Panna cotta with ruby sauce

Panna cotta is one of the desserts in my list that I wanted to try for a long time.  When this was part of our Pastry, Hot and Cold Desserts module in TAFE, it was a welcome surprise.  Its easy and so pretty when finished.  A few minutes heating the cream, chilling and voila - a simply and elegant dessert worthy of praise.  My hubby who is not-a-dessert-person had a spoonful of this and then another plate.  Hang on.  That's dessert!  Not a meal! Hahaha!  In short, he loved it.  And so did the girls.  Silky and creamy panna cotta paired with that sweet and tangy raspberry sauce.  Beyond delicious!  I tell you.

It looks really fancy on a white plate.  Lavishly elegant I must say - just like poached pears in red wine desserts.  Maybe its not as smooth as restaurant versions or the ones you'd see in recipe books but looks are always deceiving.

This dish is making its way to this month's Sweet Adventures Blog Hop themed Berry Nice to Meet You hosted by Christina from The Hungry Australian.    Before I settled on this dessert, I had so many strawberry recipes in mind and with the good supply of strawberries from QLD it was just the best option. But we had frozen raspberries waiting for some love so this happened.  And it was a good choice.  Something different in our dessert repertoire which does not involve using the oven.   This recipe is adapted from the 2011 edition of Essential Desserts - More than 200 step-step-Recipes by Murdoch Books.

To make this panna cotta you'll need:

750ml pouring cream

3 teaspoons powdered gelatin

1 vanilla bean, split lengthways

80g (1/3 cup) caster sugar

Lightly grease five 150ml panna cotta moulds or ramekin moulds with canola spray.

Place 60ml of the cream in a small bowl then sprinkle the gelatin powder on top and leave to rest.

Pour the remaining cream in a small saucepan with the vanilla bean and sugar and put on low heat while gently stirring.  Heat through until the sugar has dissolved. Do not boil. 

Remove from heat and using a hand whisk, mix the gelatin-cream mixture to into the warm incorporate.

Pour into the prepared moulds and chill for 2 hours or until set.

To make the ruby sauce:

235g (1 cup) caster sugar

250 ml water

1 cinnamon stick

125g fresh or frozen raspberries

125 ml red wine (I used whatever was on hand - which was Merlot)

Prepare the ruby sauce while the panna cotta is chilling.

In a small saucepan, combine the water and sugar and put on medium heat until the sugar was dissolved.

Add the cinnamon stick and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.

Add the raspberries and wine, on medium heat, boil for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat. Take out the cinnamon stick and strain the sauce through a strainer/sieve.

Using a spoon, push the raspberries through the sieve or strainer to drain all that juice and all you're left with are the seeds.  Discard the seeds.

Let cool.  Then chill in the refrigerator.  Serve as a sauce with the panna cotta and garnish with more raspberries.

How about you?  Do you have any food dishes that you've been putting off to try?  Why not try and make this one?  It will surely impress.   And now that you've met this berry dessert, go and hop on to the other berry-licious creations.  And while you're at it, why not join in the fun and have a go at making someone's day berry-full. 

xx