The basic black dress of Italian desserts:

which is really white. I am speaking of that wonderful dessert, panna cotta. Have you had it? Did you like it? If you didn't, I bet I know why. And you can fix that. And if you do, I can teach you how to make it. Several different ways. But we're going to start with a "semi-classic" way.

"Panna cotta" means, very simply "cooked cream." In a way, it is just that. Cream, good old heavy cream, is combined with sugar, flavoring and gelatin, and then allowed to set. And that's it. It's easy.

Or is it? There is a tendency in this dessert to add too much gelatin, and to turn it into a rubbery mess. Proper panna cotta should just "shiver" on the verge between a solid, and collapsing into a plate of cream. How many times have you had it, and thought it would serve as a really good handball? More often than you care to remember huh?

Well, let's solve this problem together, using our old adage: if you want to do it right: make it yourself. This is such an easy dish to make, that frankly, there is no excuse for not having it in the refrigerator AT LEAST once a week.

Ok, maybe the calories are an excuse, but we're talking about small portions here. Unless of course you eat them all. Which I can do.

Now, we start with a basic principle of gelatin chemistry. Gelatin is, essentially, dissolved animal proteins. Yup, it comes from boiling bones. It's a collagen family member. The same stuff that is at the tip of your nose and makes it feel rubbery, or the stuff in your earlobes that makes them soft (it's not what makes them sensitive when they get nibbled. That's nerve endings, and I'll leave an explanation of that to my friend Will in his blog. ASK).

When gelatin is in powder form, it is essentially long, single strands of protein. When heated, and then cooled, it forms a network sort of like a spider web. It traps the liquid it holds in between those places where there would be "holes" in the spider web. The tighter your web, the tigher, and bouncier, the gelatinized product. The looser, the softer. Too tight? You've got a ping pong ball. Too loose, and you've got a vanilla drink.

Generally, the "rule of thumb" for making a good gelatinized custard is a teaspoon per cup of liquid. Gelatin is sold in packages that contain just about a tablespoon (more on this in a minute). So, it is very convenient to make three cups worth of panna cotta at a time. That's about 8 normal servings. You may choose to eat more than one, and I encourage you to do that.

Now, on this tablespoon thing, some years ago, Cooks magazine published a very interesting article on packaged gelatin. They found that standards of measurement were less than "precise." Sometimes, a package had less than a tablespoon, sometimes, way more. Last night, for example, the package I opened was just short of what I needed. I took a chance, and it worked. If you're doing this for the first time,though, equalize the spoonful by opening a second package and making a level tablespoon.

Pour that tablespoon of gelatin into a small pot and add two tablespoons of water (a REALLY small pot). Let it sit for a minute, whilst you pour either three cups of heavy cream, or two cups of heavy cream and a cup of half and half into a larger pot. Add 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup of sugar. This has to be to your taste. I go with the lower amount. Also add a teaspoon and a half of vanilla. Heat up the cream or cream mixture until it just begins to bubble on the edges. Take it off the heat. Then, heat up that gelatin, just until it dissolves. Pour it into the cream mixture. Then, have eight small ramekins ready, and pour equal amounts into them. Let them come to room temperature before you refrigerate them.

These need to sit overnight. If you check after two hours, you'll think you failed. Check after four hours and you'll begin to be hopeful. Check after eight hours and you'll wonder why you ever worried. Run a knife around them, put a plate over them and shake. PLOP. You got dessert.

I love a plain panna cotta as it is. YOu can have a lot of fund doing things with the panna cotta though. It is traditional to serve it with fruit purees of some kind, both underneath it and over it. Raspberry and strawberry are beautiful against its stark whiteness, as is the lovely yellow orange of mango. Of course, with mango, you begin to get away from the Italianate sense of the dessert. Kiwis DO grow in Sicily, and you will see this served with kiwis as well. So, too, with figs, or with chocolate sauce or any of a multitude of things.

My favorite way to have it, however, is how I learned it from my friend, and the chef at Bellae Vitae, Raphael. Raphael serves it with a lashing of true old balsamic vinegar. The oaky, vanilla acid notes with the sweet vanilla cream is a wonderful combination. Perhaps that's all it needs. You can add cookies, or fruit, but the vinegar works the best. You wouldn't think so, but try it.