An Italian-inspired Dinner Part 1: Coconut Vanilla Panna Cotta, White Chocolate Noodles, Pineapple Chili Salsa and Passion Fruit Curd

I love cooking and baking, as well as plating food so it looks nice. I think it's so important that food looks beautiful and appetizing. We eat with our eyes, not just our mouths. I thought I'd start writing this blog as a way to share my passion for food with others. I also hope to be inspired by others. So feel free to comment - if you know a better way of doing something, let me know. By sharing ideas, we can learn from each other and make even yummier food :)

A lot of the baking supplies I've linked back to the store I bought them from - Chez Marius. This is where I buy most of my kitchen supplies. I'm like a kid in a candy store in this shop. They've got all kinds of lovely things for the kitchen that you didn't even realize you could possibly want or need.  

I thought I'd start by posting about an Italian-inspired dinner I made this past weekend. A few friends from work came over for dinner and after being inspired by a trip to Capri and the Amalfi Coast this summer, I thought why not Italian?! I made a three-course dinner. As a major fan of dessert, I'll start with that. 

When I think of Italian desserts, I think of tiramisu and panna cotta. I'm not the biggest fan of tiramisu - I think it tends to be a big load of cream - but I love panna cotta. It's great for dinner parties because it has to be made ahead of time, leaving plenty of time to panic about everything else on the day of. Awhile back I found a yummy recipe for coconut vanilla panna cotta on the BBC website and having made it before, knew that it was tasty and worked well. I combined elements from different recipes and decided I wanted to plate up the dessert "fine dining"-style. I like to try new things and experimenting with food and new techniques. I can't draw or paint, so food is my art :)

This dessert contains four separate components: the panna cotta, the noodles, the pineapple salsa and the passion fruit curd.

Passion fruit curd (makes about 2 cups/500ml)

1 sterilized jam jar
1 silicon mold (I used one with 24 holes, each 3.4 x 1.66 cm/1.3"x 0.65")
6 large eggs
120g (1/2 cup) butter
200g (1 cup) sugar
250 ml (1 cup) passion fruit pulp (I had to use 9 passion fruit but it depends on the size)

1. For preserving jams and curds you need a sterilized jar to prevent bacteria from growing in your jam. I'm lazy so whenever I'm going to make jam etc, I sterilize the jars in the dishwasher. You can fill the dishwasher with dirty dishes at the same time. I time the program so that it's ready around the same time as the jam. When I made the curd this time, I was in a hurry and used the 30min 60°C (140°F) program. Use whatever program you need for the other dishes as long as it's at least 60°C hot.

2. Cut the passion fruit in half and scoop out pulp with a spoon. Strain out seeds.
3. Heat the butter, sugar and pulp in a pot until it just starts to boil. Remove from heat and let cool around 3 minutes.
4. While the butter-sugar-pulp mixture is cooling, whisk the eggs in a bowl until fluffy (it will take around the 3 min. the mixture is cooling).
5. When the passion fruit mixture is only slightly warm to the touch, add one spoonful at a time to the eggs while whisking.  When the egg mixture reaches the temperature of the passion fruit mixture, you can add the passion fruit mixture in larger amounts. This is the critical stage of this recipe. If you add the hot passion fruit mixture into the eggs too quickly, the eggs will curdle and you'll have to start from the beginning! 
6. Once you've combined the mixtures, add it back into the pot and heat over medium heat, whisking

constantly, until the mixture starts to thicken. Take it off the heat and allow to cool in the pot. Pour into a sterilized jar and keep in the fridge. You can eat the curd on toast, in yogurt etc but for the panna cotta recipe, I filled the silicon mold pictured with a squeeze bottle, creating passion fruit curd discs for the panna cotta. For this dessert recipe, you need two discs for every panna cotta.  Place the mold in the freezer for at least one hour.




Coconut vanilla panna cotta (makes 12 half spheres or fills 6 2dl (3/4-cup) glasses/bowls)

2 silicon molds (12 half spheres, each 7 x 3.5cm/2.75"x 1.38")
800 ml (3.2 cups) coconut milk
400ml (1.6 cups) whole milk (use whole milk! otherwise the panna cotta will separate)
100g (1/2 cup) sugar
1 vanilla pod
24g (2.5 tbsp) powdered gelatin


1. Grease the molds with butter. If you've never used the molds before, you need to grease and bake

them at 150°C for 10-15 mins before using them for this recipe.
2. Put the coconut milk, milk and sugar in a sauce pan. Split the vanilla pod and scrape out the seed with a knife. Add seeds and pod into pan.
3. Bring them to a boil over medium-high heat while stirring. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 min.
4. Add the gelatin and whisk until dissolved.
5. Let cool in pan until just slightly warm to the touch.
6. Fill the molds about half full and then place 1 passion fruit curd disc into each half sphere and then fill the mold to the top with the panna cotta mix.
7. Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge for at least 2 hours (preferably overnight) to set.

White chocolate noodles

200g (7 oz) white chocolate
ice water

1. Fill a large bowl with lots of ice and cold water.
2. Melt chocolate in microwave on medium in 20-second increments. Be careful not to burn!
3. Transfer chocolate into squeeze bottle/freezer bag/pastry bag and pipe into ice water into noodle shape.
4. Transfer noodles on to a lined tray/plate and place into freezer to await plating.


Pineapple and chili salsa (6 portions)

375g (13oz) fresh pineapple, cored and peeled
1.5 red chilis

1. Chop pineapple into small pieces.
2. De-seed and finely chop chilis.
3. Mix and place in fridge to await plating.

My dinner party was on a Saturday. The curd and discs I made on Thursday. The panna cotta and noodles on Friday. The salsa on Saturday afternoon. You could easily do everything (except the salsa) the afternoon/evening the day before serving.

For plating:

edible flowers
edible gold dust
silicone pastry brush
plates - I used Iittala Teema 26 cm plates in white which I love for their simplicity.

Flip out one panna cotta on each plate. Put a spoonful of the curd on the plate and spread with the brush, place a passion fruit curd disc on top of the smear of curd and arrange the other elements around the plate.

If you don't want to buy molds etc, you can also freeze the curd in ice cube trays, follow the recipe as above and then set and serve in a glass. I've used Iittala champagne flutes for this before but any pretty see-through bowl or glass will do.

I paired this with my fave dessert wine Brachetto d'Acqui, which is bubbly and tastes like berries. I don't usually like dessert wines but this is super yummy and not too sweet.