Basil panna cotta

Husband brought home a basil plant when I asked him for some fresh basil to go with the fresh mozzarella and tomatoes I got a few days ago. Naturally, a lot of basil was still in the pot. I also had nearly a full carton of double cream after making a batch of pecan maple scones (recipe to come) so I thought I'd experiment with a basil-infused panna cotta.

Basil panna cotta with summer berries

Ingredients

1½ C double cream

1 ½ C organic whole milk

⅓ C demerara sugar

¼ C fresh basil, chopped

4-5 tsp unflavored gelatine powder

Method

1. Combine double cream, milk, sugar, basil in a medium, bottom-heavy saucepan and gently heat over medium heat.
2. Bring to the boil and remove from heat and allow to steep for 40 minutes.
   
3. Pass the cream mix through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, pressing on the basil leaves to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Then return the cream mix into the saucepan.
4. Sprinkle the gelatine powder over the liquid and let stand for 2-3 minutes.
5. Gently heat up the cream mix (medium heat), stirring constantly. (It's important to keep stirring to make sure that the gelatine dissolves before the cream mix boils.)
6. Let the cream mix heat till steam begins to rise. Do not let boil!
7. Once the gelatine is dissolved and mixed through, remove from heat.
   
8. Gently pour into 6 ¾ cup ramekins (I used 2 ramekins and 10 silicon muffin cups) and let cool.
   
9. Once cooled, wrap the ramekins in cling film and chill in the fridge to set for at least 4 hours.
   
10. To serve, turn the panna cotta out of the ramekins/cups onto a plate (or serve in the ramekins). Top with chopped fruits or drizzle with maple syrup if desired.
    

The flavours of the basil panna cotta were wonderful. The basil was subtle but complimented the cream and milk rather well. I think this amount of cream and milk could take even more basil (from ¼ C to ⅓ C) and do with less sugar (from ⅓ C to ¼ C). I also think that the panna cotta wasn't jiggly enough, so 4 tsp gelatine should be all that's needed.

Basil panna cotta topped with summer berries