Creamy Italian Panna Cotta With Sweet Portuguese Tomato Jam

Panna cotta really isn’t complicated dessert at all. This traditional Italian recipe is basically sweetened cream thickened with a bit of gelatin, and that’s the whole secret. I tweaked the classic version slightly, because I like my panna cotta a touch firmer, the same way I always make gelatin with a little less liquid so it sets denser and holds its shape better. I find it comes out far more delicious this way.

For this batch, I decided to pair it with a spoonful of homemade tomato jam, a Portuguese classic in its own right. Of course you can use a store-bought tomato jam instead, just try to find one that’s rustic, with more tomato and less sugar, since it will always taste far better alongside the cream. Let’s get into the recipe.

Creamy Italian Panna Cotta With Sweet Portuguese Tomato Jam

Servings: 4
Time: 35mins
Difficulty: Easy
Rating: ★★★★★
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How about this lovely italian panna cotta recipe, just a little firmer and less sweet as usual with a lovely homemade portuguese tomato jam.

Ingredients

Gelatin – 2 sheets (+/- 4 g)
Milk – 80 ml
Heavy Cream – 200 ml
Sugar – 30 g
Tomato Jam – to taste (preferably homemade)

Directions

Soak the two sheets of gelatin in a little cold water, just to let them hydrate before adding them to the mixture.
In a small saucepan, combine the milk, cream, and sugar. Heat over medium-low heat, you want to warm the mixture but not bring it to a boil. When it’s very hot but not boiling, remove it from the heat.

Squeeze the gelatin to remove excess water, then add it to the milk and cream mixture. Stir well until everything is fully dissolved.
Finally, pour the mixture into bowls and place them in the refrigerator to set overnight.

When it’s time to serve, you can serve it right in the bowls, or if you want a more presentable look, you can unmold it by running the outside of the bowls under a little hot water just to loosen the panna cotta, and that’s it! Serve with a large spoonful of tomato jam. Enjoy!

Notes & Tips: In the traditional panna cotta recipe, vanilla sugar or a vanilla pod is often used, but since I was serving this one with the tomato jam, I didn’t feel it needed any extra flavoring.

Bloom the gelatin sheets in very cold water, warm water can make them start dissolving too early and weaken the set. If you only have powdered gelatin, roughly 4g of sheet gelatin equals to about 1 teaspoon of powdered, bloomed in a couple tablespoons of cold water first.

Give the panna cotta the full overnight rest, cutting that time short is the most common reason it doesn’t hold together when unmolded.

If your tomato jam is very sweet, a small squeeze of lemon over it before serving brightens the whole plate and keeps the dessert from tipping too sugary.

In the photos you might notice the panna cotta was melting a little, that was only because the day was pretty warm and I took a little too long getting the shots. It was still absolutely divine. Also worth noting, the nutrition information below does not include the tomato jam.

This recipe for Creamy Italian Panna Cotta With Sweet Portuguese Tomato Jam was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Panna Cotta com Doce de Tomate Caseiro foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.