Happy 150th Birthday Italy! Tricolore pannacotta with wild berries, vanilla and lime

17th March 1861 is a very important date for we Italians as it is the  day of the Unification of Italy with the  institution of the Reign of Italy, the proclamation of King Vittorio Emanuele II from Savoia and the assembly of the first Italian Parliament. If today we are a great country  (despite the political mess and the economical difficult time) it is thanks to the people who fought against the foreign rule in our recent past. I strongly believe in the proverb  "l'unione fa la forza" (unity is strenth) and that  the cultural diversity that comes from our different roots  makes Italy so unique, fascinating and rich. Moreover, I come from a border area (Friuli) that has been site of many battles as it was under the Austrian domination and became part of Italy only after the First World War in 1919. Again, during the Second World War, this territory was hardly hit till Italian final borders were marked at the end of the conflict. So, today, after 150 years, I'm proud to celebrate my Italian identity and to do so I decided to prepare a Tricolore (three colors- Italian flag) pannacotta with wild berries (red), vanilla (white) and lime (green). At the end of the post there is a picture I took of our castle in Gorizia illuminated for the occasion. Before it, a contribution of our "big" Roberto Benigni, guest at Sanremo   Italian music festival,  singing the Italian national anthem, Fratelli d'Italia by Goffredo Mameli, who died at the age off 22 defending the Second Roman Republic (1849).  Auguri Italia! 

 Tricolore pannacotta with wild berries, vanilla and lime

(makes 6 tasting servings - I used liqueur glasses)

To make panna cotta (white base):

250 ml liquid cream

150 ml milk

50 g sugar

three leaves isinglass (gelatin) (5 g) 

a pinch vanilla powder

For the red part:

1/2 cup wild berries

2 tablespoons icing sugar

For the green part:

2 limes (juice and grated peel)

2 tablespoons water

4 tablespoons icing sugar

Prepare the wild berries syrup blending the fruits with  icing sugar.  Put the compound in a small saucepan and cook for 2/3 minutes, let it cool. Prepare the lime syrup cooking together the juice, the peel, water and sugar for 5/10 minutes till it gets thick, let it cool.

To make the white pannacotta base, first soak the gelatin in cold water for about 5 minutes. Drain and let it dry over a clean dishcloth. In a kettle pour cream, milk, sugar, vanilla powder and cook, stirring, till it begins to boil. Remove from fire and add gelatin stirring quickly. Divide the compound into three parts. Leave one white. Mix the others respectively with the wild berries and lime syrups. Put in three bowls to cool in the fridge for about two hours. When they start to thick, fill the glasses (or the shapes you like) first with a green lime part, second with the white vanilla, and lastly with the red wild berries pannacotta. Place again in the fridge to cool for other two hours. Decorate as desired.