Rosemary, the other herbal brownie.

May 28, 2008 2:18 PM

What to serve with rosemary brownies?

I make rosemary brownies every now and then, and they are delicious on their own. I'm fixing dinner for someone special tomorrow, and I was going to make some for dessert. I'm a sucker for presentation, and a brownie on a plate just doesn't do it for me.
I know vanilla ice cream is the obvious choice, but I was hoping for something more creative. Right now, I'm leaning towards a Nutella sauce, but I'm open to suggestions.

posted by piedmont to food & drink (17 comments total)

Find a liquor store near you that sells Lindemans's Cassis, buy a bottle and make a simple reduction sauce out of it. The concentrated tartness should set off the chocolate flavor nicely, and you can drink what you don't use for the reduction.
posted by cog_nate at 2:38 PM on May 28

how about some salted caramel ice cream? i know it sounds weird, but it's actually really good...especially when combined with something sweet and chocolate.
posted by gnutron at 2:39 PM on May 28 [2 favorites]

Or even Lindeman's sorbet...
posted by fixedgear at 2:47 PM on May 28

Olive Oil ice cream.

No, seriously.
posted by dersins at 2:57 PM on May 28 [2 favorites]

Oh, gnutron's got a great idea there. When I've made salted caramel ice cream, I've used David Lebovitz's recipe, and it's un-fucking-believable.

I'm trying to imagine the taste of rosemary brownies to think of what would go with it, and I'm failing spectacularly. I know you're supposed to be the one asking the question here, but would you mind posting the recipe for that?
posted by Greg Nog at 3:02 PM on May 28

Recipe, recipe! I love rosemary and I want to know another way to eat it. Please?

Otherwise, maybe cinnamon ice cream? Or the abovementioned salted caramel?
posted by MadamM at 3:17 PM on May 28

How about Nutella Ice Cream?
posted by xsquared-1 at 3:18 PM on May 28

if you're not up for making ice cream, dulce de leche is the flavor you're looking for.
posted by thinkingwoman at 3:19 PM on May 28

although, i think lavender-scented whipped cream might bring out the floral notes in the rosemary and the chocolate.
posted by thinkingwoman at 3:20 PM on May 28 [2 favorites]

Lavender Ice Cream (Gordon Ramsay recipe, from his book Kitchen Heaven)

250ml (8.5 fl ozs.) milk
250ml (8.5 fl ozs.) double cream
a good handful of fresh lavender flowers
6 egg yolks
90g (3.2 ozs) caster sugar (super fine or fine sugar in the US)

Bring the milk, cream and handful of lavender flowers to the boil, turn the heat down and leave to infuse for an hour. Whisk egg yolks and sugar together, then pour the milk mixture over the top of egg and sugar mixture and whisk again. Transfer to a thick bottomed pan and cook gently until the mixture will coat the back of a spoon. Leave to cool, then pass through a sieve and churn in an ice cream machine until smooth.
posted by kirstk at 3:36 PM on May 28 [1 favorite]

a late harvest zinfandel or a nice port
posted by iamkimiam at 4:13 PM on May 28

I went with dulce de leche for simplicity, although if I had the time and resources I'd go with any of the other options, as they all sound great!

As for the flavor, they taste sort of minty, except that they have that great herby-floral kick that rosemary gives them. If you love rosemary, you'll love these, if you only kind like rosemary, they may not win you over. But it really is a great combo.

There's really no real recipe, if you've made "special brownies", then you'll get it right away. This is the only time I use dry rosemary, it's a great chance to use up that weak crapola that comes in spice racks. I just heat it with the required amount of butter in a double boiler for 10-15 minutes and use it in a brownie recipe or even a mix.
posted by piedmont at 6:21 PM on May 28 [2 favorites]

I'm really curious about how to make rosemary brownies now.
posted by ysabet at 7:15 PM on May 28

I, too, would love a recipe. Brownies and rosemary are two of my favorite things, but I'm still having trouble imagining them together.

You're obviously planning to garnish the plate with a sprig of fresh rosemary, right? Presentation is everything.
posted by vytae at 9:11 PM on May 28

Lemon sorbet. I make a lemon-rosemary pound cake that is wonderful, I think the chocolate-rosemary might benefit from something acid.
posted by Tesseractive at 9:30 PM on May 28

There's really no real recipe, if you've made "special brownies", then you'll get it right away

Ha ha, wow. Thanks, piedmont! I'm certainly going to try this out.
posted by Greg Nog at 1:15 PM on May 29

Thanks for the recipe!

Inspired by the salted caramel idea, I came up with a salted toffee to sprinkle over a batch of rosemary and chocolate chip brownies (put toffee on before cooking to melt it into a smooth shell, or immediately after cooking to just stick it to the brownies in fragments). The salt really works well with the chocolate, the glassiness of the toffee contrasts with the doughiness of the brownie and the creaminess of the chocolate chips, and the rosemary gets everyone guessing. I'm nibbling on one right now (not done with your stir-fry yet and having dessert, bad Eritain) and enjoying it way too much.
posted by eritain at 4:38 PM on June 10