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.