too (see final photo).



Put a saucer on top of it and a weight (see ingredients list) and put them in the fridge until it is dessert time. As we were outside, I put them in a freezer box, which worked quite well. To remove, keep them base facing up, then pull the clingfilm ever-so-gently away from the bowl round the outside to unstick it, whilst making sure it stays in the basin. Then put the final serving plate on top of the pudding and turn it over. Let the clingfilm separate from the bowl and fall onto the plate.



Serve with lightly sugared whipped cream.