Cherry Almond Panna Cotta (à la Gramercy Tavern)

During my summer as a personal chef, I had a list of things I really wanted to make. Top of that list was panna cotta, the delicious and smooth Italian dessert. I came across a few different recipes, always keeping them in mind, but never trying. When I found the recipe for a cherry almond version in the Gramercy Tavern cookbook, I knew that was the one. Gramercy Tavern is the first restaurant where I experienced a tasting menu, and it was the first time I had truly awe-inspiring food. To this day, I still think about their glazed duck, so good it made me tear up.

I had no idea what I was doing going into this recipe, because really, what 21 year old has casually made a panna cotta before? As I did every week that summer, I figured it out as I went.

To start, I roasted almonds in two different ways. The first half were “pebbled” (blended in a food processor) and then roasted in the oven for 20 minutes. This batch was to be used in the panna cotta to supply the almond flavor. I roasted the other half of the almonds for 15 minutes to be used later as a topping.

Next, I put the gelatin in milk to set. In the meantime, I combined the pebbly almonds, the rest of the milk, cream, and sugar in a saucepan, boiling the mixture to dissolve the sugar. Once dissolved, I removed it from the heat and added the milk and gelatin.

Thirty minutes later, the mixture was set and ready to be finished. I blended it to make sure it was smooth, and then finely strained it into a large bowl, which was resting in an ice bath. Once stirred and cooled, I filled 4 oz containers and stuck them in the fridge for a few hours.