I guess this post should really be titled "MummyLark loses her fear of leaf gelatine" for, in truth that's what it's all about.
In my young mother days I was just as scared of the granule variety having had several disasters - a particularly memorable one being when I turned out a jelly which turned to liquid and escaped over the edge of the worktop onto the then dog. However once I decided that less heat and patient stirring was the answer I became Queen of the packet variety. But I have shied away from the leaf stuff, partly because it looked difficult and well partly because it looked a tad unlikely.
No more. I adore pannacotta and it is so trendy that I would be losing my culinary nerve if I didn't experiment. I followed this recipe for Vanilla Pannacotta from Simon Rimmer whose work I have always found accurate, reliable and tasty.
The only problem I encountered was that I had 3 packets of leaf gelatine in the cupboard all purporting to set different amounts of liquid. I chose the one that was endorsed by Saint Delia, using 4 sheets (they were small) rather than Simon's 2. And Tesco Express only had blackberries so they replaced the suggested raspberries.
The result was a perfect wobbly set. I didn't feel it was sweet enough - I shall add more sugar next time. And there will be lots of next times.
Why was I so worried? I shall have to try Choux pastry next, my other phobia.
