Panna Cotta: A taste of heaven

I had this dessert at an italian restaurant gazillion years ago, I fell in love on the first bite. It was the most heavenly taste and not something I would forget. Unfortunately that was my first and the last time I had it, I never came across another restaurant that has Panna Cotta on their menu.



While internet surfing for something else, I came across this panna cotta recipe and the memories of that wonderful evening that I chanced upon this scrumptiouslicious dessert came back. I looked over the recipe, it was EASY!!!! I mean, it was too easy that I had to look over it again AND AGAIN, just to make sure that it's THAT easy!! On top of that, I actually had all the ingredients in my fridge...no kidding right! I used the Molto Mario recipe and had to make it low-fat.....:( I know, I know, I should have stuck to the actual recipe and it would have been the real deal...but know what...it was just as wonderful when done...Oh yah...I also used half and half instead of heavy whipping cream. Figure that it was interchangeable...:D



So was thinking that since I'm making an italian dessert that I might as well make something italian for entree as well...hehehe.. So...... ended up making this, clam linguine with white wine sauce. The white wine being a Pinot Grigio and also our drinking wine..hehehe...the "experts" always say to use the wine you drink to cook...so there you go...




The wine was great and the dessert....even better....although I did think that putting black pepper on the dessert was a little too weird for me, so I omitted that out...the topping on the panna cotta was as it, strawberries marinated in balsamic vinegar. In regards with balsamic vinegar, I'm a true believer that you get what you pay, which is also the reason that I always pay a little more and get a better quality then pay a little less and get a seriously lesser quality balsamic vinegar. Although my husband would argue that a vinegar is a vinegar is a vinegar...NOTE: this is also a comment coming from a person who used to think that a mudpie is baked in the oven!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!