Prosecco and Strawberry Panna Cotta
This recipe, created by Danilo Cortellini, the Head Chef at the Italian Embassy in London - our go-to guru for getting creative with prosecco this Summer (check out his recipe for Prosecco Pimms here). This Prosecco and Strawberry Panna Cotta is the perfect dessert to finish a beautiful Summer dinner; invokes all the British Summer memories and is the perfect way to get your strawberry fix sans Wimbledon this year. It’s created by using fresh strawberries, a delightfully light Prosecco jelly, a wonderful fragrant vanilla Panna Cotta and a strawberry sorbet. Cortellini states that this dessert is “Just Divine!” and recommends using an extra dry Prosecco DOC as it’s much sweeter than a brut. “This dessert is refreshing thanks to the mild acidity of the DOC Prosecco and sharp with strawberries and all balanced by the sweetness of the vanilla and the luxury of the cream. What more I could say really? It is just a match made in heaven!” Here’s how to make it.
Danilo Cortellini. Prosecco DOC
DOC Prosecco and Strawberry Panna Cotta
Serves 4. Preparation Time: 30 Minutes (plus 2 hours chilling). Cooking Time: 10 Minutes.
Ingredients:
200g of fresh strawberries for ganish
100g of almond crumble (or crumbled cookies)
Fresh basil to garnish
For the Vanilla Panna Cotta:
185ml of double cream
70ml of whole milk
25g of sugar
1/4 of vanilla pod
4g of gelatine leaf
For the Strawberry Sorbet:
500ml of water
200g of sugar
220g of ripe strawberries
For the DOC Prosecco Jelly:
100g of strawberry puree
200ml of DOC Prosecco extra dry
15g of sugar
8g of gelatine leaf
Method:
1. To make the panna cotta, soak your panna cotta gelatine leaf in cold water.
2. Mix the double cream in a pan with milk and sugar well and scrape in the vanilla seeds. Bring the mixture to boiling point and remove quickly from the heat. Melt the pre-soaked gelatine (in cold water) into the panna cotta mixture, and let it cool down while mixing.
3. To prepare the Prosecco DOC jelly, soak the gelatine in cold water and blend the strawberries until smooth. Pass the strawberry puree through a fine sieve.
4. Heat a small quantity of the Prosecco DOC and melt the gelatine in it while still warm. Remove from the heat and add the rest of the Prosecco the strawberry puree.
5. Now you can build your layered dessert. Tumbler glasses are recommended. Pour in each glass a couple of spoons of panna cotta and let it set in the freezer for 10 minutes.
6. Now you can pour in a spoon of Prosecco DOC jelly on top of the panna cotta and let it set for 10 more minutes in the freezer.
7. At this stage you can add a slice of fresh strawberry if you wish to. Once the jelly is well set add another layer of vanilla panna cotta and so on until you have at least 3 white and 2 red layers. Keep it in the fridge until it is time to serve it.
8. Prepare the strawberry sorbet in advance and remember that you can keep it in the freezer for a couple of months, so don’t worry too much about quantities.
9. Clean the strawberries thoroughly. Prepare the syrup by combining the water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to boil.
10. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down.
11. Blend the syrup with the ripe strawberries, pass through a fine sieve and pour it into the ice cream maker.
12. Once ready, let it set in the freezer for a couple of hours.
13. To finish the desserts, add a spoonful of crumble on top of the pannacotta and sit a scoop of sorbet on top of it.
14. Garnish with fresh basil and serve straight away with a cold glass of Prosecco DOC extra dry.