Almond and cherry panacotta

Preheat oven to 150 degrees/gas 2. In a blender, blitz half the almonds until they are coarsely and evenly ground. Then put them on a baking tray with the other half of the almonds (the whole ones) and toast lightly for about 10 minutes. When they’re toasted, set the whole almonds aside to cool, and place the ground almonds in a saucepan with the milk, cream and maple syrup. Sprinkle over the agar agar and – this is important – do not stir. Heat the mixture gently over a low heat until it is just starting to simmer. Now stir it, before removing it from the heat and blitzing it with a hand blender. Then strain it and pour it into moulds – I used moulded rubber ones. Chill until set. While it’s chilling, roughly chop the toasted whole almonds and mix them in a bowl with the chopped cherries. To serve the panacotta, remove them from the moulds and serve them on pretty plates with some of the cherry and almond salsa spooned over the top.