Tangerine Tarragon Panna Cotta with Raspberry Sauce

Citrus is my favorite.  I cannot get enough of everything right now what with the blood oranges, meyer lemons, fun orange hybrids, and all of the rest.  I had a packet of gelatin leftover from the marshmallow experiment, so I decided to try my hand at a panna cotta with the beautiful tangerines I had.

Panna cotta means cooked cream.  Sorry, literalists, I did not cook my cream.  This being my first time with the dessert, I went to Bon Appetit for guidance and adapted a blood orange panna cotta.  The gelatin is bloomed in the tangerine juice, dissolved over low heat, cooled, and then the cream and some greek yogurt is added.  Oops.  Still tasted amazing!

So how did tarragon get into the mix?  To be honest, I was looking at the leaves attached to some of the tangerines and thought they looked like tarragon leaves.  No real burst of genius, just my weird brain being weird.  But can I just say, it was an amazing combination!  I love putting unexpected things in dessert and this was no exception.

To add a burst of color, I made a quick raspberry sauce to top the panna cotta.  More tangerine juice was combined with fresh raspberries, a little sugar, and more tarragon sprigs.  I strained the sauce to keep out the seeds and match the silky texture of the panna cotta.

For as impressive the final product is, there is very little active time in this recipe.  Just refrigerate for about 6 hours before serving and use a warm water bath (and a maybe a knife) to help ease the panna cotta out of the personal sized bowls.  Enjoy!

Tangerine Tarragon Panna Cotta with Raspberry Sauce
Adapted from Bon Appetit Blood Orange Panna Cotta

Panna Cotta
1 cup tangerine juice, fresh
1 3/4 teaspoon gelatin
1/2 cup sugar
5 teaspoons tangerine zest
1-2 sprigs of tarragon
2/3 cups 0% greek yogurt
2/3 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Raspberry Sauce
1/3 cup tangerine juice, fresh
1/2 pint of raspberries
1 sprig of tarragon
1 teaspoon of tangerine zest
1-2 teaspoons of sugar
pinch of salt

Begin by zesting and juicing 5-6 tangerines.  That's how I got enough zest and juice for everything!

To bloom the gelatin: pour 1 cup of tangerine juice into a medium saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin over the top.  Let sit for 5 minutes.

Over low heat, dissolve the gelatin in the tangerine juice, about 1-2 minutes.  Add the sugar, zest, and tarragon.  Stir to combine and dissolve sugar, another 1-2 minutes.

Strain the juice mixture into a large bowl (with a spout preferred) and let sit for 10 minutes to cool.

After cooling, whisk in the heavy cream, yogurt, and lemon juice.  Pour into individual servings (I used 2 small dip bowls and 2 small ramekins)

Let set up in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.

While the panna cotta is setting, make the sauce.  Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan, crush the raspberries a little, and let simmer for about 15 minutes or until reduced by half.

Strain, pressing on the solids, and let cool before pouring over the chilled panna cotta.  Enjoy!