Coconut Panna Cotta with Mixed Berries

A very delayed post.. :)



It was MasterChef grand finale some weeks ago, and we had a very impromptu dinner get-together.

So I wasn't going to let a MasterChef dinner go without a dessert. But I opened my pantry and nothing jumped out at me. And next the fridge, a half opened carton of coconut cream and a half bottle of cream. Hmmm....


(....Panna Cotta with berries, brought to you by... my junior masterchef!)

You see, I have seen a fair few Panna Cottas being made on reality TV (?My Kitchen Rules and of course MasterChef). It looks simple enough, but then again, those that I have seen have somehow ended in a disaster! And the fact is, I have never made one before, nor do I remember ever having eaten one in my life! I probably had, but even if I have it wasn't quite memorable enough, you can see. So will I pull this through with the limited time that I have (It was 5pm by the time I decided I wanted dessert!) and knowing that it needed at least 4 hours to set?

With the wonders of the world wide web, a simple google search brought me here. And the recipe:

Coconut Panna Cotta with Mixed Berries

Super Food Ideas - February 2004
Recipe by Janelle Bloom & Dixie Elliott

Ingredients

• 400ml can coconut milk
• 300ml thickened cream
• 1 cup caster sugar
  
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1 tablespoon gelatine
• 250g fresh strawberries, hulled, quartered
• 150g fresh blueberries
• 200g fresh raspberries

*I reduced the amount of sugar to 1/2 cup, also I didn't have fresh berries so I used frozen raspberries and blueberries instead and fresh cherries (that was initially intended for a black forest cake).

Method

1. Place coconut milk, cream and 3/4 cup of sugar into a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 3 to 5 minutes or until sugar dissolves (do not boil). Remove from heat.

2. Place hot water into a small bowl. Sprinkle over gelatine. Whisk with a fork until dissolved. Add to coconut milk mixture. Whisk well to combine.

3. Rinse (6) 8 x 1/2-cup capacity dishes or moulds. Shake out excess water. Pour in coconut mixture. Cover. Refrigerate for 5 hours, or overnight if time permits, until set.

4. Place strawberries, blueberries and raspberries into a bowl. Sprinkle with remaining sugar. Cover. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

5. Turn panna cotta onto plates. Serve with berries and any juice.

Easy...it's child's play!

On my reading list this morning, I read on one of my favourite foodies blog, a post on The Perfect(ish) Vanilla Panna Cotta. And that was what reminded me of this post that needed to be done. So thank you, Karen, from Citrus and Candy. You have been full of inspiration and wonderful ideas. Here's a line from her post that I lazily copied and pasted here because I love it!

A wise man once said that, "a panna cotta should wobble like a Rubenesque woman wearing 5 inch heels". That wise man was Matt Preston wasn't it?

So did mine wobble and jiggle like a seductive temptress? Silky and smooth it was, but I don't remember it wearing 5 inch heels. So maybe next time I will try undressing unmoulding the sexy goddess and see if it wobbles.


This Panna Cotta was completely dressed by Lucas, my 2 year old MasterChef and later completely demolished by that same little person.