Blueberry lavender panna cotta
A lovely panna cotta flavoured with lavender and blueberries and topped with white chocolate shavings.
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
- 400 ml heavy cream
- 80 ml full fat milk
- 90 g sugar
- 7 g gelatin (4 sheets)
- 1 tsp dried lavender flowers
- 100 g fresh blueberries
- 1 tsp dried bilberry powder (optional)
- 20 g white chocolate shavings
Instructions
- Soak the gelatin in cold water and let it bloom. In a saucepan combine cream, sugar, lavender flowers and blueberries and set on medium heat. Cook the mixture for 4-5 minutes stirring to dissolve the sugar. Stir in the dried bilberry powder. As the mixture heats, the blueberries will start to cook and break; keep stirring for a couple more minutes. Remove from the heat just before it reaches boiling temperature. With a hand blender give the mixture a quick blend to fully smash the blueberries and extract their flavour.
- Pour the mixture through a sieve and discard lavender flowers and blueberry skins. Warm the milk and stir in the drained softened gelatin. Stir gelatin mixture into blueberry mixture. Divide final mixture between moulds and let set in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.
- Serve the panna cotta cold, with white chocolate shavings on top.
Notes
The dried bilberry powder is not a mandatory ingredient, but it helps to naturally enhance the purple colour of the panna cotta. The North American variety of blueberry has a light green flesh, as opposed to the dark purple pulp of European bilberries. Panna cotta made with blueberries may result quite pale in colour, as compared to the same recipe made with bilberries. Instead of adding artificial colouring, the powder of dried bilberries is added in this recipe.