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Serves 4
Autumn has arrived and we thought we’d welcome it with our version of the much loved Panna cotta recipe, enjoy!
TASTE OF AUTUMN FACT
Panna cotta is Italian for cooked cream and is essentially a dessert made from sweetened, flavoured cream thickened with gelatin. Our recipe uses fresh vanilla to flavour the Panna cotta and milk in replacement of some of the cream to lighten its texture.
Although it is one of Italy’s most famous desserts, it was only created in the 1960’s in the Piedmont region.
The word biscotti originates from the Latin word, biscoctus, meaning twice cooked. Such nonperishable foods could be stored for long periods of time, therefore useful during long journeys and wars and twice baked breads were a staple food of the Roman Legions. Our biscotti recipe replaces the more traditional almond ingredient with pistachio and pairs beautifully in both flavour and texture with the recipes vanilla Panna cotta.
INGREDIENTS
- 160ml Thickened Cream
- 320ml Full Cream Milk
- 1 Vanilla Bean – cut in half lengthways, scrape out seeds and reserve both the seeds and pod.
- 30g Caster Sugar
- 3 sheets Gold Leaf Strength Gelatine
- 65ml Cold Water
- As required – Spray Oil
- As required – Baking Paper
- 195g Plain Flour – sieve
- 125g Caster Sugar
- 1⁄8 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
- 1⁄8 tsp Salt
- 100g Shelled Pistachio Nuts
- 1 Egg – crack and beat
- 30ml Water
METHOD
- Pre-heat oven to a moderate temperature – 160°C.
- In a saucepan combine thickened cream, full cream milk, vanilla seeds and pod and 30g caster sugar, and set over a medium heat. Bring up to a gentle simmer, stir regularly to ensure the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a mixing bowl to remove the vanilla pod. Set to one side.
- Place the gelatine sheets into a bowl, cover with cold water. Soak until they have softened (approximately 1minute), then remove them from the water and squeeze out any excess water. Add the gelatine sheets to thewarm Panna cotta mixture and whisk through until they have completely dissolved.
- Evenly distribute the Panna cotta mixture between 4 – 120ml dariole moulds, then place them into a refrigeratorfor 4 hours to set.
- Lightly oil a baking tray and then line it with baking paper.
- Combine plain flour, second batch of caster sugar, bicarbonate of soda, salt and pistachios. Add the egg andmix until combined.
- Add the water, and mix until dough begins to form. Shape the dough into a small loaf and place onto the bakingtray, place the tray into the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from the oven, andallow the loaf to cool to room temperature.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 140°C.
- Using a serrated knife, carefully trim away the ends of the biscotti loaf and discard. Then thinly slice theremainder of the loaf widthways. Place the biscotti slices, in a single layer back onto the baking tray, into the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven, allow to cool for 5 minutes, turn the slices of biscotti over, return to the oven and cook for a further 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow the biscotti to completely cool to room temperature and crispen up.
TO SERVE
Remove Panna cottas from the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to serving. Remove each Panna cotta from its mould by turning over and tapping the upturned mould down onto a plate. Place each one in the centre of a serving plate, and place a piece of biscotti next to the panna cotta, place the remainder of the biscotti onto a serving plate so guests can help themselves to more if desired.
