Vanilla Panna Cotta

One of Alasdair’s favourites and he used to get this for pudding when the family went for tea.

Ingredients:

For the panna cotta:

3 gelatine leaves

250 ml/9fl oz milk

250 ml/9fl oz double cream

1 vanilla pod, split lengthways, seeds scraped out

25g / 1 oz sugar

For the sauce:

175g / 6oz sugar

175ml / 6fl oz water

Splash cherry liqueur

350g / 12oz raspberries

To serve:

4 sprigs fresh mint

Icing sugar, to dust

Method:

For the panna cotta, soak the gelatine leaves in a little cold water until soft. Place the milk, cream, vanilla pod and seeds and sugar into a pan and bring to a simmer. Remove the vanilla pod and discard. Squeeze the water out of the gelatine leaves, then add to the pan and take off the heat.

Stir until the gelatine has dissolved. Divide the mixture among four ramekins and leave to cool. Place into the fridge for at least an hour and set. For the sauce, place the sugar, water and cherry liqueur into a pan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the sugar has dissolved.

Take the pan off the heat and add half the raspberries. Using a hand blender, blend the sauce until smooth. Pass the sauce through a sieve into a bowl and stir in the remaining fruit.

To serve, turn each panna cotta out onto a serving plate. Spoon over the sauce and garnish with a sprig of mint. Dust with icing sugar.