Smoked Vanilla Panna Cotta...Smoked Vanilla Panna Cotta with Blackberry-Cardamom Gelée

An elegant avant-garde dessert featuring applewood-smoked vanilla panna cotta, layered with a vibrant blackberry-cardamom gelée, accompanied by a buttery pistachio sablé.

Ingredients

Cooking Instructions

1. 01

   Pour the heavy cream and milk into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and trap applewood smoke inside using a handheld smoking gun. Let sit for 10 minutes to infuse, then chill.

2. 02

   Bloom 2 gelatin sheets in cold water for 5 minutes. In a saucepan, combine the smoked cream, milk, 60g of granulated sugar, and the scraped vanilla bean and pod. Heat to a gentle simmer, then remove from heat.

3. 03

   Squeeze excess water from the gelatin sheets and stir them into the hot cream mixture until fully dissolved. Strain through a fine-mesh chinois and pour into four silicone sphere or dariole molds. Refrigerate for 2 hours until set.

4. 04

   To make the gelée, bloom the remaining 1.5 gelatin sheets in cold water. In a small saucepan, combine blackberries, remaining 40g of granulated sugar, lemon juice, and crushed cardamom pods. Simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes until the berries break down.

5. 05

   Strain the blackberry mixture through a chinois, pressing to extract all juice. Stir the bloomed gelatin into the warm juice until dissolved. Let cool to room temperature, then pour gently over the set panna cotta. Return to the refrigerator for 2 hours.

6. 06

   For the pistachio sablé, cream together the softened butter and powdered sugar. Stir in the egg yolk, then fold in the pistachio flour, all-purpose flour, and salt until a dough forms. Roll out between parchment paper to 3mm thickness and chill for 30 minutes.

7. 07

   Preheat oven to 170°C (340°F). Bake the sablé dough for 12 minutes until lightly golden. Allow to cool completely, then gently crumble into rustic shards.

8. 08

   To assemble, carefully unmold the layered panna cotta onto the center of chilled plates. Arrange the pistachio sablé crumble around the base, garnish with fresh halved blackberries, and serve immediately.