Panna cotta with strawberry lime compote

Light, creamy, fruity and absolutely delightful, panna cotta is the ultimate summer dinner party dessert. Easy to prep in advance, it’s gluten free, you can make it without dairy and in this recipe, adapted from David Liebovitz’ (whose blog I love), white sugar is replaced by coconut nectar, which has a lower glycemic index. Needless to say, it’s perfect if you want to indulge in a classic dessert but want something relatively healthy. And if there are any leftover, you could live a little and have it for breakfast the next day like we do…

You can get really creative when making panna cotta depending on the flavors you put in the delicate cream and fruit topping you pair it with. Here I’ve used a cream and milk base with a strawberry and lime zest compote, but there are so many possible combinations, you could probably write a book about them.

Some I’ve tried and love include:

• An almond milk base* (I used half almond milk and half thick cashew milk with my apricot nectarine compote
• A coconut cream base with a pineapple compote or mango coulis
• A classic or almond base with a blueberry or raspberry coulis*
• A classic base to which I add rosewater with a strawberry cardamom coulis

I’ll try to post these at some point but for now, take my word for it, this one rocks.

I am not a huge fan of using almond milk alone because somehow it doesn’t produce the same creamy texture, which is why I mix it with the cashew milk.

Makes 8 classic size ramekins

Ingredients

• 1 cup of heavy cream + 1 cup of milk OR 2 cups of heavy cream OR 1 cup almond milk + 1 cup thick cashew milk OR 2 cups coconut cream
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp coconut nectar/syrup
• 4 tsp gelatin powder (around 2 packets)
• 6 tablespoons (90ml) of cold water

Strawberry lime compote

• 500 grams of strawberries, cleaned and cut in 2
• 2-3 tbsp coconut nectar (depending on how naturally sweet your strawberries are)
• Juice of a lime
• Zest of one lime

Instructions

1. Place the water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin on top. Let stand for 10 minutes
2. Meanwhile, heat the cream and milk in a saucepan with vanilla extract and coconut syrup, mixing well until the coconut syrup is dissolved
3. Just before it begins to simmer, take it off the heat
4. Add gelatin mixture to the hot milk/cream mixture and mix well until the gelatin is completely dissolved
5. Pour the cream into 8 ramekins and place on a large tray in the fridge, covered for 4 hours or until set
6. Prepare the compote:
   1. Place all the ingredients except the zest in a saucepan over medium heat, tossing for a minute
   2. Lower heat and let simmer softly for 15 minutes or until the liquid becomes syrupy and strawberries are cooked
   3. Mix in the zest, take off the heat and reserve. Once cooled, place covered in fridge.
7. Right before serving, spoon one or two spoonfuls of compote on each set panna cotta.