I’ve made the Italian pudding called panna cotta several times now. It is a wonderfully refreshing and easy dessert for summer especially, so clean and cool — especially if you include yogurt or buttermilk, and not too much sweetening. If you haven’t made it before, this page, Why Panna Cotta is the Perfect Dessert, is a good place to start; the author shows how versatile it can be, how you can even make it dairy-free and vegan, though the traditional recipe calls for milk or cream, and gelatin.
My good friend Ruth came for lunch yesterday and I made panna cotta for our dessert, the Rosewater Panna Cotta with Blueberries from the same site. I doubled the amount of rose water and blueberries. (Unfortunately I took the picture before I put the sprig of mint on the puddings.) If you are interested in the other recipe I made in the past, with buttermilk and an apricot compote with candied fennel seeds ! , it is from Bon Appetit. It was yummy, too, but of course the toppings took much longer to prepare than rinsing some blueberries. I remember thinking that the buttermilk panna cotta all by itself was perfect and needed no dressing up anyway.
I had been hoping that Ruth and I could eat in the garden, with olive trees and yarrow waving in the breeze by our table…. but it was 97° out there, so we opted for the house, almost 20 degrees cooler. We let the sound of the fountain come in through the screen door; I think the birds were having their siesta. The heat crept in, too, but not too fast, and just enough for us to appreciate our lightweight dessert, perfect for an otherwise wilting afternoon.
If you have ever made panna cotta, will you share your favorite recipe with me?
Gladsome Lights 
Oh, this looks so delicious, smooth, and cooling. I wonder if panna cotta could be made with coconut milk? I might try it for some friends who are lactose intolerant.
I make an eggnog panna cotta, usually in January when everyone is tired of eggnog, but there’s still some in the fridge. http://lorriesrecipes.blogspot.ca/2014/01/eggnog-panna-cotta.html
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Lorrie, thank you for the recipe – I might use that really soon, because I actually have eggnog in the freezer… we’ll see if it keeps that smooth consistency after I defrost it and put it into panna cotta.
As to making it with coconut milk, I checked on that website I linked to and she wrote; “I’m currently plotting a new recipe for coconut milk panna cotta sweetened with a raspberry puree.” …so that recipe might be up already!
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As far as I know, I’ve never even tasted panna cotta, let alone made it. It seems easy enough. I have a pile of fresh peaches, so that would be a good addition. I might give it a try.
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Hi GJ!
This sweet dish sounds refreshing! I bet it’s tough staying cool.
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That’s so nice! Sounds delicious! have not made this myself. The summer dessert that I seem to make yearly now is the NY Times plum torte! 🙂
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It looks wonderful. 97 my goodness, that is rare for you isn’t it? Its miserable here. The sky was so red this morning. Have a wonderful day with a good book.
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Though I prefer not to use the word divine haphazardly, yet that is the word that comes to mind when I think of Panna Cotta. I have a recipe I made from a book entitled, Giada’s Kitchen. Chocolate Panna Cotta with Amaretta Whipped Cream, my mouth waters just typing this!
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Oh, my. I found that recipe here, and it does look, if not divine, at least heavenly 😉 I was surprised to see that it includes eggs – but panna cotta seems infinitely adaptable! Thank you, Cathy!
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I didn’t know what it was until you mentioned it, and we looked it up. Seems a perfect, cool dessert for a hot summer day. Yummy!
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