When my children were small, they would love to hear stories of my summers in Puerto Rico visiting my grandmother Clotilde, and how my cousins and I would climb to the roof of the house to gather mangos and avocados the size of footballs.
I was able to travel to PR with my family a few years ago, and was contentedly sipping a passion fruit cocktail on the beach in Rio Mar, watching my kids frolic in the water as the sun was setting. The sky appeared to be ablaze and was beautiful enough to take my breath away. I reached over and took Jerry’s hand and felt delirious happiness. When I came home, I came up with this recipe as part of a romantic dinner. It’s colors remind me of the sunset on that incredibly happy evening. Needless to say, Jerry totally got it!
Read Related: A Dinner with Daisy! Keys to a Romantic Dinner for Two
PASSION FRUIT & MANGO PANNA COTTA WITH RASPBERRY SAUCE
Makes: 8 Individual Panna Cotta
Prep Time: 20 minutes (plus 4-24 hours chilling time)
Ingredients
For the Panna Cotta
½ cup sugar
1 TBSP gelatin
2 TBSP water
1½ cup mango puree (see Note below)
½ cup passion fruit puree
2 cups heavy cream
For the Raspberry Sauce (makes about 1 cup)
One 10-oz bag frozen raspberries
2-3 TBSP sugar
Juice of half a lime, or as needed
Instructions
- Make the panna cotta: Heat ¾ cup water and the sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved and the syrup is boiling. Remove from the heat.
- Sprinkle the gelatin over ¼ cup cool water in a small bowl. Let stand until softened, then stir the gelatin mixture into the sugar syrup until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Cool to room temperature.
- Stir the mango puree, passion fruit puree, and heavy cream together in a large bowl. Stir in the gelatin mixture thoroughly. Divide the mixture among eight 6-ounce ramekins or custard cups. Set the filled cups on a tray, cover them all with a single sheet of plastic wrap and chill until completely set, at least 4 hours. The panna cotta may be made up to a day in advance.
- Make the sauce: Heat the raspberries, sugar, and ¼ cup water in a small saucepan until simmering and the sugar is dissolved. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve into a small bowl, scraping the fruit with the back of a spoon to pass as much sauce through while keeping the seeds and pulp behind. Stir in lime juice to taste.
- To serve, invert each ramekin or custard cup over a dessert plate. Wait a few seconds and the panna cotta will slip right out and onto the plate. Spoon some of the raspberry sauce around each serving and pass the remaining sauce separately.
This recipe first appeared in Daisy: Morning, Noon and Night (Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 2010) and is available for purchase here.
Learn more about Daisy Martinez.
