Topic 10

Blue

What food is blue??? I have struggled to choose an item to prepare for this topic. The only image which was coming to mind was a delicious cocktail I had in Fiji called a Blue Lagoon.  Naturally then my mind would wander…I would be mentally poolside and no closer to inventing a blue dish for the Cookbook Challenge.

My next thought was Smurfs are blue!  Is this another random useless thought… perhaps not. Blue and white looks so nice together... Bingo, I remembered the retro Smurf ice-poles from my childhood.  They were “splits” (i.e. two sticks) one white creamy side and one blue icy side. I knew I was onto something I just had to iron out the ingredients and the engineering and voila! An adult only Smurfy dessert!

The blue is a delicious jelly blue lagoon and the white is a creamy white chocolate and vanilla bean panna cotta. Ah just like when I was a kid only so much better.

I would have loved my collection of Smurf figurines for the photo shoot but unfortunately they didn’t survive my teenaged years and are now long gone.  So let’s get smurfing and make this smurftastic Panna cotta.

Ingredients:

Blue Lagoon Jello

1 pkt blue jelly crystals

1 cup boiling water

½ cup vodka

¼ cup blue Curacao

¼ cup Malibu

White Chocolate & Vanilla Panna Cotta

500ml pouring cream

1 ½ tsp unflavoured gelatin

65gm white chocolate

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

½ cup caster sugar

Method:

Although this recipe is a cinch it does take two days to make.

Day 1: In a bowl add boiling water and blue jelly, stir until the mixture is dissolved. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to ensure the gelatin is dissolved. Pour the jelly into a serving glass.

Clear a space in the fridge and arrange a rolled up tea towel in the fridge to rest the glasses on.  The glasses should be lying on an angle which gives an attractive diagonal appearance to the jelly.  Place another tea towel at the stem of the glass to prevent them slipping. Refrigerate overnight.

Day 2: Warm the cream in a saucepan and add the gelatin.  Stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Add the sugar, white chocolate and vanilla to the cream mixture. Stir the saucepan off the heat until the mixture is smooth and the chocolate is melted.

Allow the panna cotta to come to room temperature.

Take the blue lagoon glasses from the fridge and top with the panna cotta mixture. Refrigerate the glasses once again.

When the dessert is set decorate with cream and serve. I can image a smurfette garnish and a cocktail umbrella.

Verdict on these blue dessert, I loved the white chocolate panna cotta but I think I would leave the vodka out of the blue lagoon and simply add an extra ½ cup of water to the mixture.  It was a little strong for a dessert.  If you wanted an alcohol free dessert you could just make the jelly up as directed on the packet.  The mix of jelly on one side and creamy on the other was a delicious combination. I would definitely make this again.