panna cottas and pearls.

last night i made my first ever panna cotta. a delicious coconut and kaffir lime panna cotta with strawberries and lime syrup, a recipe from the delightful Marion Grasby. it was also my first experience working with gelatine leaves, and my unfamiliarity left me looming with nightmarish questions, as i left my panna cottas to set in the fridge overnight to set; the most obvious of these being 'will they set?!' but alas, all was well, and my panna cottas set to their deliciously wobbly creamy perfection :)

panna cotta seems to have a strange enigma surrounding them, instilling fear in the minds of amateurs approaching the task of making them. but do not fear i tell you, the process is actually quite simple, with really just a mix, heat, infuse, whisk, strain and set involved. and voila you have a panna cotta!

the recipe for this coconut and kaffir lime panna cotta with strawberries and lime syrup is one of the many delectable recipe's featuring in Marion Grasby's new cookbook Marion - Recipes and stories of a hungry cook and you can find the recipe here.

to finish this post, i leave you with a pearl of wisdom from my mother, spoken after we consumed our panna cottas on a sunny saturday afternoon. i was suggesting to her that perhaps i should make the servings a little smaller next time, as i only used 4 glasses to serve, instead of Marion's suggested 6, but she wasn't convinced, and i said...

'they were really quite filling though, weren't they mum?'   

 to which she replied...

'well, there isn't really much point eating something if it isn't filling, is there?'

what a wonderful attitude to have!