Well, I was adamant to stick to my Greek inspired theme for tonights dinner party, even the dessert. This required a bit of thought because one, I did not have the time to go very traditional with desserts like baklava and secondly, I wanted something super easy, light and refreshing. (Not taking anything away from Baklava, but those morsels make your teeth stick together and I prefer to have a small piece with my coffee anyway.)
I finally decided on a greek yogurt panna cotta. Light and refreshing but it needs a bit of sweetness against the tartness of the yogurt. In this lies the beauty of this dessert, you can use whatever fruit is in season! I would have loved to use sweet juicy figs, but all our figs in Norway are imported and they taste nothing like the real thing!
So, pomegranate syrup and seeds was my choice. It is super easy to make and you will have more than enough leftovers to use on another day in another recipe or even a cocktail……….
Bon appetite!
You’ll need
- • For the panna cotta
- 250g x Greek yogurt, full fat
- 300g x Milk, full fat
- 50g x sugar
- 2 x gelatine leaves
- • For the topping (pomegranate)
- 1 cup x pomegranate juice (Buy fresh or juice ± 2 x pomegranates)
- 2 Tbsp x sugar
- 1 tsp x lemon juice
- A handful of pomegranate seeds for garnish
Method
- For the panna cotta, place the gelatine leaves in a bowl with cold water to bloom and soften.
- In a pot over medium heat, warm the milk and sugar. (Do NOT bring this to a boil, you want a HOT milk and the sugar dissolved) Remove from the heat.
- Squeeze out the excess water from the gelatine leaves and whisk into the milk mixture until it has dissolved.
- Place the yogurt in a mixing bowl and with a wire whisk, add the warm milk until fully incorporated.
- Pour the mixture into your panna cotta molds and place in the fridge for several hours until set.
- For the pomegranate topping, in a small saucepan over medium heat, add the pomegranate juice, sugar and lemon juice.
- Cook until the sugar has dissolved, stirring occasionally.
- When the sugar has dissolved, reduce heat to medium-low and cook until the syrup has reduced to 1/3 cup, stirring occasionally.
- The syrup should be dark and slightly thick. It thickens as it cools.
- Remove from heat and let it cool for 30 minutes. Transfer to an airtight container. Let it cool completely before placing in the fridge.
- The syrup will last in your fridge up to 6 months.
- To serve, simply remove the panna cotta from its molds onto your serving plate. Drizzle with pomegranate syrup and top with fresh seeds.
If you are fortunate enough to get your hands on beautiful fresh figs, I can suggest an alternative topping of figs, honey and walnuts. You will need 4 x fresh figs cut in half, 3 Tbsp x honey, 4 Tbsp x walnuts, roughly chopped. Place the figs and walnuts on a lined baking tray, drizzle over the honey and bake in a preheated oven of 180°C for 30 minutes. Remove and cool to room temperature before serving.