Rosemary's Baby

Rosemary/Mint Yogurt Mousse 
with Blood Orange /Grenadine Topping and Red Peppercorns

As you well know, classic desserts are not my forté.
Baking is generally speaking too complicated for me... and I don't own an ice cream maker. Yet.
That is something I really need to do sometime soon!
But for tonight, I want you to "get your freak on" with me and open your mind to this little beauty.

This flavor combination is out of this world...
 So prepare to discover taste buds you didn't even know existed!

There really is no need for desserts to be too rich or too sweet. I used a low-fat yogurt to make this and it tasted just fine. To flavor the yogurt, you will need about 1 teaspoon of finely chopped rosemary per portion. Pop this into a small saucepan with a little water, a teaspoonful of sugar and 2 tablespoons of Creme de Menthe per portion. I popped a vanilla pod into the mix for a few minutes to give a little extra body and smoothness to the flavor.

I do this often- you can always rinse the pod off again and save it for future use. People love to cut the pod and scrape out the seed- but personally I think the pod itself has more aroma to it. This is not just me being cheap!

Add 1 - 1 1/2 tablespoons of granulated gelatin and stir in with a whisk. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a while before adding it to your yogurt. Mix this in well, pour into individual forms and refrigerate for at least 4-5 hours.

For the topping, chop blood orange segments up finely and render them down in a mixture of Cointreau and grenadine. This will take between 10-15 minutes of simmering to become nice and syrupy. At this point, add the red peppercorns and allow to cool.



A nice extra touch is a sprinkle of coconut, which give you something neutral tasting to balance out these two extreme flavors and textures and the fiery pepper! And if that isn't enough of a firework-show of flavor to finish off a great meal- then I don't know what is!