Panna Cotta | Valentines Day Dessert
What is your Valentines Day dinner preference? Dinner out or dinner in? To be honest, I like to go out so that someone else can cook something nice for me. But sometimes I like to put together a restaurant style meal for my loved ones. And it usually is pretty complex. So I came up with this dessert as the perfect, prep ahead of time Valentines Day dessert.
If you haven’t tried a blood orange you need to remedy that, FAST. They are in season right now(from December until about May for us in the US)and so I’ve really been wanting to work them into a dessert. In this recipe, they are used as a sauce to go along side the panna cotta. The sauce is very simple, since the orange juice stands on it’s own very well. The juice is dark red and is a bit sweeter than your average orange. So I just thickened it up and sweetened it a tad.
Panna Cotta is the perfect dessert to make ahead of time. You can make it the day before you want to serve it, then on the day of, whip together the simple sauce, unmold the panna cotta, add sauce, and serve! If you are one who likes to prepare a nice meal on Valentines day, this dessert is perfect for that because you can make it the day before so that you can put all of your energy into the actual meal. It’s a win/win!
Have you ever had panna cotta before? It’s a favorite dessert of mine. The secret? Adding only the minimum amount of gelatin. Just enough to let it hold it’s shape, but not so much that you feel like your eating a jello jiggler. I worked on this for a few days and have gotten the balance just right. The yogurt is so creamy and tangy, while the honey adds just the right amount of sweetness. It goes perfectly with the blood orange sauce and isn’t too heavy.
If you are new to panna cotta, don’t be scared! It’s super easy and if you are wary of unmolding it, just serve it in a ramekin with the sauce on top. It will still be beautiful!
I’m sharing the recipe for the blood orange sauce right here. For the panna cotta recipe, come over to my blog The Kitchen McCabe and get ready to prepare a fabulous treat!
Ingredients
- 5 blood oranges, juiced(should make about 1 C. total), Divided
- 2 T. Sugar
- 1 T. Cornstarch
- 2 Blood Oranges, segmented
Instructions
- Reserve 1/8 C. of the blood orange juice and place the rest of it in a saucepan along with the sugar. Add the cornstarch to a small bowl and slowly mix in the reserved orange juice until the mixture is combined and lump free. Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan and whisk well. Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and becomes clear.
- Transfer the sauce to a bowl, pressing a sheet of plastic wrap into the top of the sauce, and chill for at least 1 hour. Add the segmented oranges to the sauce and gently toss to coat.Keep refrigerated. Spoon on top of panna cotta when ready to use.
*****Thanks Kayley! This looks amazing! I haven’t ever tried Panna Cotta before, but I think I need to fix that right away. If you like what you see from Kayley, you should be sure to check out some of her other recipes, like this recipe for Red Quinoa Pancakes! You should also go follow her page, The Kitchen McCabe over on Facebook to keep updated on everything she is making. Trust me. you won’t want to miss anything!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE panna cotta! The other night at dinner when Nathan asked what was my favorite dessert… THIS is what I was trying to remember the name of!