A few weeks ago, I was invited by Christelle from Once Upon a Time Pastry and Olivier from Dad in the Kitchen for a goat cheese party. Can you imagine when you answer your friends: "sorry, Wednesday I can't, I have a goat cheese party…". I think they imagined me smoking goat hair under a hemp poncho… In reality, it was simply an evening organized by Soignon to present their new product: whipped goat cheese. And one thing leading to another, I ended up creating this goat cheese panna cotta with a raspberry heart!
During this goat cheese party, Christelle and Olivier had prepared a 100% goat cheese dinner with appetizer/main course/dessert with goat cheese. It wasn't planned but I lent Christelle a hand to finalize her preparations. I told you in my article about food waste that I liked to play Top Chef with the leftovers in my fridge. Well, we did the same thing with Christelle, last chance version…
Our challenge: prepare an appetizer + a dessert for 25 hungry bloggers (approximately 200 appetizer spoons) in the middle of a heat wave with a struggling oven and no freezer to quickly cool the doughs and creams in 90 minutes! Bonus: stay calm and keep smiling even when this damn dough sticks to the work surface because you have 25 pairs of eyes and 25 phone lenses fixed on you to put you on Instagram (don't hesitate to come say hi to me on @camille_patisserie).
The beginning was a bit rough (but fun!) and I really enjoyed this evening. The meal was delicious and the atmosphere was cool and relaxed. And since I love goat cheese anyway, it was a bit like Disneyland for me.
I was really eager to see how we could integrate fresh goat cheese into recipes because at home, it's usually settled with a small spoon straight from the pot… After tasting this whipped version, a bit lighter in taste than classic goat cheese, I think it works well in cooked preparations. For appetizer verrines where you don't really know people's tastes, I find it easier to pair than the classic version which can sometimes be a bit aggressive.
And since I left with a bag with some merchandise, I wanted to see what I could do with it.
I finally decided to adapt Olivier's panna cotta into a sweet version and add a raspberry heart for the indulgence: my goat cheese panna cotta with raspberry heart was born! I had never made panna cotta before but I'll make it more often in the future because it's a very simple recipe that looks great and is very widely appreciated in general.
For the raspberry heart, you'll just need a hemisphere mold like this:
This will allow you to get nice raspberry jelly hemispheres:
In addition to the tartness of the raspberry that pairs well with the taste of goat cheese, it will allow you to offer a nice surprise when tasting:
You need to plan ahead to allow time for the raspberry hearts and panna cotta to set, but it's really very simple to make and your guests will be blown away!
Goat cheese panna cotta with raspberry heart
