The Tale of the Panna Cotta

Panna cotta

‘Panna… cotta‘

It sounds so fancy! ‘Panna cotta’.

Pooja had no idea what it meant, even while she sat watching the contestants of MasterChef whip up the desert at the drop of a hat. It seemed to come in all varieties, flavours, colours, presentation methods, yet, it had not struck her to go online and see why its such a hit.

Panna-cotta

One more contestant’s Panna cotta gets praised on MasterChef and Pooja thinks, ‘How come so many people make the same ‘Panna-Cotta’ and the judges seem to really love it. Hmmm… Lets see what it is.’  She decides to wait for the break to get her tablet, but something distracts her. There it goes… The desert gets lost somewhere in the recesses of her brain.

Two days later, Pooja sits at her computer, procrastinating as always. She knows that she should be concentrating on the drawing the contractor has asked for. The deadline is not too far from now, but she has this feeling that she’s forgetting something. Something that she had planned to check on, but she just cannot remember what it was. She hates it when that happens! ‘Aww… Forget it! Get back to work Pooja’

Panna -Cotta!!!!

Her brain screams out of nowhere!!! Yes!!! She remembers now! She sits up straight, drawings all forgotten, she sets out to discover the world of Panna c.

‘Milk, Sugar, Gelatin, Vanilla and Cream’… What??!!?? That’s all that goes into a Panna cotta?? She cannot believe what she was reading! She kicks her self for having waited this long to have searched for it. No wonder the contestants get it so perfect and everyone seems to know how to make it! ‘Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!’ She kicks herself and decides that its time to make the desert finally.

She decides to make a Chocolate Panna cotta. She gathers a cup of milk, a packet of gelatin, two cups of heavy cream, a quarter cup of sugar, about a hundred grams of bitter-sweet chocolate, vanilla extract and a little bit of toffee/ caramel for the garnish.

Excited about all the ingredients around her bench, she starts off by melting the chocolate until it become smooth and runny, while she does that, the cream and the milk are heating away on a sauce pan on a medium-high heat, and gently brought to a boil. She adds the chocolate to the mixture gently whisking away. The white milk and cream mixture turns brown indicating the sinfulness of the chocolate that lies within. She adds a little gelatin, to help set the mixture and a little sugar and the vanilla extract. A naughty thought creeps into her mind, ‘Should I add just a dash of rum?? Hmm.. maybe next time’. She thinks with a smirk. Gently she pours the mixture into a bowl and while she places the bowls into the fridge to set overnight, she smiles at herself. This looks just divine!  She says to herself.  I cannot wait for tomorrow!

Having to wait for a chocolate desert is just cruel! But the wait was worth it. As she and her family devours the luscious dessert, she cannot help but agree with the article she read about how the Panna Cotta is the perfect dessert.

Happy Explosions of Divine Chocolatey-ness in your Mouth to you!