Panna Cotta Pie With Summer Berries

“A perfect summer dessert, light and refreshing”

Ingredients

275g plain flour

50g icing sugar

½ tsp  Salt

100g cold Butter

1  small egg

Egg wash 

1 whipped egg white

1 tsp  double cream or milk

Filling

4½  Gelatin sheets (or 1 rounded tbsp powdered gelatin)

1 –2 vanilla beans

750ml whipping cream

150g granulated sugar

400g in season berries

Method

Combine all the dry ingredients for the pie dough in a bowl or food processor. Cut the butter into cubes and work them into the dry ingredients to form a crumbly mixture. Add the egg and work it in quickly to form a dough.

Roll out the dough into a circle (slightly less than ?-inch thick) on a sheet of parchment paper with a little flour, then roll up the paper into a roll and let it chill in the fridge for 20 minutes. Cover a 9-inch springform pan with the pie dough. Prick the bottom and let the pie dough rest in the fridge for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.

Bake the pie shell in the middle of the oven for 12–15 minutes or until it begins to get some colour. Mix the egg white and cream for the egg wash and immediately brush the warm bottom of the pie crust with the mixture. This seals the tiny holes in the bottom of the crust so that the filling doesn’t leak out. Let the pie shell cool.

Place the gelatin sheets for the filling in cold water and let them soak for 10 minutes. Split the vanilla beans lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Place the seeds and the scraped beans in a pot together with the cream and sugar and bring to a boil. Remove the pot from the heat and transfer the gelatin sheets to the pot. Stir the mixture with a spoon and let it rest for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove the vanilla beans with a slotted spoon and pour the mixture into the pie crust. Cover the pie with plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge at least three hours or until the filling has solidified. Top the pie with berries just before you serve it.

Recipe from Lisa Lemke