Lemon Panna Cotta

The weather has been really lovely lately, with temperatures around 30-35 C. This has made it a tad difficult to go outdoors without almost having an asthma attack, but I don't care, it's worth it! Even though the weather makes my brain scream "ice cream ice cream ice cream ice cream ice cream!" all day long, I have yet to actually do it. Shared kitchens aren't all that fun, and I wouldn't want someone's food or hot oil ending up in my custard. So there was no ice cream to be had, but I still wanted something cool and refreshing, preferably that didn't require too much work either, and what is easier than panna cotta?

Instead of Daniel's recipe, with only cream, I decided to try one of Tartelette's, with half cream and half milk. I flavoured the panna cotta with lemon zest, but if we had had mint at home I would've used that too, and perhaps lime instead of lemon.

The panna cottas turned out very light in both feeling and flavour, but since I've had no previous experience with powdered gelatin they turned out a little bit too jiggly. Next time I'll just use gelatin leaves.

Lemon Panna Cotta, adapted from Tartelette. Yields 2

Ingredients

125 ml milk
125 ml heavy cream
60 ml sugar
The zest from one lime
1 vanilla bean, split in half, and the seeds scraped out (NOT to throw away, mind you...)
1 teaspoon powdered gelatin bloomed in 1 Tb water (means to pour the water over the gelatin and let it sit while you prepare the panna cotta) (Note: this turned out to be too little gelatin to make the panna cottas set, but I don't know if the amount is wrong or if I just fucked it up.)

Combine all the ingredients, except the gelatin, in a saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and let the cream to steep for 20 minutes. Pass the mixture through a sieve or a chinois, heat the gelatin in the microwave for 8 seconds and quickly stir it in the cream mixture. Divide it evenly among small dishes, glasses, etc...Let set in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

Serve with berries or a coulis.