There are flavors that classically are intertwined. Those include things like: chocolate and raspberries, balsamic vinegar and strawberries and blueberries with lemon. One of my personal favorites is coffee and bananas.For this dessert I’ve also added two other primary flavors which blend with the others very well. Those are chocolate and Sambuca.
My ideal makeup for a dessert incorporates several different textures, flavors and temperatures. I like to limit it to 3, maybe 4 key flavor elements. The approach with this dessert is a coffee panna cotta with a circle of caramelized bananas on top. These are ringed by a sambuca foam and topped with a chocolate caviar.
For the Panna Cotta:
340g. heavy cream
80g whole coffee beans
1 vanilla bean
6g leaf gelatin
115g sugar
200g mascarpone
100g half and half
Bloom the gelatin leaves in water. Place the heavy cream and coffee beans into a heavy saucepan. Split and scrape the vanilla bean and add to the cream. Heat gently until scalded. Cover and let steep for at least an hour. Blend the mascarpone and half and half together with a rubber spatula. Be careful not to break the cheese by beating it too hard.After the steeping period is over, gently re-warm the cream with the sugar added. Add the gelatin and the mascarpone. Strain and portion.
For the cocoa caviar:
(I’ve made some of this recipe in volume because the size of some of the ingredients is too small for most scales to measure)
118g sugar
55g glucose
2 T cocoa powder
100g water
1/8t locust bean gum
1g agar agar
2 cups very cold vegetable oil (around 32 degrees F.)
Cook sugar and glucose together to a rich caramel. Make sure you wash down the sides with a brush to prevent crystallization. Deglaze with the water then mix in cocoa. Whisk in Agar and the Locust Bean Gum, bring to a simmer. Strain and cool slightly, but retain a little warmth to prevent solidifying. Fill a squirt bottle with a very small tip. Drop into cold oil. You can vary the size of drops with hand pressure.
For the Sambuca foam:
250g whole milk
55g Sambuca
50g sugar
1g powdered lecithin
Heat milk with sugar to a scald. Whisk in lecithin. Pull off heat and add Sambuca. Reserve.
To make the Banana circles and finish:
Sliced bananas (try to not make a bias cut)
melted butter
Demerrara sugar
Arrange banana slices on parchment paper squares. Form them into a circle around a half inch smaller than the container your panna cotta is in. Overlap each slice so it forms a tight ring. Coat with melted butter and store in the refrigerator. Coating them will make them easier to handle and will also delay oxydization. When ready, remove from the refigerator and sprinkle with demerrara sugar. Caramelize with torch until evenly brown. Try to move quickly, if heated too long the bananas will start sliding apart. Let cool and place on top of the panna cottas. Place Sambuca milk in a container that will leave you with at least 3 inches of side above the milk. Take a hand immersion blender and froth the milk. Spoon the bubbles around the edge of the bananas. Top with a spoon full of cocoa caviar.
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