If you don't want the hassle of making crème pâtissière, a mixture of sweetened mascarpone and crème fraîche is delicious, too.
Six easy Italian puddings to make this summer
From elegant ice cream and herb-scented sorbet to light-as-air mousse – try these easy desserts for a taste of la dolce vita
26 June 2021 • 5:00am
These desserts are a celebration of Italian-inspired sweet things we can make and eat in our own kitchens, or give to others
Credit: Charlotte Bland
A steaming bowl of pasta is a very fine thing, but it’s the gelato eaten in the dappled sunshine a few hours later that really delights, and in a different way, too, because it is a treat.
The knowledge that it is something special, a little luxury, an indulgence, not just sustenance (and not necessarily nutrition) makes the pleasure even more poignant. It’s not wholesome or satisfying in the same way as savoury food. Instead, it thrills; it teases. It’s sensual in a way that pasta, pies and potatoes aren’t.
Toasted fig leaf panna cotta recipe
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Delicately flavoured with hint of fig leaf, this easy panna cotta is perfect for summer
Credit:
Charlotte Bland
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Fig leaves have a flavour and scent somewhere between tree sap, desiccated coconut and a freshly picked green fig. Itâs a mellow flavour that is coaxed out by a light toasting in the oven. These toasted leaves lend a warm, grassy, July-dusk flavour to a delicate panna cotta.
Prep time: 20 minutes, plus 4 hours chilling |
Cooking time: 15 minutesÂ
4 fig leaves, washed and torn
2 gelatine leaves (3â4 g)
400ml cream
METHOD
Lightly oil six dariole or similar-size panna cotta moulds.
Roast peaches with almond crumble topping recipe
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Crunchy, chewy with a burst of ripe peach, these crumbles are a real crowdpleaser
Credit:
Charlotte Bland
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The best way to eat a ripe peach is, of course, on the beach, with the sun in your eyes and the juice dripping down your wrists. That is the time for perfect peaches. For firmer specimens, this is a perfect recipe, which is worth making for the smell alone. It is also a rather wonderful way of making individual fruit crumbles: each peach is a perfect portion.
Prep time: 10 minutes
SERVES
80g amaretti biscuits
Mascarpone and blackberry ripple ice cream recipe
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Prep time: 50 minutes
MAKES
220g sugar
1 tbsp sugar
METHOD
First make a sugar syrup for the ice cream: put the sugar, water and pinch of salt in a small saucepan and bring to the boil, swirling the pan to help dissolve the sugar. Simmer over a low heat for about three minutes, until the syrup is shiny and just slightly thicker. Allow to cool for a minute.
In a large bowl, whisk the mascarpone, yogurt and milk together to form a smooth creamy mixture. Once the syrup has cooled slightly, whisk it into this mixture. (If the sugar syrup seizes up at this point and turns hard, place the whole lot over a low heat again, whisking until you have a smooth mixture.)