What’s your favorite dessert? I lean toward the creamy ones, light and creamy with mild sweetness that allows the other flavors to come through. My grandmother used to tell me to cut the sugar in a recipe by half at least, in order to accentuate the other flavors, and that’s a motto that I’ve lived by when cooking. So today I thought I’d share one of my favorite dessert recipes with you that celebrates one of my all time favorite herbs–tarragon! Make this tarragon panna cotta for your next dessert and don’t forget to incorporate edible flowers for a real show stopper.
Tarragon Panna Cotta:
Tarragon is one of my favorite herbs—just a few pinches and it transforms a dish. This creamy panna cotta features the tarragon beautifully; it is mildly sweet with a faint anise flavor.
Garnish with edible flowers such as nasturtium, candied flowers, a few tarragon sprigs, and even a sprinkling of rosemary syrup, and you will have a lush dessert.
What I love about this recipe is that it doesn’t require fancy equipment or fancy ingredients. And only a few ingredients at that. And you can use any sort of ramekin you have. For example here I used some dessert dishes we had in my great grandmother’s kitchen.
The texture of this dish is sublime. It simply melts in your mouth in a gentle sort of way. And the cream is a wonderful base to use for other herb infusions. Try swapping out the tarragon for lemon verbena perhaps!
What’s your favorite dessert? Share with me in the comments or by posting a picture for us on social media using @GeorgiaPellegrini and #ModernPioneering.
Tarragon Panna Cotta
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons powdered gelatin
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh tarragon leaves packed
Instructions
- In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin into 2 tablespoons of cold water and stir. Set aside to let bloom.
- Place the heavy cream, milk, sugar, and tarragon in a medium nonreactive saucepan and bring to boil. Immediately remove the pan from the heat, whisk in the gelatin, and let it bloom for 5 minutes.
- Cover the pan and steep for 30 minutes.
- Pour through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl, pushing on the tarragon with a small ladle or spoon to extract all of its flavor.
- Ladle the panna cotta liquid into 4-ounce ramekins or desired serving dishes and transfer to the refrigerator. Let cool until set.