Goat's Cheese Pannacotta with Beetroot Sorbet, Chocolate Macaron filled with Dark Chocolate and Orange Ganache and Walnut Praline

For the last dish of the week I went out on my own and created this dessert as the grand finale. As with the previous dish the three key flavours were beetroot, goat's cheese and walnuts. In addition to these I added two more flavours that I believe work amazingly, and perhaps somewhat surprisingly, with beetroot - orange and chocolate. With the goat's cheese pannacotta it is important to balance the sweetness with the tartness of the goat's cheese. It is also important to use the right amount of gelatine so it holds together but is not rubbery. I would definitely advocate the use of leaves as opposed to powder. As with the pannacotta, the sweet balance is vital to the sorbet. I did add a dash of red wine vinegar, but also a decent amount of sugar to help bring beetroot into the realm of dessert. The macarons themselves were not a roaring success which was disappointing after making a perfect batch a few weeks ago. However, the chocolate orange ganache was sublime. I added a healthy amount of orange rind to the cream, while heating the cream before adding 70% cocoa dark rich chocolate and then refrigerating until thick.

I absolutely loved this dessert with everything working so well together - far beyond what I expected. I started each mouthful with a bite of the slightly chewy macaron, with the rich chocolate orange ganache oozing out. Then combining a spoonful of the ever so slightly tart goat's cheese pannacotta, crunchy walnut praline with the ice cold, smooth rich beetroot sorbet I put all the flavours together. As they swirl around your tastebuds each flavour links with another all working together contrasting and complementing each other. All thoughts of that beetroot-stained, greasy burger with the lot were wiped out and forgotten with every last morsel in my mouth.