It is a lovely time of year for soft fruits so look out for raspberries, strawberries, peaches and apricots, as they make wonderful dessert ingredients. Panna cotta means ‘set cream’, and this is a lovely light dessert that you can make ahead. Fresh ripe peaches work best, so this should only be made when they are in season. Peaches and raspberries work well together, but if you’re more of a berry lover, you could substitute the peaches for strawberries.
For those who prefer tart flavours to sweet, you can use lemon or lime juice instead of vanilla. For yoghurt, I like the 10% fat version. It is years since I used powdered gelatine because I prefer the leaves, but be careful as too much will make the dessert rubbery. You could throw it at the wall, and it would come back to you. This is a refreshing dessert for a celebration and looks lovely served in glasses.
The homemade ice pops are great for summer camps or picnics in the hot weather. They are also good fun to get children involved in the kitchen. These are brilliant for stocking your freezer during the hot weather and will save you a fortune on shop-bought ice creams. You could make them with raspberries, blueberries or blackberries. The condensed milk adds a nice sweetness. For the coconut milk, the Wexford-produced Thai Gold is an excellent choice.
I prefer the full-fat coconut milk. These days you can buy mango already peeled and cubed.I love this flavour combination and all the colours really pop.
Ingredients: Serves 6
4 large ripe peaches
4 gelatine leaves
1 vanilla pod
600ml milk
300ml cream
150g caster sugar
4 tbsp thick Greek-style yoghurt
100g fresh raspberries
Method
1. Peel three of the peaches with a vegetable peeler. Cut the flesh off the stones and put in a blender or NutriBullet. Blend to a purée – you need about 200ml in total.
2. Soak the gelatine in a bowl of water for 10 minutes to swell, then gently squeeze dry. Split the vanilla pod in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds. Put in a pan with the milk, cream and sugar. Bring to the boil, then take the pan off the heat.
3. Stir in the squeezed gelatine and peach coulis. Strain the mixture into a Pyrex jug and allow to cool. Once the peaches and cream mixture is cold, pour it into 6 x 175ml serving glasses and put in the fridge to set for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
4. Remove the panna cottas from the fridge just before serving. Cut the remaining peach into slices and arrange on top with a spoonful of yoghurt and the raspberries.
Ingredients: Serves 12
5 limes
1 x 170g tin of condensed milk
1 x 160ml tin of coconut milk
1 large, ripe mango
150g small strawberries
Method
1. Finely grate 2 teaspoons of the rind from the limes, then give them a good roll before cutting them in half and squeezing the juice. Put the rind in a Pyrex jug and sieve in the juice. Whisk in the condensed milk and coconut milk and set aside.
2. Peel the mango and cut off the flesh – you need about 200g. Place in a small blender or NutriBullet with 6 tablespoons of the lime and milk mixture. Blitz to a purée – you need 300ml in total.
3. Cut the stalks off the strawberries and slice, then divide between the ice pop moulds. Alternate pouring the lime and coconut mix and the mango purée into the moulds and swirl gently with a wooden skewer.
4. Put the ice pop sticks into the filled moulds and freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight is best, until set. To serve, quickly dip the ice pop moulds into hot water to loosen the ice pops and hand around to be enjoyed immediately.
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