Passion Fruit Panna Cotta

In love. There are no better words to describe my feelings about this panna cotta. Creamy, silky smooth, delicate, and flavoured with intensely fragrant passionfruit syrup, it fulfils all I could ever desire in a dessert. It’s also simplicity itself to make, and perfect for summertime.  The passionfruit syrup can be made a day ahead and then the panna cotta whipped up in the morning. Because it is quite rich I like to serve it in a variety of beautiful little glasses, so that everyone can choose the size that suits them. On our recent holiday at the vineyard we watched the sun set over the vines ate a delicious lamb tagine, and then sat outdoors in the cool of the evening lingering over our panna cottas, talking of love and life and the joy of friendship.  Bliss..

Serves 6-10, depending on serving size

600 ml pure cream
150 ml milk
1/2 cup sugar
3 teaspoons powdered gelatine (10g)
125 ml passionfruit syrup (recipe below)

Put the cream, milk and sugar into a medium saucepan and gently bring to a simmer. Do not boil. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl add 50ml hot water to the gelatine and stir with a fork until completely dissolved. When the cream has reached simmering point, take off the heat and pour over the gelatine, mixing well. Mix in the passionfruit syrup and let cool a little before pouring into serving glasses. Put into the refrigerator to set, which will take a couple of hours. Serve plain, or with a little extra passionfruit syrup or fresh passionfruit pulp drizzled over the top.

Passionfruit syrup: put the pulp of 8 passionfruit, 1/2 cup sugar and the juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime into a small saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain through a sieve, using the back of a spoon to extract as much syrup from the seeds as possible. Keeps for 3 days in the refrigerator. Makes about 150ml.