Vanilla panna cottas with strawberry, hisbiscus & elderflower syrup

To make the panna cottas, start by soaking the gelatine in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, put the cream, milk and sugar in a pan and warm over a low heat (it needs to be warm enough to melt the sugar and gelatine, but not hot). Squeeze the excess water out of the gelatine, then stir into the warm cream until it has dissolved; pour into a bowl or large jug.

Halve the vanilla pods and scrape out the seeds with a sharp knife, then add the seeds and pods to the cream mixture. Mix well, then chill for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to stop the seeds from sinking to the bottom. After 30 minutes, when the mixture is starting to firm up, remove the pods and divide the mixture between 4 serving glasses (about 200ml each). Chill for about 4 hours to set.

Meanwhile, quarter 375g strawberries and put in a pan with the elderflower cordial and hibiscus. Cover and bring just up to simmering point over a low-medium heat; take off the heat and let stand, still covered, for 2 hours. Strain through a sieve into a bowl, pressing the strawberries and hibiscus with the back of a spoon to get every bit of flavour out; discard the spent fruit mixture. Chill the syrup until the panna cottas are ready. To serve, finely chop the remaining 125g strawberries and dollop on top of the set panna cottas. Spoon the strawberry syrup over and serve.