We are smack bang in the middle of the summer season, meaning berries are in their prime. We now have about a six-week window when the balance of sugars in the fruit is at its best here in Ireland. Berries should be served at room temperature, with little fuss.
This week I’m keeping it simple with handy desserts that can be prepped in advance. If you’re cooking for a group at the weekend, get them prepped the day before. You can also make them up at the weekend and have them ready in the fridge for a midweek ‘pick me up’.
The first dish is a simple panna cotta with ripened raspberries and some toasted almonds. Panna cotta is basically a sweetened milk scented with vanilla and set with gelatin to a perfectly soft wobble. In an ideal world it will be just soft enough to hold in shape when you pop it out of a mould. But at home I like to avoid stress at all costs so I’ve added some extra gelatin to this recipe.
This is a dish that has been seen the world over and it holds a special place in our house. We moved to Melbourne in 2017 to work for a year, I got caught up in a restaurant opening and ended up working six days a week, much to my wife’s dismay. Our only crossover time together was Monday evening, and this involved a trip to the local Italian restaurant. It started with a large glass of red wine, meatballs to start, cacio e pepe for mains with a mountain of garlic bread and to finish, our panna cotta with raspberries and toasted almonds. Dessert was bitter sweet, always a great end to the meal while signalling a goodbye until the following week.
I’m happy to report everything worked out and we remain happily married. It must be said, absence makes the heart grow fonder. The hard work also delivered a chunk of savings and we managed to travel carefree for months after the year of graft.
The second recipe is pure comfort food. While we’d all love to eat strawberries and cream in the sun for the entire summer, the weather rarely plays ball. This puff slice is just the tonic; warm and buttery, the almond cream soaking up the juices from the berries as they bake to avoid soggy puff pastry. This can be baked and eaten warm with vanilla ice cream; or allowed to cool and served with some softly whipped Chantilly cream.
Celebrate the berry sweetness while we have it.
Recipe: Vanilla panna cotta with raspberries and toasted almond
Recipe: Baked strawberry puff slice
[ Plant-based cooking: wholesome, nutritious and kind to the walletOpens in new window ]
