Panna Cotta with Salted Caramel Sauce

Andrew and I are back from a whirlwind anniversary trip to Paris, and it was truly wonderful. We visited everything on our list and more. We're still going through the pictures, which will make their way to Facebook very soon. For our anniversary, June 16, Andrew took me to a beautiful little restaurant called A la Petite Chaise. Billed as the oldest restaurant in Paris (1680!), it specializes in simple but gourmet French cuisine. When I went to Paris with Grandmama in 2005, she took me here; my beloved cousin Julia went here on her trip with Grandmama as well, and revisited when she came back to Paris for her 25th birthday. My memories of Grandmama were very strong that day, especially since, a year before, Andrew and I chose to have our wedding on what would have been my grandparents' 56th anniversary--and in the same church.

Dinner at A la Petite Chaise was incredible, but the true stunner--for me--came with the dessert. Andrew ordered his first crême brûlée, and I ordered something called the café gourmand. It was a cup of strong French coffee (already a winner) with all these little desserts--bits and tastes of other things on the menu. I had a pistachio macaron, some chocolate, and this incredible panna cotta with salted caramel sauce. The waiter told me that I couldn't leave until I finished it. I told him that it was so good, there would be no problem. Andrew loved his crême brûlée, but he helped me with my panna cotta quite a bit!

When I came home, I instantly started looking for recipes. I think it came out really well. Maybe I've been watching a lot of Masterchef and Hell's Kitchen lately (I have) but I think Gordon Ramsay would approve. The only hard part is stirring the sugar as it becomes caramel, which can count as today's workout. I recommend watching some Gordon Ramsay cooking shows for motivation.

Panna Cotta, from David Lebovitz
Makes 8 servings.
This recipe recommends serving your panna cotta with berries, which is probably delicious as well. I might try it with some of my leftover panna cotta servings--except for the large quantity of leftover caramel sauce I'm dealing with. Why can't I ever bring myself to halve a recipe?

Pour 6 tablespoons cold water into a large bowl. Open 2 packets of unflavored gelatin and sprinkle the contents over the water. Let stand for 5-10 minutes.

In a saucepan, heat 4 cups heavy cream and 1/2 cup sugar. This can't be anything but good for you! Although the original recipe didn't specify, I used medium-high heat. You want it to be warm enough to dissolve the gelatin in a minute.

When the sugar is dissolved, take the cream and sugar off the burner and stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Then pour the warm cream mixture over the gelatin in the bowl and stir, stir, stir until the gelatin is all dissolved.

Pour the panna cotta into a serving cup, or into a lightly oiled custard cup if you want to unmold it onto the plate. I used some beautiful crystal wine glasses and didn't have to worry about unmolding anything. Place the panna cotta in the fridge for 2-4 hours.

Salted Caramel Sauce, from Two Peas & Their Pod
Makes about 3 cups
Bring all your ingredients together, turn up the volume on your Gordon Ramsay show of choice and get ready. I used a non-nonstick pan, the kind with an aluminum interior, because I was worried about burning my caramel and wanted to be able to see more clearly. You'll need:

2 cups sugar, in a saucepan
12 tablespoons butter, at room temperature and cut into pieces
1 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
A tablespoon (or less) of salt. They recommended fleur de sel, but Publix does not seem to  carry it.

Put the sugar on medium-high heat and keep an eye on it. Once it starts to melt, start whisking. It will start to clump up into beautiful pale caramel sugar cubes, but keep whisking and it will keep melting. I have literally no concept of how long it took. At some point, you will get a beautiful clear, smooth caramel that is a dark amber color. The original recipe said you want to hit 350 degrees. I only got as high as 300 degrees and that was plenty for me. Like I said, I didn't want to burn this thing. Then I started adding the butter a few pieces at a time. This is fun because it bubbles up like the lava of Mount Doom in some Candyland-LOTR mashup. Whisk the butter in so it melts. Once all the butter is melted and mixed, take it off the heat.

Then slowly drizzle in the heavy cream for more caramely-Mount Doom bubbling. Keep whisking and add the salt at the end. Let it cool a few minutes before pouring it into your jar/wherever you are keeping it.

To serve with panna cotta, heat the caramel sauce for 30 seconds in the microwave and drizzle over the panna cotta just before serving.

Enjoy!