This beautiful strawberry and lavender panna cotta recipe from Shaun Rankin produces the quintessential summer dessert, rounded off nicely with a contemporary touch in the form of olive oil shortbread.
Split the vanilla pod down the middle lengthways and scrape out the seeds. Add a quarter of the seeds to the mixture. Mix until it starts to combine, then slowly add the egg yolks and olive oil
Wrap the dough in cling film and place in the fridge for 1–2 hours
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When you are ready to cook the shortbread, preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4
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Roll out the dough onto greaseproof paper until 1cm thick. Carefully place onto a baking tray and cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cut into fingers. Return to the oven and cook for a further 5–10 minutes
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Dust lightly with caster sugar, then allow to cool for 5 minutes before gently transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely
caster sugar for dusting
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To make the panna cotta, soak the gelatine in the cold water for about 4 minutes. Place the cream, caster sugar and lavender into a heavy saucepan and gently bring to the boil over a medium heat
Add the gelatine and water, stir and pass through a fine sieve into a jug
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Blend half the strawberries in a liquidiser and add to the mixture, mixing well. Cut the remaining strawberries in half and mix with some pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and a dusting of icing sugar
Place a spoonful of strawberries in the bottom of each glass. Pour over the panna cotta mixture, dividing it up evenly. Place in the fridge for 1 hour until set, then serve with a couple of fingers of shortbread
