Mascarpone Panna Cotta with Strawberry Jelly and Redcurrant

Panna cotta is one of the most famous Italian desserts not only in its birth country but in the whole world. It has the consistency of a pudding and its main ingredients are double cream (this is where the dessert’s name comes from – “cooked cream”) and gelatine. Of course, there are plenty variations and ingredient combinations. Our recipe has equal parts of mascarpone and cream. The ready pudding has a very gentle sweet taste that is wonderfully contrasting to the lightly sour redcurrant.

The first testimonies for this dessert are about 1000 years old and come from the Piedmont region – Northwest Italy. The lady who invented this pudding was probably of Hungarian origin.

At the time, people were using a dusted air bubble from beluga fish to jelly desserts. It sounds a bit weird, so nowadays we are using gelatine. Adding vanilla extract and serving panna cotta with fruit sauces, caramel and melted chocolate are modern interpretations of this almost ancient dessert.

Ingredients for Mascarpone Panna Cotta with Redcurrant:

• 250 g mascarpone
• 250 g double cream
• 125 g redcurrant
• 60 g sugar
• 4 gelatine leaves
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp strawberry jelly

Preparation:

1. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water.
2. Place the mascarpone, cream, vanilla and sugar into a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir continuously until the mixture starts to simmer. Remove from the heat.
3. Drain the gelatine leaves and stir them in until dissolved.
4. Pass the sauce through a sieve and divide it into ramekins or moulds. Leave aside to cool. After they have reached room temperature, cover them with cling film and place in the fridge for at least 6 hours.
5. Before serving, place the desserts in the freezer for 10 minutes. Boil water and pour it into a bowl.
6. Dip each mould into the water up to its rim for a few seconds but be careful not to overflow. You don’t want any water to get into the panna cotta. Turn each mascarpone panna cotta out onto a serving plate. If it doesn’t fall out on the plate easily, return to the warm water bath to ease them out.
7. Pour the strawberry jelly into a small bowl. Stir in 1 tbsp hot water to obtain strawberry syrup.
8. Decorate the mascarpone panna cotta with strawberry syrup and redcurrant. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 5 days.

Bon appetit!

The recipe is inspired from Rewe.