Recipe: Passionfruit, chocolate and icewine consomme

This consomme makes a wonderful, delicious and refreshing addition to a dessert.  As with everything, sourcing out quality ingredients makes a big difference.  Cocoa powder can be a bit tricky, but if you can get your hands on a premium brand, do it as they are very chocolatey and less bitter (Valrhona or Cafe Tasse are very nice).  When I used this one, I wanted to play off the classic savory consomme (which often had a substantial gelatin content), so I added some gelatin to the clarified soup and spooned the soft jelly randomly around the plate.  It's a nice effect, but you can also just leave it as a liquid consomme - it makes an amazing dessert cocktail that way.

For those who have read the strawberry consomme recipe, yes you can use the gelatin clarification technique here, but I thought we'd tackle the traditional technique with this one.  You will still need to apply heat to help the cocoa powder to disperse into the juice.  Also, don't count on any of the gelatin from the clarification to stay in the consomme - you will still need to use more to set the consomme for serving.

You will need:

500ml / 2C          passion fruit juice

60g / 2.1oz          cocoa powder

2                          egg whites

89ml / 3fl oz        icewine

2 - 3 sheets          gelatin (optional)

Method:

 - dissolve the cocoa powder into the juice over low heat, then cool

 - whisk up the egg whites, then whisk into the mixture

 - slowly bring up to a gentle simmer as a "raft" forms

 - when the liquid showing through the raft is clear, turn off the heat

 - carefully ladle from the pot and strain through a coffee filter

 - mix in the icewine

 - if adding gelatin, calculate 3 sheets to set 500ml (2C), and soak it

 - warm up the soup

 - drain and melt in the gelatin

 - allow to set

 - serve