Yes, you read that right— fish in desserts are now a thing.
I got together with my friend Sadie to craft 5 courses served family-style, each featuring a different type of fish. This is my dessert course featuring dried anchovies in granola served atop a luxurious vanilla bean panna cotta balanced with fresh passionfruit. So far we’re 10 for 10 on nobody complaining it’s too fishy— if anything I was digging for more pieces of crispy anchovy.
If you’re curious what the most popular course was, it’s Yellowfin Tuna Ventresca with Citrus and Perilla Vinaigrette.
Why put fish in a dessert?
I’m not one to back down from a challenge, so when the brief was to introduce fish to every course on the menu I didn’t want to skip dessert. Sweet, salty, and umami flavors play together nicely in so many existing dessert flavors like maple bacon or miso caramel.
I took inspiration from The Anchovy Bar’s ice cream sundae with anchovy-peanut-coconut crumble (photo from @theanchovybar on Instagram).
How to make panna cotta
Panna cotta is an Italian dessert that translates to “cooked cream”. The basic ingredients are just heavy cream and sugar set with gelatin. It’s silky and subtly sweet with a luxurious melt-in-your-mouth texture.
The ideal texture for a panna cotta should be set enough to hold its shape when unmolded on a plate yet soft enough for a spoon to glide through.
To achieve a panna cotta that’s perfectly set I bloom my gelatin about 10 minutes before I intend to use it. Blooming the gelatin means to hydrate the gelatin so it will incorporate smoothly into the rest of the liquid. If I were to add powdered gelatin directly to hot cream it would become lumpy and impossible to guarantee consistent gelling strength.
How to make anchovy granola
Granola is made by combining oats with sweeteners and fats and then baking to achieve a crunchy, clustered texture.
Homemade granola tends to be hard and crunchy enough to cut up the roof of your mouth. This anchovy granola follows a technique introduced by Stella Parks on Serious Eats of first soaking the oats in buttermilk. The starches in the oats hydrate and expand to create a granola that is light and crisp.
Dried anchovy provides a savory counterpoint to the dessert. I used the smallest size of dried anchovies available from my local Asian grocery store. You can also purchase dried anchovies online, here is an option for small dried anchovies from Amazon.
A good dessert in my mind needs to have a balance of sweet, savory, acidic, and bitter flavors. I tested a few different amounts of anchovy so it’s not too fishy, just enough to get a piece with each bite to balance sweet with savory. The anchovy itself bakes into a crunchy texture, taking the place of nuts in a traditional granola recipe.
How to assemble panna cotta for service
Note that I doubled the recipe to serve a group of 12, hence why the container is huge! This recipe works well when doubled but not tripled as the gelling strength doesn’t scale at triple ratios.
Remove the panna cotta from the fridge and top with passionfruit pulp in an even layer. I also added a couple of passionfruit halves, but feel free to skip this if you don’t have it. The anchovy granola is stacked generously along the sides of the bowl so that the passionfruit stays visible in the center.
How to serve this panna cotta
When it came time to serve, we decided to bring this to the table as a fun centerpiece served family style. Use a large serving spoon to portion the panna cotta into individual dessert bowls. Just be cautious when scooping so that you’re not breaking the panna cotta into little pieces. Shoot for generous, intact scoops to show off that luxurious texture.
How to prep vanilla panna cotta, anchovy granola, and passionfruit in advance
Each component of this dessert was selected for minimal hassle when it was time to serve. You can prepare all of the components 3 days in advance or as I did it, spaced throughout a week.
- Vanilla bean panna cotta: prepare up to 3 days in advance, store in fridge tightly wrapped with plastic
- Anchovy granola: prepare up to 7 days in advance, store in an airtight container at room temperature
- Passionfruit: refrigerate whole passionfruit up to 2 weeks or freeze in a zip-top bag for up to 3 months, thaw when needed
Vanilla Panna Cotta with Passionfruit and Anchovy Granola
Ingredients
For the panna cotta
- 50 mL whole milk
- 200 mL whole milk
- 6 g gelatin powder
- 400 mL heavy cream
- 1 vanilla bean sub 2 tsp extract or paste
- 80 g sugar
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt Diamond Crystal brand
For the anchovy granola
- 40 g buttermilk room temperature
- 30 g unsalted butter melted
- 72 g rolled oats
- 40 g sugar
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt Diamond Crystal brand
- 10 g dried anchovies small size, ideally less than 2cm each
- 40 g coconut chips look for raw large flakes, avoid fine shreds
To serve
- 4 passionfruits sub 200g passionfruit pulp
Instructions
Prepare the panna cotta
- Bloom the gelatin by placing it in a small bowl and stirring in 50mL whole milk. It will look a little lumpy, set aside to hydrate for 10 minutes.
- Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise with a knife. Use the knife to scrape out the contents. Combine 200mL whole milk, 400mL heavy cream, vanilla bean contents, vanilla bean pod, 1/2 tsp salt and 80g sugar in a pot. Heat over medium, stirring occasionally until steaming hot but not boiling.
- Remove the milk mixture from heat and whisk in the bloomed gelatin mixture. Whisk until the gelatin has completely dissolved. Strain through a fine mesh sieve and pour into a large serving dish. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours to set, or make ahead and store wrapped tightly in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Prepare the granola
- Heat the oven to 300F and line a sheet pan with foil.
- In a medium mixing bowl combine 40g buttermilk, 30g melted butter, and 72g oats. Allow the mixture to soak for at least 30 minutes.
- Mix in 40g sugar, 1/4 tsp kosher salt, 40g coconut chips, and 10g dried anchovies. Spread in an even layer on a baking sheet and bake at 300F for 50-65 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. The mixture should be golden brown and appear dry on the surface when ready. The granola may still be a bit pliable when removed from the oven but will become more crisp as it cools.
- Allow the granola to cool completely on the pan. Break into large chunks with your hand and store in an airtight container until serving.
Prepare the passionfruits
- Split each passionfruit in half with a knife. Scoop out the pulp into an airtight container. Store in the fridge for up to 7 days.
Final assembly when ready to serve
- Remove the panna cotta from the refrigerator. Scoop passion fruit pulp onto the panna cotta in an even layer. Sprinkle anchovy granola generously along the sides. Portion into individual dessert cups with a large serving spoon, being careful not to break up the panna cotta into small pieces.
