Creamy panna cotta set with agar-agar, with fresh fruit sauce
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Panna cotta with fresh fruit sauce
The secret of a good panna cotta is a set that still feels wonderfully creamy. We use agar-agar rather than gelatin or isinglass, which to our taste make it too jelly-like. Brands of agar-agar vary, so experiment a little with the quantity.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Chilling: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Gluten-Free, Vegetarian
Ingredients
For the panna cotta (6–8 small molds)
- 1 liter (4 cups) cream, or 750 ml (3 cups) cream and 250 ml (1 cup) whole milk
- 3 level teaspoons sugar
- ½ vanilla bean
- About 5 g agar-agar (powder, flakes or sticks; check the package, as brands vary)
For the fruit sauce
- 300 g (10 oz) ripe strawberries, kiwis or mango
- 1–2 teaspoons sugar, to taste
Instructions
- Split the vanilla bean and put it in a saucepan with the sugar and cream (and milk, if using). Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
- When it boils, add the agar-agar, lower the heat and simmer for another 2–3 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean.
- Pour into the molds, let cool and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- Meanwhile, wash the fruit and cut it into small pieces.
- Add just enough sugar to sweeten it (1–2 teaspoons, depending on the fruit).
- Warm over low heat for a few minutes, just until the fruit softens. Let cool.
- Turn the panna cotta out of the molds and spoon the fruit sauce over.
The quantities of agar agar are incorrect. 5g is not 2oz so some guess work needed here. Trial and lots of error unfortunately.
Just a quick note on this panna cotta recipe; 5 g translates at around a teaspoon, not 2 oz (which is @ 56g) Your american readers might get tripped up over this 🙂
Thanks for the catch Anon! we’ve just updated the recipe
5 grams of agar-agar is about one teaspoon. Sorry and thanks for the catch Bellafioriuno!
What kind of cream do you mean in this recipe?
In Italy we typically only find one type of cream: in Britain it’s know as single cream, In the US it’s called light cream (18% to 30% fat).
Ciao! I don’t have agar agar, may I substitute it with geletin? Grazie!
I’m sorry, but in no way does 1 tsp agar powder equal 1 tsp agar flakes. This recipe seems to have a huge margin for error.
Thank you for the recipe.. It worked first time for me.
The amount of sugar can’t be right. I am not a great fan of excessive sweetness but 3 level teaspoons of sugar for a litre of cream? That’s 15ml. Other recipes generally have the sugar content at more like 200ml sugar per litre of cream.