Sunday, July 27, 2008

Chocolate Panna Cotta with Strawberry Sauce

This is one of the numerous posts that has been languishing in my drafts folder for months now. Blogging is beginning to seem like "work" these days!


Panna cotta is an Italian dessert made by simmering together cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatin, and letting it cool until set. An Italian phrase which literally means "cooked cream", it generally refers to a creamy, set dessert from the Northern Italian region of Piedmont. It is eaten all over Italy where it is served with wild berries, caramel or chocolate sauce. (Source: Wikipedia)


Recipe source: Williams-Sonoma

For the chocolate panna cotta:
Ingredients:
1 ¾ cups heavy cream
1 packet/envelope plain gelatin( Strict vegetarians, please use whatever substitutes you have available.)
2 Tbsp Mascarpone cheese
3 Tbsp sugar
A pinch of salt
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Fresh strawberry sauce, recipe follows

Method:
Coat four small ramekins or custard cups lightly with flavorless oil. I used small steel tumblers.

Pour about ¼ cup of the cream into a small microwave safe bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over it and let stand until softened, about 5 minutes. Microwave for a minute or so and mix well until the gelatin has dissolved.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan over medium heat, bring the remaining cream, mascarpone cheese, sugar and salt just to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate and whisk until smooth.


Add the gelatin mixture to the chocolate mixture and mix well. Divide the mixture evenly among the ramekins and let cool to room temperature.

Cover the panna cotta loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set and thoroughly chilled, at least 3 hours or up to 1 day.

To serve, dip the ramekins one at a time into a bowl of hot water for about 20-30 seconds to loosen the custard, and then run a knife around the edges and invert onto a chilled serving plate. Serve the panna cotta with the strawberry sauce spooned over the top. Garnish with toasted walnuts. Serves 4.

For the strawberry sauce:
Ingredients:
8-10 strawberries
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp sugar

Method:
Add all the ingredients to a saucepan, warm on low-medium heat till the sugar melts and the strawberries get mushy. Cool and blend well to get a sauce-like consistency. Strain if you must.

Serve over chocolate panna cotta.

31 Burps:

Mallika said...

Looks fantastic! I haven't tried making pannacotta yet.

Laavanya said...

Wow chocolate panna cotta must be so creamy and good.. I've only had plain so far with berries. Looks pretty TBC...

Anonymous said...

As everything else on your blog, this looks really delicious. Oh, no! Blogging is supposed to be fun. It's NOT supposed to feel like work. LOL! Perhaps a short break is in order? Take it easy and have fun.

Paz ;-)

Red Chillies said...

I am not exactly sure what this is but looks deadly. Now that we have scorching heat here, this one makes me drool!

Sig said...

slurrrrppppp..... I am a sucker for panna cotta, and this looks delicious!

Rajitha said...

the presentation looks all fancy ms. budding cook :D....and yep the strict vegetarians can use agar-agar....

Pooh said...

TBC, you and I need to figure out a way to sample each other's dishes. That pannacotta looks sinful!

BTW, the recipe for Saar has been updated, as requested. :)

Have a good week ahead!

Siri said...

Thanks for substitutes TBC. I always wondered what to use instead of gelatin. the panna cotta looks delish..:)

Cheers,
Siri

Anonymous said...

Set perfectly!

amna said...

thats an absolutely yummy pic! makes me want to just get a spoon and dig right in!

sra said...

Blogging's beginning to seem like work? Does that mean you're beginning to get obsessed about it, like some of us?
:)

Lore said...

Love the presentation TBC! Yay for chocolate and strawberries :)

SMN said...

That looks so nice never tatsed it... bookmarked.

Ranjani said...

Looks great, albeit sinful:)

Priya said...

Yayy! The timing is just perfect for your recipe TBC, because I finally found some agar-agar flakes y'day at Whole foods and I might have exactly 2 spns of mascarpone leftover from my Tiramisu. Will let you know how it turns out :)

EC said...

Looks so inviting

Sia said...

LOL girl... so the honeymoon period is over??? sometimes even i feel the same abt blogging but some how i seem to post once in a while;)
and that is one gorgeous creation!

Bhawana said...

great TBC you bloggers are great, what all things you make. urs is looking awesome. just wow.

@the_whisk_affair said...

sounds like somebody is loosing interest!! (i too had moments of these!)

pls dont, we need ur awesome recipes just like this one..awesome presentation, beautiful style!! deeelicious!! :-)

Anonymous said...

OMG, I Love pannacotta. This looks gorgeous. Thank you for the recipe.

Richa said...

d-lish!
sure, blogging does inolve work...lol
take it easy, blog only when u can & feel like it!

Shreya said...

looks sinfully delicious...

Sunshinemom said...

Made and presented beautifully, TBC! I have been on the look out for vegetarian gelatin for this one!

Anonymous said...

Looks heavenly!

Deepthi Shankar said...

looks delish .. very tempting

Poonam said...

Panna cotta with mascarpone cheese...pretty!

delhibelle said...

The panacotta looks glorius, like a chocolate tower. Fab job!

Namratha said...

T, you are always making such yummy desserts...not fair.... :D

TBC said...

Mallika, Red Chillies, Sig, Roma, Nags, Ranjani, Easycrafts, Shreya,
Homecooked, Vegetable Platter and Rashmi- thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and leave your comments. I appreciate each and every one of them! :D

Laavanya- I should try the pain one now.:D And thanks!

Paz- you are too kind.:D I am indeed going on a short break. Just wanted to post all the pending posts before that.

Rajitha- glad I could impress ya! ;-) We're supposed to be strict vegetarians too, but I like my gelatin? ;D

Pooja- I like your profile pic a lot! Good to see you here.:D

Siri- thank you!:D How's the new job?

Sra- On the contrary, I'm kind of losing interest just a little bit mainly due to the posts in drafts that just keep piling up! :-(

Lore- yay indeed! I too love the combination, but then I like anything chocolate.:D

SMN- hope it turns out well and you like it.:D

Priya- give me some feedback, preferably good, o.k? ;-)


Sia- :D The problem for me right now is the large number of pending posts which I would like to publish before I take a short break.

Bhawana- thank you for the sweet words.:D


JZ- awww, what a nice thing to say!
I still enjoy blogging and hope it stays that way for a long time.:D
I'm not going anywhere... just a tiny break for a bit .:)


Enjay- thank you.:D


Richa- oh but that's exactly what I do! I meant "work" only 'cos I have so many pending posts and pics that are yet to see the light of day. It's becoming kind of unmanageable now. I just want to publish all that before I go on my vacation.:D

So what did u finally make for your picnic?



Haley thanks! I'll head over and check it out.:D

Sunshinemom- thank you! :D

Poonam! you know that I was at your blog earlier today, right? ;-)You've been busy! It's nice to see you here.:D

TBC said...

Namratha- what are u doing staying up so late girl? :D

Richa said...

oh yeah! picnic was fun, made chutney s/w, my fav peach lassi & a cake, turned out real good ;) thanks for the pasta info, want to try that one with summer tomatoes!

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