Blackberry and chocolate panna cottas

This is the first of ten posts on possible food pairings for the films nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars.

If a sensuous lily white mound, speckled by with dark vanilla seeds and smothered by a tide of darkness doesn’t make you think of Black Swan, maybe the wings of dark chocolate will help. In this genre bending ballet thriller, Nina Sayers just wanted to be perfect. She needed to be sexy and to be pure. She wanted to have pristine technique and to also let it all go. This panna cotta lets you do all of that. And it also lets you get to get busy with a sharp object. Except this time you’ll be puncturing the bottom of plastic cups. Let’s leave poor Winona Ryder’s face alone for a while.

Equipment:6 plastic cups

Ingredients:

For the panna cotta

3 gelatine leaves
250ml/9fl oz milk
250ml/9fl oz double cream
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways, and the seeds that have been scraped out
25g/1oz sugar
For the sauce
50 grams of dark chocolate
1 cup of blackberries (pureed)
2 tablespoons of cream
For the feathers and wings
1 tablespoon of shredded coconut
50 grams of chocolate
15 grams of butter

Panna cotta

Soak the gelatine leaves in a little cold water until they’re slippery and slimy.

Bring the milk, cream, vanilla pod, seeds and sugar in a ban and bring it up to a simmer. Remove the vanilla pod.

Give the gelatine leaves a good squeeze, then add to the warm milk sugar and cream. Stir until the gelatine has dissolved.

Pour the mixture into the six plastic cups. Let them cool and them place them in the fridge for 4-6 hours to set properly.

Chocolate wings

Melt 50 grams of dark chocolate with 15 grams of butter.

Line a dinner plate with greaseproof paper. Pour the melted chocolate over the paper and smooth it out until it creates a smooth, thin disc.

Chill the chocolate until it is solid. Break it into feathery triangles to form the wings.

Chocolate and blackberry sauce
Melt 50 grams of chocolate with 2 tablespoons of cream. Stir until the chocolate is smooth.

Puree the cup of blackberries.

Fold the blackberry puree and the chocolate together. Warm the mixture in a pan or the microwave.

To construct the swans

Upend the plastic cups, one to each plate. Puncture the top of the cups with the tip of a knife. This will allow air in and the suction seal to break, releasing the panna cottas.

Drizzle the panna cottas with the chocolate and blackberry sauce.

Sprinkle the coconut flakes around the outside of the panna cottas

Position the chocolate wings at the side.

Other options?What else could we pull out for Black Swan? Apart from eating what Nina eats, because nobody is going to get excited about 5 almonds and 4 carrot sticks for dinner.

See the rest of the Oscars Feast

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