Recipe #17: Chocolate Panna Cotta with Raspberry Sauce

First off, I apologize for taking a break -- between holidays, a sick baby, and having my wisdom teeth out, I've been a busy lady. Anywho, on with the show!

The first time I ever had Panna Cotta was at Pompeii Caesar inside Mohegan Sun Casino. It's a very expensive (albeit absolutely delicious) Italian restaurant inside the older part of the casino. I went there to have lunch with a reporter from Rolling Stone for an interview she was doing on myself and a bunch of other teen girls from my town (the rest of this is such another story for another day/blog/etc.). While we were there, the reporter let me order anything I wanted and after whatever my entree was, and at the tender age of 14, as long as it was being paid for by someone else, of course I wanted dessert.

I'd never had it before, but with literally the first bite, I was IN LOVE. It was creamy and delicious and like a little bite of heaven.

Cut to 11 years later, and I'm trying to come up with a nice dessert to make my husband after a long week of taking care of me after I had my wisdom teeth out. I thought of panna cotta, but there's only one problem -- he won't eat anything vanilla, custardy, pudding-like or creamy. No problem, I'll add chocolate and a touch of raspberry. Please note -- I usually include photos of my entire process, but since the first part, where I actually made the cream that I used, went so quickly, I didn't really get any photos. I did take photos while making the raspberry sauce, because that process was actually tougher. But trust me when I say that the words alone will be enough. It's a pretty simple recipe.

In the end, he loved it, and he's actually the one who suggested I blog my recipe. We thought it was delicious, and considering it made 8 servings, we'll happily be enjoying it for dessert for a couple more days.

Chocolate Panna Cotta with Raspberry Sauce

Cook time: 10 minutes
Cooling time: 15 minutes
Chill time: 4 to 24 hours

1 small packet unflavored gelatin
4 cups heavy cream or whipping cram
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons plus one teaspoon water
1 8-ounce container of sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup fresh raspberries

Tools
large saucepan
mixing bowl
8 medium-sized (about 4 oz.) ramekins or containers for serving
ladle/large mixing spoon
food processor (optional)
small saucepan
handheld strainer/sifter

Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler, or microwave for 30 second intervals and stir, until melted. Set aside.

Take 1 cup heavy cream and whip until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Mix gelatin with 2 tablespoons water and set aside. This will set in the container within 2 or 3 minutes. That's OK. It's supposed to.

In large saucepan, heat 1/2 cup sugar, cream, cocoa powder and vanilla over medium heat, but stir continuously to avoid boiling. Once heated through, add the set gelatin mixture. Stir until you don't feel any grainy pieces of the gelatin and remove from heat immediately. Pour in melted chocolate and stir to combine. Allow to cool thoroughly for about 15 minutes.

In mixing bowl, empty sour cream container. Once the cream-sugar mixture has completely cooled, use ladle to add spoonfuls of the mixture to the sour cream. Whisk to keep airy/light. Add the whipped cream. Once completely combined, pour into ramekins or serving containers and chill for at least for (up to 24) hours in refrigerator.

For raspberry sauce: Add raspberries to food processor and puree. If you do not have a food processor, use a fork to crush the raspberries, or a knife to chop. Add to small saucepan with remaining 1/2 cup sugar and teaspoon of water.



Cook over medium high heat until sugar has caramelized and is melted completely. Mixture should be bubbling.



Remove from heat. Set strainer/sifter on top of a bowl, and pour raspberry mix into it. Using a fork or spoon, move raspberry mixture around so as to move the remaining flesh and juice into the bowl, keeping seeds in sifter.



Please note: The yellow on the right hand side in the below picture is the reflection of the light in my kitchen. I didn't add anything to the mixture. :)



Panna cotta can be served in the ramekin/container or on a plate. To remove from ramekin, run a knife around the edge and turn ramekin over onto plate and tap the bottom. If the panna cotta doesn't come out right away, continue running the knife around the edges. This will separate it from the container.

Serve topped with raspberry sauce.



*Comments:

-Strainer/sifter: If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a better picture of this tool.

Recipe #15: Banana Egg Rolls

I know the title of this sounds weird. When you think of "egg rolls," you generally think of the type you'd get at a Chinese restaurant -- filled with cabbage, carrots and either pork, chicken or shrimp. Why mix that with bananas? Have no fear -- no weird mixing here.

When I lived in California, someone I worked with used to bring something similar to this in to share (generally with me, because I would eat... a bunch). She called them "banana fritters," but when I picture fritters I think of the apple or clam variations -- tiny balls of fried dough. These aren't those. I never knew what was in her recipe for her "banana fritters," except banana, but I never forgot them.

So I came up with this dessert dish. Not to toot my own horn, but my husband, who hates bananas, LOVED this recipe. This makes seven egg rolls and while that might not sound like much, they are so sugary and rich that it will take only one to fill you up. Enjoy!

Banana Egg Rolls

Ingredients
3 bananas
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons salted butter
7 egg roll wrappers*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts*
pinch of salt
vegetable oil (for frying)
whipped cream (for garnish)
raspberries (for garnish)*

Tools
food processor
non-stick skillet
pan with 2-3 inch sides (for frying)
pie plate or any flat pan/plate

Combine sugar, brown sugar and salt in pie plate, use fork to stir together and break up brown sugar. Cut bananas in half or in thirds length- and width-wise. Roll each banana gently in the sugar mixture, to coat both sides.



Heat butter in skillet. When melted, place sugar-coated bananas in pan. Cook on medium-high heat until sugar has melted. Turn bananas over, allow other side to cook for 3 minutes or until the bananas have turned golden and the sugar has all caramelized.



Remove from heat and place bananas (and any liquid/caramel from the skillet) in a food processor. Add cinnamon and vanilla, puree. Once pureed, stir in chopped walnuts.



Heat vegetable oil in larger pain, allow to heat until oil is rippling, or responds to a drop of water hitting the surface.

To fold egg rolls... place wrapper diagonally so corners are pointing up, down, left and right. Place about two tablespoons of the banana mixture in the center of the wrapper. Fold the bottom up over the mixture. Fold the sides in (I wet the points so they'll stick), and then roll towards the top point. Moisten point, stick to body of the egg roll.



When finished folding, place egg rolls into oil. Fry about 3 minutes on one side (or until golden brown), turn over.



When both sides are golden brown, remove from oil, drain on a paper towel.



Serve warm, garnished with whipped cream and raspberries.



*Comments:
-Egg Roll wrappers: I only ever use Nasoya brand wrappers. They are readily available at pretty much any grocery store, and they are consistently a good quality.

-Walnuts: If you prefer, you can also use pecans or almonds in place of the walnuts. I happened to have those on hand, but it could easily be substituted, and delicious.

-Raspberries for garnish: You could serve this garnished with banana slices, but I prefer the raspberries. The reason is that these egg rolls are so incredibly sweet, I think the raspberries add a little bit of tartness to the dish, and balances it out better. For the same reason, I use whipped cream instead of drizzling chocolate or caramel over them. You could definitely do that, but I just think the whipped cream -- aside from being great to "dip" the egg rolls in -- gives something that would be heavy because it was fried, a light airiness.

A special note on egg roll wrapping... Mine were not perfect, but that's okay. You're frying these, so as long as the end of the wrapper sticks to the rest of it, you'll be okay. It's similar to wrapping a burrito, but as if you were using a pointy tortilla instead of a round one. Make sense? For a better explanation than mine on how to properly roll an egg roll, check out the back of a Nasoya wrappers package. They have a visual on how to do it, and it really helps.

Enjoy!