In the Kitchen with Josie Long

And a Blood Orange Pannacotta recipe

It’s nearly February, peak blood orange season (my favourite fruit). Also a great time of year to have a laugh. Lucky then as this week I’m speaking to legendary comedian and socialist Josie Long about motorway services and deep fried haggis! Our recipe this week is my first ever pannacotta, to make the most of blood orange season. We use agar agar instead of gelatine so it’s vegetarian, and making these is actually incredibly simple. I think they will make you feel proud as punch.

Pannacotta - not just for restaurants! This recipe was my first foray into the creamy set dessert and now I can see why menu writers go mad for it: it’s so easy. Here’s the thing - my first attempt was a sloppy mess, but I tweaked and tweaked until the quantities were just right and now I strongly feel you need to try this at home. The feeling of joy when the set puds come out of their bowls is just… fundamentally good.

Agar agar is derived from seaweed and generally you don’t need as much of it as gelatine. We need a little under 2 tsp here though, as it isn’t great friends with acid and the blood orange syrup would otherwise challenge its jellying capabilities. I learnt this the hard way.