Simplicity at its finest, this softly set pudding takes almost no effort to make, yet is nothing short of amazing! Even though panna cotta (lit. cooked cream) wasn't mentioned in Italian cookbooks until the 1960s, today it is considered a traditional Piedmontese dessert, and the original recipe calls for only whole cream, sugar, vanilla, and gelatin.
When made to perfection and properly chilled, panna cotta is silky smooth, deliciously creamy, and has a gentle wobble to it. For a slightly lighter version of this scrumptious dessert, use half-and-half instead of heavy cream, or simply dilute heavy cream with milk.
According to Anna Del Conte, a renowned food writer and leading figure in Italian cuisine, classic Piedmontese panna cotta is served on its own or sometimes accompanied with Brutti ma buoni hazelnut meringue biscotti, while the Valle d’Aosta version of panna cotta is flavored with a dash of peach eau-de-vie and garnished with red berry coulis.
In other parts of Italy, panna cotta is frequently flavored with rum or sweet Marsala wine and topped with a generous drizzle of caramel sauce, which perfectly complements the seductive aroma of vanilla. Imagination being the only limit, variations on this elegant dessert are virtually endless, and it can be easily tailored to anyone’s taste.
