This low carb panna cotta is the no-oven Italian dessert I keep coming back to: silky cream set with just enough gelatin to wobble, about 4 grams of net carb with the berry compote on top. I learned it from a Swiss couple a long way from any kitchen, which is a story in itself.
This recipe for Panna Cotta is very near and dear to my heart. I got this recipe from a Swiss couple I met when I was cruising the South Pacific in 2000. I haven't yet shared the story of my life on the high seas because it is so long, but I figure now is as good of a time as any.
My parents and I left in June of 2000 to sail from Newport Beach, California to Australia. You see the reason my parents decided to make this adventure was because our family boat, a schooner built in 1923, had originally been built for an Australian and had lived in Australia for the first 40 years of its life. My parents were seeking an adventure and a way to find some history on the boat. It was a big leap to make for this family of three that had never left the United States. I had planned on only taking a year off to take a break before going to college, but one year turned into three when I met my future husband in Tahiti. He had started his journey with his father in Mexico, through the Galapagos, and on to French Polynesia. When they reached the Tuamotu they had some boat trouble and his father decided he was done with cruising and flew home. My husband, Daniel, had a different plan in mind. He wanted to continue his journey to Australia if he could find a boat looking for crew. He came by my parents boat one afternoon in Tahiti when my mom and I were off shopping for groceries in the local markets and interviewed with my dad. My dad was intrigued by the young man and told him to come back later to meet the rest of the family before deciding to take him on as crew. When my mom and I returned from the shops my dad pulled my mom aside and told her about the young man who came by the boat. He informed her that he was a very nice young man who knew a lot about sailing, but "he's 20 and Mariah is 19!". Well my mom, being my mom, looked over his resume and went straight down to his birthday and it ended up that my mom and Daniel are only one day apart in birthdays. Being that my mom follows her horoscope here and there she decided that he would be great on that fact alone. It took a month for me to discover that Daniel and I would be more than just friends on this adventure. So one year turned into three. We saw many beautiful remote places including French Polynesia, Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga, and many more. The places I went and food I tasted made me the adventurous cook that I am today.
So this is the long of the short story of how I got this recipe. Of course the Swiss couple's recipe had sugar in it, but I have found that Splenda works just as well. Being that I was out cruising at the time I quickly fell in love with this recipe because it didn't require using an oven. French Polynesia is incredibly beautiful, but also incredibly hot and the last thing I wanted to go near was the oven. So baking was completely out of the question. Since we were also cruising in foreign ports some of the normal grocery supplies were not nearly as readily available, but luckily Tahiti is a French territory and therefore I could always find good quality cream, gelatin, and vanilla. In fact some of the best vanilla that I have ever found was sold in Vanuatu and luckily I still happen to have a little bit left for this very recipe. I hope you love this recipe as much as I do.
The gelatin ratio for a silky wobble
The one thing that separates a good panna cotta from a rubbery one is restraint with the gelatin. It should barely hold its shape, wobble when you tap the plate, and melt the second it hits your tongue. The sweet spot is about half a teaspoon of powdered gelatin per cup of cream, which is why one packet is right for this pot of roughly four cups. Bloom and dissolve it fully, then pour it through a fine strainer into the warm cream so no rubbery clumps sneak in. That strain is the difference between silky and grainy.
No oven, made ahead, dressed with berries
Panna cotta sets in the fridge, which is the whole appeal, and it needs eight hours, so it is a make-ahead dessert by nature. Sweeten the cream with Splenda, allulose, or a monk fruit blend, all of which dissolve clean and add about zero net carb. The topping is just a berry medley cooked down and pureed with a touch of sweetener, no jam or sugar, and the tart berries cut the richness. For another cream-based, make-ahead option, churn a batch of vanilla custard ice cream or set up a cheesecake mousse, with the full lineup in my low carb desserts guide.
Sources:
USDA FoodData Central, nutrient reference for heavy cream and mixed berries
Sugarfreechic test kitchen, panna cotta gelatin and sweetener notes
