Chocolate Panna Cotta with a Port Wine Pomegranate Sauce

The easy portion of this comes into play with technique and the recipe being nearly a one pot easy desserts. I say nearly because other than the pot, you’ll just need a bowl filled with water for the gelatin to soften. The elegance can easily be fitted by serving the chocolate panna cotta in stemmed glasses rather than using ramekins and un-molding it. If you haven’t worked with gelatin before, there’s really nothing to it, especially if you are working with the granules rather than gelatin leaves. If you’ve ever made Jell-o, than you you’ve already worked with gelatin or with other easy dessert recipes. It’s all about letting it soften and temperature which is too hot and you will break the gelatin, not hot enough and the gelatin won’t set. And very important—too much gelatin and you will end up with a rubbery texture just like other cooking recipes.

Ingredients:

CHOCOLATE PANNA COTTA

2 cups plus

1/4 cup of heavy cream

1 envelope plain gelatin (about 2 teaspoons)

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon Hershey Special Dark Cocoa Powder

3 oz. dark chocolate

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

PORT WINE POMEGRANATE SAUCE

1 cup port wine

1/2 cup Pom pomegranate juice

2 teaspoons honey

optional: 1/4 - 1 teaspoon sugar as needed to adjust flavor to personal preference

Directions:

TO MAKE CHOCOLATE PANNA COTTA

Pour 1/ 4 cup of cream into a bowl. Evenly sprinkle gelatin on top; set aside for ten minutes.

Place the remaining 2 cups of cream, sugar, cocoa powder and bring to a simmer ( look for small bubbles along the edge of the pan). Add in chocolate, vanilla and salt; stir to combine. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve. Pour the gelatin mixture into the chocolate mixture and stir until gelatin is completely dissolved.

Pour into stemmed glasses or ramekins. Chill for at least 2 hours or loosely cover and chill overnight.

TO MAKE PORT WINE POMEGRANATE SAUCE

Add port wine, pomegranate juice and honey into a pan and cook, stirring until the liquid is reduced by half about 3 to 5 minutes. (*Taste and adjust the flavor with a 1/4 teaspoon of sugar until satisfied.)

Drizzle on top of set chocolate panna cotta at time of serving.