Cucumber Panna Cotta with Strawberry Jelly

Serves:  4

Ingredients

  • 250ml double cream
  • 150ml full cream milk
  • 20g caster sugar
  • 1 cucumber, peeled, deseeded & diced
  • 1 pack lime flavoured jelly
  • 8 large strawberries, hulls removed & puréed
  • 1 pack strawberry flavoured jelly
  • 4 strawberries, thinly sliced – to garnish
  • 2 baby cucumbers, very thinly sliced – to garnish
    A fine sieve

    Make pana cotta first. Place cream, milk & sugar in a medium-sized pot on a low heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved, then add diced cucumber. Bring to just under the boil, then take off the heat and leave to cool and infuse for 30 minutes.

  • Pour the cooled mixture into a blender until smooth. Pour mixture back into pan through a fine sieve, pushing cucumber pulp gently down with a spoon to extract all the flavour. Discard pulp.
  • Leave mixture to cool slightly, then slowly sprinkle the lime jelly, stir until thoroughly dissolved.
  • Pour pana cotta into 4 equal-sized moulds. Cover tops with plastic wrap and chill for at least 5 hours (preferably overnight).
  • To make strawberry jelly, purée the strawberries using a stick blender or mortar and pestle, then pass them through a fine sieve into a bowl, pushing the pulp so the juice strains through.
  • Make up strawberry jelly packet & before refrigerating, stir through the strawberry purée juice. Place jelly in a shallow, non-stick, jelly roll baking sheet to create a layer of jelly 1cm deep.
  • Set in fridge, along with the pana cotta. When fully set & firm, cut out jelly circles with a pastry cutter – same size as the pana cotta moulds. Reserve in fridge until ready to serve.
  • To serve, remove pana cotta from moulds by gently warming in shallow lukewarm water.
  • Place 1 strawberry jelly disc on each of 4 plates, then turn the pana cotta moulds upside down onto the strawberry jelly discs. Top with strawberry and cucumber slices.

QUINOA TABBOULEH SALAD

By replacing the cracked wheat with quinoa, you’re creating a far more filling salad.I love it by itself or as part of a salad bowl with roasted veggies and hummus. It’s also great served along side the mince and hummus dish as part of a family style spread. Quick and simple to make, you’ll keep coming back to this little number.

Serves 2-6 (2 as a full meal, 4 as a nourish bowl base 6 as part of a family style spread

Ingredients

2 cups cooked quinoa
2 tomatoes, chopped in 1cm dice
1 cup flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1/4 cup mint, finely sliced
1 cup cucumber, chopped in 1cm dice
1/4 red onion or 1/4 cup spring onion
Zest and juice of one lemon
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp cumin ground
Salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss. Check seasoning and adjust.
Allow flavours to develop for at least 15 minutes before eating.