Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta

Ingredients

• 400ml double cream
• 100ml whole milk
• 60g caster sugar
• 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped
• 4 gelatine leaves, soaked
• 90g shortbread biscuits, crushed
• 1 tbsp icing sugar
• 250g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 30g pistachios, roughly chopped

Method

1. Drop the gelatine leaves into a bowl of cold water and leave for 5 minutes until floppy — bloomed gelatine dissolves cleanly; dry gelatine sits in lumps. Split the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape the seeds out with the back of a knife.
2. Tip the cream, milk, caster sugar and a small pinch of salt into a saucepan with the vanilla pod and seeds. The salt is non-negotiable here — it lifts the vanilla and stops the dairy tasting flat. Warm over a medium-low heat until you see fine bubbles forming at the edges and steam rising, about 4–5 minutes. Don't let it boil; you're infusing, not cooking.
3. Pull the pan off the heat. Squeeze the water from the gelatine leaves and whisk them into the hot cream until fully dissolved — no streaks, no lumps, or you'll get rubbery threads through the set. Fish out the vanilla pod and strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a jug for a glassy finish.
4. Taste the warm cream now — it should be sweet, vanilla-forward, with just enough salt to make the cream taste like cream. Adjust with a few more grains of salt if it's reading flat. This is your last chance before it sets.
5. Divide between six ramekins or pretty glasses. Cool to room temperature, then cover and chill for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight, until the centres wobble like a settled jelly when nudged.
6. For the coulis, simmer half the raspberries with the caster sugar and lemon juice for 3–4 minutes until they collapse and turn glossy. The lemon juice is doing real work — it sharpens the fruit and stops the coulis tasting like jam. Blitz, then pass through a sieve to catch the seeds. Stir the remaining whole raspberries through for little bursts of fruit.
7. To turn out, dip each ramekin briefly in hot water, run a knife around the edge, and invert onto a plate — give it one confident shake. Or serve in the glass.
8. Spoon the raspberry coulis around and over each panna cotta, scatter with the crushed shortbread and chopped pistachios, tuck a few extra fresh raspberries alongside, and finish with a soft snowfall of icing sugar.