Coconut Panacotta with Fruit Salad

This week’s recipe has been prepared by Ian McNaught, Head Chef of the Roman Camp Country House & Restaurant situated in the heart of the Trossachs National Park. This traditional Highland retreat on the banks of the River Teith is ideal for a romantic getaway and a fabulous wedding venue too. The historic and idyllic building and 20 acres of secluded gardens are perfect for wedding photos, and for the ceremony itself. The restaurant itself has been recommended by the AA as one of the top twenty eateries in Scotland and has been awarded the Three AA Rosette Award for their restaurant dining. The menus at the restaurant are prepared from locally sourced seasonal ingredients and guests can choose from a host of different menus including a la carte, five course tasting, afternoon tea or vegetarian menus.

Serves 4

Ingredients

Coconut Panacotta

250ml of Coconut Milk

250ml of Double Cream

70g Caster Sugar

3 Gelatine Leaves Soaked In Water

Fruit Salad

1 Mango

Half a Pineapple

500ml of Water

250g Sugar Castor

A Cinnamon Stick

1 Sprig of Thyme

2 Peppercorns

50g Pine Nuts

Mint & Cress Leaves to Garnish

Mix the coconut milk and double cream together and bring to the boil. Add the caster sugar to the mixture and then the soaked gelatine leaves. Divide this into four moulds – a tip for doing this is to put Clingfilm in the moulds before you pour in the mixture. This will enable you to remove the mixture smoothly when set. Leave this to cool and then place in the fridge for four hours to set.

Chop the mango and the pineapple into bite sized chunks and set aside in a large bowl. Put the water, sugar, cinnamon stick, thyme and peppercorns in a pan and bring the mixture to the boil. Pour the boiled mixture over the fruits whilst still hot – then put Clingfilm over the bowl and put in the fridge to cool down. Remove when serving.

Place pine nuts on a baking tray and toast in the oven at 180 Degrees Celsius for 5 minutes - allow to cool.

To Serve

To plate up, take the panacotta gently out of the mould and place in the middle of a plate. Arrange the fruit salad around the edge of the panacotta. Add mint leaves and some little cress leaves to garnish and sprinkle over some pine nuts.