Now that I no longer have to feed a family of four every day, I have more time to experiment with dishes I’ve always wanted to try.

I’ve always loved a nicely-cooked pannacotta, tender and set but neither lumpy nor rigid. I’d love to have that in my repertoire but I’ve always been put off by a nightmare about unmoulding the tender little patties only to have them collapse in an unsightly milky mess over the plate. Gelatine frightens me and even more so after my glutinous rice mochi disaster the other week, but it was time to gird my loins and try it. Culinary disasters are disasters only on a minor scale, after all.

What I learnt about gelatine leaves is that you need quite a lot of water to dissolve them. If your recipe calls for them just to be softened, use just a little water. Here is my first effort at https://www.recette247.com/thermomix/panna-cotta-au-lait-de-coco-thermomix/.  It tasted delicious and coconutty but next time I’d use a vanilla pod instead of vanilla essence or vanilla sugar, for visual contrast if nothing else. I was a little disappointed with the set and, as you can see, the pannacotta collapsed quite quickly. Maybe I should use a little more gelatine or a little less dissolving water next time.

I was given an ice cream machine a few years ago but haven’t used it for ages, largely because ice cream is full of calorific things that taste wonderful but make me feel guilty afterwards. I still brought it here to Hong Kong, in anticipation of enjoying the heat with friends.

My friend Kirsty posted  a joke about wine ice cream on Facebook the other day, which intrigued me so much that I went looking for an actual recipe and found one on Pinterest.

I blended the ingredients in the Thermomix, and then churned them in my Gaggia Geletaria, and the result is delicious and not at all sweet. Next time, however, I’d strain the wine and berry purée to get rid of the masses of gritty pips. The wine in the sorbet means that it is a really soft set and melts very quickly. All the more need to eat it quickly. It really does taste like wine and I’m sure you could count a portion as at least two of your five a day.