One of the first plated desserts I ever made was this S’mores Panna Cotta, literally 10 years ago. Summer of 2015, I was taking summer courses at Boston University, and during my free time, I was practicing a lot with desserts and baking. That was the summer when Reynold Poernomo’s Masterchef Australia season aired, and me being literally a year younger than me, I really looked up to his talent and vision with desserts. So I figured, why not try making a plated panna cotta, just like his audition dish? The end result was a chocolate panna cotta with a meringue crisp, misugaru crumble, lemon curd, misugaru praline that was folded into quenelle of whipped chocolate ganache. It was really pretty to look at, but definitely needed some tweaking; something I have learned for sure over the last 10 years is that a. less is more, and b. if it is superfluous or conflicts with the inspiration of the dessert, omit it. In this case, since my initial inspiration for the recipe was S’mores(it was summer after all), looking at the dessert now, lemon curd had no place on that plate. On top of that, while the meringue crisp was cool(and all I could manage without a blowtorch to accentuate a toasted meringue), a toasted marshmallow is S’mores, not a crispy meringue cookie. The misugaru crumble was tasty and did evoke a Graham cracker-like feel, but when I was making it this time around, I also added some rye flour for that earthiness. And to really give this dessert the feeling of melted chocolate, a chocolate ganache sauce instead of the whipped ganache, since the whipped ganache ate very similarly to the panna cotta itself. Overall, I was happy with this revisions, because it does show my progression as a pastry cook in the past decade, and this is a dessert I could happily serve on any tasting menu.

Makes 2 servings:
For the chocolate panna cotta:
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1oz dark chocolate
1 tsp gelatin powder, mixed with 1 tbsp cold water
1/4 tsp instant coffee

In a pot, add all of your ingredients, and bring to a simmer. Stir until the chocolate and gelatin are fully dissolved into the cream. Pour the panna cotta into silicone cube molds and freeze for 1 hour before attempting to unmold.

For the misugaru-rye crumble:
1/4 cup rye flour
1/4 cup misugaru
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
a pinch of salt

In a bowl, mix everything together until a crumbly dough forms. Bake the dough in thumbnail-sized clumps at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes. Allow the crumble to cool before attempting to use.

For the Swiss meringue marshmallow:
1 egg white
2 tsps gelatin powder
.1g cream of tartar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
cornstarch

In a bowl over a double boiler, whisk together the egg white, sugar, cream of tartar, gelatin, and salt until the egg white turns frothy and the sugar and gelatin powder are fully dissolved. Transfer the bowl from the double boiler into a stand mixer bowl. Add to the mixture your vanilla extract and whip everything together with a whisk attachment until stiff peaks form and the meringue-marshmallow batter is tripled in volume. Pipe the marshmallow mixture onto a sheet tray lined with cornstarch in small mounds, allowing the tops to have a divot(this will be where we pipe the ganache later) and dust some more on top. Transfer to the freezer for 10 minutes, just to let the marshmallows set.

For the chocolate ganache:
1/4 cup dark chocolate
1/3 cup whole milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
a pinch of salt

On a low heat, stir everything together in a pot or pan until melted together. Allow the sauce to cool slightly before using.

For garnish:
Edible flowers
Cacao nibs

To plate, start by placing the panna cotta down first, then arrange the crumble around that. Sprinkle in some cacao nibs as well for an additional textural component(I don’t recommend more than 1 tsp per plate) Place on top the marshmallow and toast it using a blowtorch. Pipe the ganache into the marshmallow, and finish with the edible flowers.