The Crabby Cook - by Jessica Harper

First there was that L.A. Times recipe for  coffee cake that was supposedly so delicious you’d want to “eat it on your deathbed,” as your last supper. Then I stumbled across a recipe for “Dead Guy Sauce” (which had, by the way, a mystifyingly benign ingredient list–no hemlock, say, or piggy entrails–and no other explanation for its suggestive title). Next, a recipe for “Drop Dead Brownies” caught my eye on Twitter, and I started to get the culinary creeps.

What’s up with this? I mean, I’m assuming the death-related recipe trend can be attributed to Halloween, but maybe it’s due to other factors like, say, the presumed fate of Democrats in the upcoming election.

Whatever the explanation, I’m jumping on the death recipe bandwagon and posting a recipe for “Death By Pudding.” This chocolate panna cotta is so rich, you would be well advised to have an ambulance standing by when you eat it. And if you’re a Democrat, please hold off on this recipe until November 3^rd, willya? We need all the living voters we can get. (Although being dead does not disqualify you from voting in some districts. Check online for more info.)

Death By Pudding

Serves 6. (You can stretch it to 8 if you make smaller servings.)

1 packet gelatin

2 cups cream

1 cup milk

½ cup sugar

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 ounces semisweet chocolate (I use Scharffen Berger), coarsely chopped

Whipped cream for serving

1. In a saucepan, heat the cream, milk, sugar and salt over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture reaches a gentle boil. Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla. Add the chocolate and let it sit for 3 minutes to melt.

2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the gelatin with 3 tablespoons of water. Stir for a minute or two to soften it.

3. Add the softened gelatin to the cream and chocolate mixture and whisk it all together until the chocolate is fully combined with the cream and the gelatin is completely dissolved. Pour the mixture into 4-ounce ramekins, cover and chill for at least four hours or overnight.

4. To serve, place the bottom of each ramekin in hot water for a few minutes until the panne cotta is loosened and then invert it on to a plate. (You can use a knife to loosen the sides if necessary.) Top it with a little whipped cream and serve.

Tags: brownie recipe, chocolate panna cotta, chocolate pudding recipe, coffee cake, Dead Guy Sauce, Foodista, L.A. Times, November 2 elections

This entry was posted on Monday, October 18th, 2010 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Just Desserts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.