Wild Meadowsweet Panna Cotta

Makes 6

Cook time 45 minutes plus cooling and setting

Prep time 10 minutes

The wildflower meadowsweet imparts a delicate, floral sweetness dishes and pairs beautifully with berries. This a wonderfully light dessert for late summer using this seasonal wild ingredient. If you are not a forager or struggle to find meadowsweet, you could replace it with vanilla or almond essence. This is a particularly light panna cotta, due to replacing the gelatine with agar agar to make it vegetarian, so I suggest setting it in glasses or ramekins rather than in pudding basins and inverting them on to a plate.

Ingredients:

• 700ml single cream

• 6 small stems of meadowsweet with open flowers

• 125g golden caster sugar

• 6g agar agar

• 350g frozen and thawed blueberries

• 200g jam sugar

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 2 tbsp of toasted almonds

Instructions:

1. Combine cream and meadowsweet in a saucepan. Warm gently, stirring often to prevent burning.

2. Remove from heat and let infuse for 1 hour.

3. Strain out the meadowsweet and return the cream to the pan.

4. Add sugar and agar agar. Simmer gently for 3-5 minutes, whisking regularly to dissolve the agar agar, incorporate a little air and prevent burning.

5. Strain the mixture through a sieve and into a jug. Arrange the glasses on a baking tray and carefully pour in the mixture to fill them to two thirds. Transfer the filled glasses to the fridge and chill for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight

6. Combine blueberries, lemon juice, and jam sugar in a saucepan.

7. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Remove from heat and let cool.

8. Toast almonds in a small frying pan until golden.

9. Remove the panna cotta from the fridge, spoon blueberry topping over, and sprinkle with toasted almonds.