La Parolaccia / Today's recipe: Limoncello Gelée / Panna Cotta

First things first: Noblesse oblige...!
I would like to thank "Serge le Concierge" for having chosen my Galette des Rois as "the best homage to France" Wow !!!! These words, coming from a French man, who, by birth and tradition, knows what he's talking about, leave me in complete awe, doubly honoured !!! Merci beaucoup, Serge !!!!!

Then, encore un plus grand merci (thank you again) to Sandra, from Le Pétrin, THE foodblog from France (in my opinion) for having chosen my blog as "Coup de Coeur"(favourite). Sandra's work is just marvellous, a TRUE professional, who every day surprises me and a lot others, with her "savoir faire". There are thousands of food blogs, but few with people that really know what they are doing...Sandra is one of them!
Finally, last but not least!,  I would like to thank Foodgawker (or its readers ) for having chosen my macarons as favourite....

Now yes, "à nos moutons" (let's go to the point...)
Every time I ask my husband: "What would you like for dessert?" He invariably answers: "Panna Cotta" (yes, men can be incredibly attached to the simple, yet good, no frills, nothing..), but I always feel that "just that" is too simple, that I must add something else, so I've made: pannacotta aux fruits rouges (with berries), with mango and other exotic fruits, the Argentinian in me...with "dulce de leche"....but yesterday I stumbled upon ALL the bottles of Limoncello we have....and the idea came to my mind: Limoncello Gelée with Panna Cotta !!!!!!

And why so we have SO MANY bottles of Limoncello? you might wonder....

Just because it was a tradition with us while living in Buenos Aires to have each birthday dinner in a restaurant called La Parolaccia, where if they get to know it is your birthday (and we made a point about it!), they give you as a present a bottle of their "homemade Limoncello". We are five, so we would get five bottles per year !!!!!!

But La Parolaccia is not any Italian restaurant.... Rather it is a chain of restaurants, but not the typical "pizzeria" but a place where Italian tradition reaches a summit. Did you know that the country that received the biggest number of Italian inmigrants at the beginning of the XXth C was Argentina? This might be the reason why Italian cooking is so good in Argentina, some foreign visitors say that nowhere in the world, except for Italy of course,  will you find better pasta and pizza than in Buenos Aires...!

 Panna Cotta Recipe: 


thick cream, 500gr.
sugar, 80gr.
gelatin, 6 leaves (12 gr)
Vanilla bean, 1/2 , split lengthwise

Put the gelatin leaves in a bowl of water. Put the cream and the sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds of the vanilla bean into the cream,  add the bean pod. Heat. Let it infuse for 20/30'. Sift. Reheat a little if necessary, (since the gelatin has to be folded into a warm liquide). Wring the gelatin leaves to remove the water. Add them to the cream, folding everything with a whisk.

If you use powdered gelatin, put 50 ml of cold water in a cup, sprinkle the gelatin over it.    Let it stand some seconds. Make sure it is well dissolved. . Then, warm it in the microwave oven until it becomes liquid. (Don't heat it !!!! just warm it, if not you "kill" the gelatin) Add the gelatin to the cream in the same way. (In general gelatin is dissolved in 5 times its weight of water, but here I am using a bit less!)

Limoncello Gelée Recipe

I had never made Limoncello Gelée, so I looked in internet, and I found this recipe in Martha Stewart's site. I used it as inspiration, also changing proportions slightly to fit my dessert. Moreover, since my readers come from all the world (thanks God!!!!) I turned it into the metrical system.

For this Limoncello Gelée, you will need:

White sparkling wine, 200 ml. ( I used a "blanc des blancs")

Limoncello, 200 ml.

Sparkling water, 100 ml.

Sugar, 80 gr
Gelatin, 5 leaves.


Put the gelatin leaves in a bowl with water. (same method as in the panna cotta). Heat  the wine, limoncello, and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Fold in the gelatin with a whisk.

How many servings? Well, that depends largely on the type of glass, cup, verrine that you choose...

So, fill your verrine with the limoncello gelée up to the half. Refrigerate until it sets. Pour in the Panacotta. Refrigerate. Decorate with pomegranate seeds.

I think the sweetness of Panna Cotta finds a perfect balance in the acid limoncello....

Buon appetito !!!!!!