Champagne Panna Cotta for the New Year
Happy New Year, my dear friends!
For New Year’s Eve, I thought it would be fun to have a champagne dessert to drink with our champagne toast! This champagne-flavored panna cotta is super easy peasy-if you can warm cream on the stove, you can make this. The champagne flavor is quite bold so be sure to use a champagne that you love to drink! The booziness does mellow out over time, in fact, I found the panna cotta more to my liking 2 days after I made it. To accompany the panna cotta, I poached pears with a vanilla bean until they were tender and reduced the poaching liquid until it was syrupy. The pears and vanilla syrup were enjoyed the morning after with yogurt and granola, and I can’t wait to put them in my oatmeal and eat them with ice cream!
I hope you all had a nice weekend ringing in the New Year, perhaps over-indulging in the last hours of 2010 before those resolutions of 2011 kick in!
I don’t like to make New Year’s resolutions because it seems a bit disingenuous making grand promises about flossing everyday or working out 5 times a week, when I KNOW fully well that I will be breaking them before the month is out. Now that I’m thinking about it, I suppose it’s not actually the resolving part that I’m against- it’s the guilt and disappointment in myself that I feel when I break my resolutions that I would like to avoid! So though I have not explicitly made any resolutions (and therefore, you cannot fault me when I inevitably break them!), I am very proud of my first 2 days of 2011: I slept in (until 9:30 and 10), cleaned (part of) my room, was efficient in lab, tried a few recipes I’d tagged way back in 2010, and went to a yoga class. I hope this streak of motivation and improved attitude and time management continues into 2011, and most importantly, I look forward to all the new recipes and random ramblings I will share here in 2011!
Champagne Panna Cotta
from Piece of Cake
makes 4 servings
3/4 cups chilled Champagne or dry sparkling wine of your choice, divided
2 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin (just shy of 1 packets)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided (see note)
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Put 1/4 cup of the chilled champagne in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let soften for 5 minutes.
- Combine the cream, 1/3 cup of the sugar, salt and vanilla in a small saucepan. Warm the mixture gently over medium heat, but do not let it boil. When the cream is warm, whisk in the softened gelatin. Cool for 5 minutes.
- Pour the remaining 1/2 cup of Champagne in a medium bowl. Slowly whisk in the cream mixture. Taste and add additional sugar if needed (I added 1 more tablespoon of sugar at this point).
- Divide equally among 4 individual ramekins, custard cups or coffee cups. Chill until firm, at least 4 hours, or up to 72 hours in advance (cover tightly with plastic wrap past the 4 hour mark).
Poached Pears
from David Lebovitz
1 quart (1l) water
1 1/3 cup (265 g) sugar
4 Bosc pears; peeled, cored, and quartered
Additions: One cinnamon stick, 2 teaspoons whole cloves, black peppercorns or allspice berries, one lemon half, one split vanilla bean, 2-3 star anise, 6-8 fresh ginger slices
- In a large saucepan, heat the water and sugar until warm and the sugar is dissolved. Add any of the additions that you wish.
- Slide in the pears and cover with a round of parchment paper, with a small hole cut in the center.
- Keep the liquid at a very low boil and simmer the pears until cooked through, 15 to 25 minutes, depending on the pears.
- Remove from heat and let the pears cool in their liquid.
Optional: After poaching the pears, while the liquid is still warm, add approximately 1/2 cup (120 g) dried sour cherries, cranberries, raisins, or dried currants and let them plump.
Storage: Store the pears in their liquid in the refrigerator, in a covered container, until ready to use. Remove the pears from the refrigerator a few hours prior to serving, and re-warm them gently in the liquid, if you wish. The pears will keep for up to 5 days.
