Balsamic Berry Vegan Panna Cotta

Celine Steen keeps it simple with her new cookbook, Bold Flavored Vegan Cooking: Healthy Plant-Based Recipes with a Kick. The impactful collection contains just four chapters: Savory, Spicy, Sweet, and Staples. But don’t let Celine’s succinct style fool you. The pages are infused with rich photography and about 90 unique recipes, including this Balsamic Berry Vegan Panna Cotta.

Panna cotta is usually made with dairy cream and gelatin. Celine forgoes both in this berry vegan panna cotta, but retains the wonderful firm, creamy consistency that is so well loved.

Here’s a sampling of more recipes in Bold Flavored Vegan Cooking:

• Asian-Inspired Fondue
• Smoky Kale and Chickpeas with Miso Peanut Drizzle (pictured below)
• Gochujang Kimchi (Vegan) Sausages
• Crunchy Corn Waffles (pictured below)
• Very Tahini Teffballs and Dressing
• Harira (Moroccan Soup) (pictured below)
• Summer Plate with Pickled Pepper Cream
• Fresh Corn Tacos with Salsita Verde
• Tikka Masala Popcorn
• Peachy Tamari Creamy Farina (pictured below)
• Triple C Truffles
• Orange Creamsicle Tartlets with Ginger Pears
• Easy as 2, 2, 2 Broth Mix

Oh yes, Celine is creative! All of you adventurous cooks will want to order this recipe collection ASAP. But while you wait for your copy of Bold Flavored Vegan Cooking to arrive, you can enjoy her Balsamic Berry Vegan Panna Cotta (recipe below).

Special Diet Notes: Balsamic Berry Vegan Panna Cotta

By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, vegan, plant-based, and vegetarian.

Balsamic Berry Panna Cotta

 

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Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

45 mins

 

Panna cotta means cooked cream in Italian. The vinegar reduction used here brings a zingy, refined punch to the berries, and it pairs extremely well with the creamy taste of the strawberry panna cotta. Just be sure not to cook the reduction on too high a temperature, otherwise it will taste bitter and remain vinegary. I have quite a few acquaintances who are allergic to nuts, so for equality’s sake I used tofu here instead of the cashew cream the vegan world loves so much. If you would rather go with cashews, soak the raw cashews in a generous amount of filtered water overnight. Drain and rinse them, and blend them with just enough water to get to the texture of firm silken tofu. You will need approximately 1 cup (120 g) raw cashews to yield 8 ounces (227 g) of cashew cream to replace the tofu in this recipe.

Author: Celine Steen

Serves: 8 desserts

Ingredients

Berries

• ½ cup (120ml) white balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons (13g) agave nectar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• Generous ½ cup (90g) fresh blackberries, gently washed and thoroughly drained
• Generous ½ cup (90g) fresh blueberries, gently washed and thoroughly drained

Berry Vegan Panna Cotta

• 1 cup (195g) gently packed and slightly heaping chopped fresh strawberries
• 1 tablespoon (12g) evaporated cane juice
• ¼ cup (80g) agave nectar
• 1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
• Pinch coarse kosher salt
• Oil, for molds
• ¾ cup (180ml) coconut cream
• 8 ounces (227g) silken tofu
• 1 tablespoon (15ml) lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon (3g) agar powder
• Dried culinary rose petals, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. To make the berries, place the vinegar and agave in a small saucepan. Bring to a low boil, reduce the heat and simmer until reduced to about 3 tablespoons (45 ml). You can eyeball this; the reduction should be thickened and light golden. Be sure to stir frequently while simmering. Reducing the vinegar will take approximately 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla. Set aside to cool.
3. Once cooled, and only 30 minutes before serving the dessert, gently fold the berries into the syrup.
4. To make the panna cotta, place the berries and cane juice in a heat-proof medium-sized glass bowl. Gently fold, cover and leave at room temperature for 30 minutes.
5. Combine in a small blender with the agave, vanilla and salt. Blend until smooth.
6. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the seeds. Transfer back to the medium bowl.
7. Very lightly brush eight 3 ¼ x 1 ¼ -inch (8.3 x 3.2-cm) mini brioche molds (or any mold of similar size) with oil. Set aside.
8. Place the coconut cream, tofu and lemon juice in a blender. Blend until smooth.
9. Transfer to a small saucepan. Whisk the agar into the mixture. Bring to a low boil, reduce the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes to activate the agar.
10. Pour this mixture on top of the strawberry mixture, and whisk to thoroughly combine.
11. Divide among the prepared molds. Let cool to room temperature before transferring to the refrigerator to firm for at least 3 hours.
12. Remove the panna cotta from the molds by shaking gently to coax them out. If they resist, use a toothpick to help release them.
13. Serve with the berries, and add rose petals as decoration if desired.

Notes

This recipe is reprinted with permissions from Bold Flavored Vegan Cooking: Healthy Plant-Based Recipes with a Kick by Celine Steen

3.5.3226

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Mini Chocolate Cream Pies (vegan, gluten-free & allergy-friendly)