The new IMBB theme, hosted by Elise at Simply Recipes, was gelatin, and since I'm not a big fan of Jell-O there was really one option for me: panna cotta. (Actually, Alton Brown makes a mousse using gelatin, but I wanted to go back to the panna cotta recipe because I liked it so much.) I tried a couple variations on the recipe I used before, to mixed effect. First, I used half a vanilla bean instead of extract, which gave it almost a subtler flavor and those beautiful black speckles. I also thought if I put something, strawberries and cherries, in the bottom of the molds they'd be there on top when I unmolded the dish. That didn't really work, as you can see, because the berries just floated to the top. Which made me think I could make the panna cottas in wine or dessert glasses and not unmold them, and have berries, candied citrus peel, edible flowers, whatever, on top. Pretty.

I also made mini panna cottas in my mini muffin pan, which are cute and would be a nice cocktail party dessert if you could figure out an easy way to serve them (they aren't finger food; I placed one on a puddle of Sarabeth's strawberry-raspberry preserves for this photo).

Here's the recipe. Sprinkle one packet of gelatin over 2 tablespoons water and let it sit for 10 minutes. Meanwhile heat 1 cup heavy cream and half a split and scraped vanilla bean in a medium saucepan and dissolve 7 tablespoons of sugar in it. Then whisk in the gelatin until the lumps are gone. Let that cool for a while, then add 2 cups buttermilk. Strain from saucepan into a bowl or measuring cup with a pour spout, then pour into molds and refrigerate at least 6 hours. Unmold by dipping in hot water and then running a thin spatula or knife around the edges. I served it with strawberries macerated in sugar and balsamic.