Learning to push yourself and trying new techniques and recipes are exhilarating parts of cooking. This recipe took a lot of experimenting, but it was so satisfying to finally nail it. I highly encourage you all to try this recipe. Delicious and a challenge!

Final components of the dish:

Homemade ice sphere
Vanilla panna cotta
Strawberries
Isomalt disc
Mango spheres

Step 1: Ice Sphere

Ingredients:

Water balloon
Water
Lighter or blow torch

Instructions:

Fill a water balloon with water (make sure it is big enough to fit your panna cotta glass)
Tie the water balloon to keep it from leaking
Place in the freezer for 6 hours (before taking it out, tap the outside to make sure it's frozen)
Pop the balloon
Use a lighter or blow torch to melt a hole in the side of the ice sculpture
Pour all the water out
Melt a hole in the wall of the sphere (based on how big your panna cotta glass is and what design you want)
Keep in freezer until ready to present

Step 2: Mango Spheres (part 1)

Ingredients:

1 chopped mango (or 3/4 cup mango pulp; both work but there's a slight color difference) - for the above picture I used chopped mango; for the final recipe presented, I used mango pulp
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon calcium lactate gluconate

Instructions:

Combine ingredients in a blender
Blend well
Pass mixture through sieve for smoother texture
Pour mixture into molds
Put in freezer until frozen solid (time: about 4 hours)

Step 3: Mango Spheres (part 2)

Once the spheres are done freezing, prepare the sodium alginate bath and water bath

Ingredients:

4 cups of water (2 for sodium alginate bath; 2 for water bath)
2 grams of sodium alginate

Instructions:

Add two grams of sodium alginate to 2 cups of water in a bowl
Mix or blend to ensure the sodium alginate gets properly incorporated
Set aside in fridge for 15 minutes
Drop frozen mango spheres into sodium alginate bath; swirl them around in the liquid and let them sit for 3 minutes
Then transfer the mango spheres into the water bath with a spoon; swirl around in water and let them sit for 3 minutes

Step 4: Vanilla Panna Cotta

Ingredients:

5/4 cups milk (2% fat)
5/4 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons powdered gelatin
1/4 cup milk (2% fat); separate for the gelatin

Instructions:

Add the powdered gelatin to 1/4 cup milk and keep it separate for later
Add 5/4 cups milk, sugar, and vanilla bean to a pot
Bring mixture to light simmer
Take off the stove and add the milk gelatin mixture to the warm mixture
Also add the heavy cream to the mixture
Allow the mixture to sit for 20 minutes to infuse before placing in the molds/glasses
Place the molds/glasses in the fridge
Keep checking the panna cotta until the right consistency is achieved (solid but still springy)

Step 5: Isomalt Disc

Ingredients:

Isomalt

Instructions:

Put circular mold/cookie cutter on a silicone baking mat (mold should be bigger than panna cotta mold/glass)
Pour Isomalt into mold so it just barely covers the bottom
Heat in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (for about 5 minutes; until melted)
Take isomalt out of oven and allow to cool before removing molds

If you do not have a silicone mat (I did not), you can still heat the isomalt in oven on a baking tray or in a saute pan. However, be careful when trying to make a disc shape by hand! The melted isomalt is extremely hot, so please do not burn yourself when doing this.