RASPBERRIES IN LEMON VERBENA GEL
BLUEBERRIES AND WATERMELON IN CINNAMON BASIL SYRUP
STRAWBERRY ROSE GERANIUM ICE CREAM
ROASTED PEACHES FILLED WITH ALMOND AND TARRAGON
ORANGE THYME FIGS WITH MUSCAT SABAYON
WARM MAPLE ROSEMARY BANANA SPLITS
PEAR ROSEMARY UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE
CHOCOLATE JASMINE POT DE CRÈME
HERE’S A STRIKING WARM-WEATHER DESSERT that’s intensely flavored yet light and refreshing. Don’t skimp on the quantity of tarragon leaves; it really does take a cup and a half to produce the full flavor and color. If you buy your tarragon at a market you’ll need two or three bunches to yield enough leaves for the recipe.
1½ cups tarragon leaves, gently packed
⅔ cup sugar
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 cups cold water
4 cups melon balls, scooped from perfectly ripe melons, such as cantaloupe, honeydew, or galia
Puree the tarragon, sugar, lemon juice, and cold water in a blender on high speed for about 20 seconds. Pour the syrup into a fine sieve set over a bowl, and press the liquid through with the back of a ladle or a rubber spatula, squeezing the pulp to extract as much liquid as possible. Freeze the syrup in an ice cream maker until slushy-firm. Transfer the ice to a container and store it in the freezer until firm enough to scoop.
When ready to serve, fill small dishes or martini glasses with about ½ cup melon balls each, then top with several very small scoops of the ice or 1 larger scoop.
SHISO HAS ELEMENTS OF CINNAMON in its fragrance and flavor, so it’s a natural partner to tart green apples in this intriguing ice that’s ideal as an ending for an Asian-inspired menu. Be sure to freeze the ice as soon as you prepare the liquid to retain the green hue of the apple skins and the vibrant flavor of the herb.
2 Granny Smith apples, about 1 pound, unpeeled, cored and diced, plus another half for garnish
1½ cups water
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
6 large green shiso leaves, plus one cut in thin strands for garnish
Puree all the ingredients except the garnishes in a blender (not a food processor) on high speed until they are liquefied. Pour the puree into a fine sieve set over a bowl, and press the liquid through with the back of a ladle or a rubber spatula, squeezing the pulp to extract as much liquid as possible. Immediately freeze the liquid in an ice cream maker. When slushy-firm, scoop it into a container and store it in the freezer until serving time.
Scoop into glasses and top with thin strips of raw crisp apple and a few strands of shiso.
NO, IT’S NOT JELL-O; this is a very sensual dessert. As you scoop up a mouthful, the raspberries float in a rose-colored gel just firm enough to embrace the fruit but yield softly to the spoon. And the flavor is startling and intoxicating: The gel melts on your tongue like a flood of lemon drops bathing the sweet berries.
2½ cups water
½ cup sugar
1 cup lemon verbena sprigs, lightly packed
2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin (1 package minus ½ teaspoon)
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 pint fresh raspberries
Heat 2¼ cups of the water with the sugar in a small saucepan. As soon as it comes to a full boil, stir in the lemon verbena, cover, and remove it from the heat. Let it steep at least 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, sprinkle the gelatin over the remaining ¼ cup water and let it swell in the liquid for several minutes. Strain the verbena syrup and stir the gelatin into the hot liquid until it dissolves. Cool to room temperature (stir it over ice if you want to speed it up). Stir in the lemon juice.
Arrange the berries in six dessert glasses. Pour the gelatin over them and chill for several hours until set. The raspberries will color the liquid as it gels.
FOR EACH FRUIT OR BERRY OF SUMMER I have a favorite herb, and for blueberries it’s cinnamon basil. There are few desserts that are simpler to prepare than this, but the result is as delicious as it is dazzling, especially if you can find yellow watermelon. Serve it in stemmed glasses or small glass bowls with plain sweet wafers or cookies.
¾ cup sugar
½ cup water
Two 3-inch cinnamon sticks
½ cup cinnamon basil or sweet basil leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
4 cups seedless or seeded watermelon cubes, chilled
2 cups blueberries
2 tablespoons small cinnamon basil leaves or sweet basil, cut into thin strips
Bring the sugar, water, and cinnamon to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce the heat and simmer the syrup for 3 minutes. Stir in the basil leaves and remove from the heat. Let the syrup cool to room temperature. Strain, and stir in the lemon juice.
Toss the watermelon and blueberries together in a large bowl. Pour in the syrup and sprinkle with the small leaves or strips of basil. Toss again and chill for at least 1 hour.
The melon will release juice and thin the syrup. Spoon the fruit and syrup into glasses or bowls and serve cold.
THIS ICE CREAM IS ASTOUNDING in its simplicity and fullness of flavor. The cream is first steeped with rose geranium, which wondrously amplifies the intensity of the berry, and the ice cream has no egg, which would mute the flavor. For the ultimate strawberry ice cream experience, serve it slightly soft, preferably an hour or so after it comes out of the ice cream maker. It’s fantastic with Lavender Pound Cake (page 242).
2 cups half-and-half
1½ cups sugar
8 medium rose geranium leaves
1½ pints very ripe strawberries
Bring the half-and-half and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir in the rose geranium leaves, cover, and remove from the heat. After about 10 minutes, strain the cream and let it cool.
Wash and hull the strawberries. Puree them in a blender or food processor until fairly smooth. You should have 2 cups.
Stir the strawberries and infused cream together and chill in the refrigerator or over ice until cold to the touch. Freeze in an ice cream maker. Scoop the ice cream out into a lidded container and store it in the freezer until serving time.
IF YOU COOK STRICTLY WITH THE SEASONS in a temperate climate, there is nothing but rhubarb for desserts between the last apples and pears of winter to the first strawberries of spring. But that’s fine with me. I love rhubarb’s bracing tartness and the way it tastes warm topped with something cold and creamy. I’m fond of flavoring rhubarb with angelica, which bursts from the soil at the same time of year, but spearmint also makes a good partner and is more likely to be in your garden. Both herbs complement rhubarb’s vegetable essence while helping it achieve its fruity aspirations.
2 pounds rhubarb stalks
¾ cup sugar
½ cup chopped spearmint
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
BISCUITS
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon fine salt
5 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup minus 1 tablespoon heavy cream
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Wash the rhubarb and trim the tops and bottoms. Slice it into ½-inch pieces. Put it in a 9 × 13-inch baking dish and mix in the sugar and mint. Dot with the butter. Bake the rhubarb for 20 minutes or until it softens and bubbles around the edges, take it out of the oven, and stir it gently with a rubber spatula.
While the rhubarb is baking, make the biscuits. Put the flour, baking powder, salt, and 3 tablespoons of the sugar in a food processor and turn it on just long enough to mix the ingredients. Add the butter and pulse until the largest pieces of butter are smaller than grains of rice. Pour in the cream and pulse just until the dough gathers in clumps. Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Lightly form each piece into a shaggy disk the size of a sausage patty, about 2½ inches in diameter.
Arrange the biscuits on top of the hot rhubarb and sprinkle them with the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Put the dish back in the oven and bake another 20 minutes, or until the biscuits are nicely browned. Serve the cobbler warm with vanilla or strawberry ice cream or sweetened crème fraèche.
IF YOU GROW ANGELICA, replace the spearmint with ¾ cup finely chopped young angelica stems.
Looks like a geranium, smells like a rose. This plant is actually a pelargonium, just like a window-box geranium, as opposed to a true geranium, which is not edible. There are dozens and dozens of different “flavors” of scented geraniums, rose being just one, and many named varieties of rose geranium, such as attar of roses and lemon rose. As long as it smells like a rose, it’s a good one.
ROSE GERANIUM HAS THICK FELTY LEAVES, so the best way to cook with it is to steep the leaves in hot liquid and strain them out.
I CAN’T THINK OF ANYTHING SAVORY that I would want to flavor with rose geranium. Save it for desserts and beverages. It almost magically intensifies the flavor of berries and is flattering to apple, pear, cherry, and apricot.
ROSE GERANIUM IS ONE of only a handful of herbs that tastes good with dark chocolate and, used with restraint, it makes a lovely flavoring for vanilla custards, ice creams, or butter cakes. Steep it in the milk or cream (heated to a boil) called for in the recipe before you begin, then strain it out.
ROSE GERANIUMS DO WELL IN POTS. Keep them outdoors in summer and park them indoors on your windowsill when the weather turns cold.
THESE PLANTS WILL FLOWER, especially in spring, but not as much as an ordinary geranium. The petals make a colorful garnish for anything you have flavored with its leaves.
AS THESE PEACH HALVES BAKE, their almond filling spreads over the tops, forming a crunchy nutty cap infused with the anise flavor of tarragon. They also taste beautiful with anise hyssop, which gives the dessert a sweeter, minty-anise flavor. Whichever herb you choose, you can have this dessert ready to put in the oven in about ten minutes.
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped tarragon
¾ cup sliced almonds
4 large ripe freestone peaches
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Beat together the butter and both sugars in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon, or in an electric mixer, until there are no lumps. Beat in the egg and then the flour. Stir in the tarragon and almonds.
Split the peaches in half and remove the pits. Arrange the peaches cut side up in a shallow baking dish just large enough to hold them. Divide the almond filling into 8 equal portions and mound each in the cavity of a peach half. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the filling spreads over the top of the peaches and becomes well browned and crisp. Cool the peaches slightly. Serve them warm in shallow bowls with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
herbal improvisations In place of the tarragon, add ¼ cup chopped anise hyssop leaves. Fresh green fennel seed is also good in this dessert; use 2 teaspoons of the chopped soft seed.
I ALWAYS HAVE ORANGE BALSAM THYME in my garden. The sturdy, easy-to-grow little herb has a brash but tantalizing scent of dried orange peel mixed with wild thyme. In most dishes its potent flavor can be too much of a good thing, but it fits deliciously in many fruit desserts, especially those with fresh figs. If you don’t grow it (you’re not likely to find it in the produce section) you can produce a very similar flavor with ordinary English thyme and orange zest.
The figs in this recipe can be cooked ahead of time but the sabayon should be cooked at the last minute. Don’t let that put you off, because it takes only minutes to prepare. Be sure the figs you choose are really ripe. That means they’ll be soft and squishy, almost oozing, and when you cut them in half the seeds will be held in a glistening pulp.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 pints ripe fresh figs
1 medium orange
4 teaspoons thyme leaves (English or orange balsam)
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
Muscat Sabayon (recipe follows)
Preheat your broiler to 425°F (or medium, depending on your oven) with the rack set in the middle of the oven. Smear the butter over the bottom and sides of a large shallow baking dish. Cut the stems off the figs and then cut them in half. Arrange them, cut side up and close together, in the buttered dish. Grate the zest of the orange over the figs (use a microplane if you have one). Sprinkle them with the thyme and then the brown sugar.
Broil the figs until they are bubbling all over, juice collects in the bottom of the pan, and the sugar on top caramelizes to a deep brown color. Let them cool while you prepare the sabayon, or make them ahead and serve them at room temperature with the hot sabayon.
8 large egg yolks
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup sweet Muscat wine or other dessert wine, such as a late-harvest Riesling
Choose a large stainless steel mixing bowl and a large saucepan that it will sit on top of. Fill the saucepan with about 2 inches of water and bring it to a boil.
Whisk the yolks with the sugar until they are well combined, then whisk in the wine. Set the bowl over the boiling water and whisk constantly and rapidly until the mixture is very thick and fluffy and no sign of liquid is visible in the bottom of the bowl. This will take only 2 to 3 minutes, and you will easily be able to sense the point when the sabayon becomes custardy and fully cooked.
Spoon the sabayon into serving glasses or small bowls and top with the figs and their sauce. Serve right away with plain cookies or slices of pound cake or gingerbread.
NOTHING IS COZIER than a warm banana dessert in winter. This one is perfect for a spur-of-the-moment treat because you can make it in a flash with ingredients that are often on hand.
3 ripe but firm bananas, peeled and halved crosswise and lengthwise
½ cup maple syrup
Three 4-inch sprigs rosemary
Vanilla ice cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
⅓ cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts
Put the banana pieces in a large skillet, pour the maple syrup over them, and tuck the rosemary sprigs in between. Bring the mixture to a low boil over medium heat and cook for about 1 minute. Turn the bananas over with two forks and cook for 30 more seconds. Scoop the ice cream into shallow dishes. Lift the bananas from the syrup with the forks and lay 3 pieces around each scoop of ice cream. Boil the syrup left in the pan for a minute or two until it thickens slightly, then swirl in the butter until it melts and incorporates. Use a fork to hold back the rosemary sprigs as you pour the sauce from the skillet over the bananas and ice cream. Sprinkle with the walnuts.
KEEP THIS SPARKLING PRESERVE IN THE REFRIGERATOR during the holiday season and you’ll always have an elegant dessert on hand. Spoon it onto vanilla ice cream, serve it alongside Warm Lavender Almond Cakes (page 240), or fill the cavity of a baked apple with it. The winter herbs and vanilla give it a comforting yet beguiling flavor.
Quince, a relative of apples, lends a velvety texture to the compote, and its natural pectin helps thicken the syrup. If you can’t find a quince, substitute a good cooking apple, like a Jonagold.
1 ripe quince, unpeeled, cored and chopped into ½-inch pieces
1 ripe Bosc pear, unpeeled, cored and chopped into ½-inch pieces
1 cup dried tart cherries
1 cup pitted prunes
1 cup dried apricots
1 bottle Riesling
½ cup mild honey
1 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split
5 fresh bay laurel leaves or 3 dried
Two 4-inch sprigs rosemary
Two 3-inch sprigs sage
¼ cup Calvados, pear brandy, cognac, or Armagnac
Combine all the ingredients except the brandy in a large saucepan. Simmer over medium-low heat, uncovered without stirring, for 30 minutes. Gently stir in the brandy and allow the compote to cool in the pan. Store it in a sealed container in the refrigerator, where it will keep for several weeks, and bring it to room temperature before serving.
THIS IS MY KIND OF CAKE—comforting, gooey, and loaded with flavor. First you cook the pears and rosemary in brown sugar, creating a considerable amount of syrup in the bottom of the pan. When you pour the rich cornmeal batter over the top you’ll think the cake will drown. Don’t be concerned; as it bakes it will absorb the syrup to become uncommonly moist and saturated with the rosemary-pear flavor.
¾ cup dark brown sugar, packed
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1½ tablespoons coarsely chopped rosemary
3 medium ripe pears, Bartlett or Anjou, peeled, quartered, and cored
BATTER
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup stone-ground cornmeal
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon fine salt
⅔ cup buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Stir the brown sugar, melted butter, and ½ tablespoon chopped rosemary together in a 10-inch pie pan or cast-iron skillet. Arrange the pear quarters in a circular pattern, rounded side down and stem end in, on top of the sugar, and use the last pear quarter to fill the center. Bake the pears for 15 minutes. They should be half-submerged in a bubbling syrup and very soft. If the pears were not ripe, continue to bake them, turning them from time to time in the syrup, until the tip of a paring knife slides in with little resistance.
While the pears are baking, prepare the cake batter. Beat the butter and sugar together in an electric mixer until fluffy and smooth. Beat in the vanilla, 1 tablespoon rosemary, and the eggs, one at a time. Whisk or sift together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a separate mixing bowl, then add this dry mixture to the batter and mix until it’s incorporated. Pour in the buttermilk and beat the batter on medium speed for about a minute.
Pour the batter over the hot pears and their syrup. Return the cake to the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until it is golden brown and it springs back when you push on the center. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes, and then invert it onto a large flat platter. Serve the cake slightly warm or at room temperature with lightly sweetened whipped cream. It’s best eaten the same day it’s baked.
THESE CAKES ARE MIRACULOUS. You whiz everything up in a food processor, pop the batter into the refrigerator overnight, and then scoop it into ramekins or muffin tins to bake. You’ll be amazed. The warm, slightly chewy cakes have a light crisp crust and a dense, moist interior suffused with the deep flavors of nuts, lavender, and honey, almost like a cross between a cake and a macaroon. Serve them in summer with lightly sweetened, softly whipped cream and fresh berries, or end a winter meal with the same cream and the Herbed Winter Fruit Compote on page 237. Or simply cut them in quarters and serve them with coffee, tea, or a glass of sherry in any season.
4 ounces raw sliced almonds (1 cup)
4 teaspoons lavender buds, fresh or dried
2 cups (8 ounces) powdered sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon fine salt
¾ cup egg whites (about 6 large)
¼ cup honey
8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons softened butter, for preparing the molds
Begin preparation at least 1 day before serving.
Put the almonds and lavender buds in a food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped. Add the powdered sugar and continue to process for 30 seconds. Add the flour and salt and process briefly. Pour in the egg whites and honey and process until combined. Add the melted butter and process for an additional 15 seconds. Scrape the batter into a plastic storage container, cover, and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, or as much as a week.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously butter ten (4- or 6- ounce) ovenproof ramekins or custard cups and place them on a baking sheet, or use a standard muffin tin. Divide the batter evenly among the ramekins or muffin cups. Bake until the cakes are evenly puffed and the tops crack and turn a deep walnut brown color. 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the molds and the temperature of the batter. Cool slightly and tip the cakes out of their molds. Serve them while still warm, whole or cut into quarters.
If you want to bake the cakes ahead, cool them completely and wrap in plastic wrap. They’ll hold for several days. When ready to serve, unwrap, place them on a cookie sheet, and reheat in a 350°F oven for about 5 minutes.
herbal improvisation In place of the lavender, add the same quantity of rosemary leaves.
WHEN YOU ADD JUST ENOUGH LAVENDER to a plain buttery cake or cookie, it acts in the way vanilla does, as a background flavor that adds depth and fullness to the flavor but doesn’t announce itself too boldly. Pound cake is particularly heavenly with lavender, and this one has such a fine, dense, and springy texture you could curl up on it. Like traditional pound cake, it has no baking powder and is leavened solely by the air beaten into the batter, so it’s vital to cream the butter and sugar thoroughly. That makes it an easy cake to prepare if you have a stand mixer, but best to pass if you don’t.
Softened butter and flour for preparing the pan
2 tablespoons lavender buds, fresh or dried
2½ cups sugar, preferably fine (baker’s sugar)
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon fine salt
5 large eggs, at room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
¾ cup sour cream
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Heavily butter a 10-inch tube pan, coat it with flour, and knock out the excess. Whirl the lavender and ¼ cup of the sugar in a spice grinder (rotary coffee mill). mini food processor, or blender until very finely ground.
Put the butter, the remaining 2¼ cups sugar, the lavender sugar, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle. Turn to medium high, set a timer for 4 minutes, and let the mixer do its work until the timer goes off. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and beat another minute. It will be very fluffy and nearly white. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating the batter well before adding another (crack the eggs into a cup first, for insurance against adding eggshells). Alternately add the flour and sour cream (⅓ of the flour, ½ the sour cream, another ⅓ of the flour, the rest of the sour cream, and finally the remaining flour), beating each addition into the batter completely before you add the next. Scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times during the whole process.
Scoop the batter into the prepared pan as evenly as you can and gently whack the pan on the counter a couple of times to expel air pockets. Bake the cake for 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 35 minutes, or until it is golden brown and springs back when pressed, and a wooden skewer emerges dry after being inserted into the center. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for about 15 minutes, then turn it out onto the rack. Once it’s completely cool, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. It will be best the second day and still moist after about 4 days.
I CAN USUALLY TAKE OR LEAVE CHOCOLATE DESSERTS, but mercy, these custards do it for me. They’re subtly flavored with jasmine pearls, a very high-quality tea made from the young leaf tips of the tea plant, hand-rolled into little balls, and infused with the exotic scent of jasmine flowers. The table-spoonful steeped into the cream in this recipe lends an intriguing floral hint on top of the complex flavor of the chocolate. For a more obvious flavor, add two.
1 cup whole milk
1½ cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon jasmine pearl tea (see page 251)
6 ounces high-quality bittersweet chocolate, such as Scharffen Berger, Callebaut, or Valrhona, broken up or chopped
6 large egg yolks
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Gather 8 ramekins or custard cups that hold about 4 ounces each and put them in a large lidded baking dish (a braising pan or lidded deep sauté pan will work as well, and you can divide them into two different pans if they don’t fit in one).
Bring the milk and cream to a full boil in a small saucepan. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the tea. Cover and steep for 10 minutes.
Put the chocolate in a medium mixing bowl and place it on top of a pot of simmering water. Stir until melted. Remove the bowl from the heat and gently whisk in the egg yolks and sugar.
Strain the milk into a large liquid measuring cup and incrementally pour it into the chocolate mixture, about ½ cup at a time, gently whisking until incorporated before pouring in more.
If you have a gravy separator, pour the custard into it, then fill the cups, leaving the froth that floats to the top behind. If you don’t have a separator, use a ladle to skim the froth from the top of the custard, then carefully ladle the custard into the cups. Put the dish holding the custards in the oven, pour about 1 inch of hot water into it, and cover. Bake until the custards are just set, 20 to 30 minutes. They should still jiggle like very loose Jell-O when you move them, but they will not be liquid in the center. Once they are out of the oven, let the custards rest uncovered in the water bath for 10 minutes, then remove them from the bath and refrigerate until cold. Take them out of the refrigerator about an hour before serving; the texture is smoother when they warm up a little. If you wish, top with a small dollop of whipped cream.
herbal improvisations In place of the jasmine pearls, steep the cream with four 3-inch peppermint sprigs, 6 rose geranium leaves, or 1 tablespoon lavender buds, fresh or dried.
LOOKING LIKE IT CAME FROM A TONY BAKERY, this is one of the easiest tarts you can make. The buttery press-in crust is baked blind without the hassle of filling the shell with beans or pie weights; the silky, oh-so-chocolaty filling, like a giant soft truffle infused with fresh mint, takes only minutes to prepare. It’s adapted from a recipe I received from my friend Conor, a chef in Ireland, who makes it with lavender.
CRUST
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
10 tablespoons (5 ounces) unsalted butter, chilled
2 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons ice water
¾ cup whole milk
¾ cup cream
Six 3-inch sprigs peppermint or chocolate mint
7 ounces high-quality bittersweet chocolate, such as Scharffen Berger, Callebaut, or Valrhona, in small pieces or chopped
4 large egg yolks
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons fine (baker’s) sugar
For the crust, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, and butter in a food processor until the largest pieces of butter are the size of grains of rice. Whisk the egg yolks with the ice water and pour them over the crumbs. Pulse again, just until the dough forms into a ball. If the dough seems too dry and crumbly, add more ice water, 1 teaspoon at a time. Spread the dough roughly across the bottom of a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Work the dough up the sides of the pan with your fingertips. Focus on making the sides of the tart the same thickness on the top and bottom (hold the forefinger of one hand horizontally across the upper edge as you press the dough against the side with your other hand), then even out the bottom of the crust so it is the same thickness throughout. Work quickly, but if you feel the dough is getting too soft and sticky, let the shell rest in the refrigerator for 5 or 10 minutes before going on. When the dough is evenly pressed, chill the shell for at least an hour before baking.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Using the tines of a fork, poke holes evenly across the bottom of the crust to keep it from puffing in the oven. Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the shell for 30 to 35 minutes, or until it is light golden brown all over and it shrinks away from the sides of the pan. Cool the shell in the pan.
Bring the milk and cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir in the mint sprigs, cover, and remove the pan from the heat. In 10 minutes, strain the cream, return it to the saucepan, and add the chocolate. After 3 minutes, gently whisk until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
Gently whisk the egg yolks with the fine sugar in a mixing bowl (don’t whisk vigorously or you’ll incorporate air, which will form bubbles on the surface of the tart), then pour in the chocolate, slowly whisking until incorporated. Pour the filling into the shell; there should be just enough to come to the top, but if there is too much, hold the last back before it spills over the edge. Chill the tart until the filling sets, at least an hour. Remove it from the refrigerator, and from the pan, about an hour before serving. Slice with a sharp knife dipped in hot water and wiped between each cut.
herbal improvisations In place of the peppermint, use six 3-inch sprigs spearmint, 8 medium rose geranium leaves, or 1½ tablespoons lavender buds, fresh or dried.
The package in the supermarket might just be labeled as mint, but to be correct it should read spearmint, as opposed to peppermint, apple mint, curly mint, chocolate mint, Moroccan mint, lavender mint, or a hundred others. Spearmint has a heady fruity fragrance, not the cool menthol quality of peppermint, and it complements all kinds of other flavors, both sweet and savory. Its leaf shape and color can vary quite a bit, from narrow and pointy to a bit wider and more rounded, and from light green to deep green, but you can always identify it by smell. Spearmint is the one mint all cooks must have in their garden. If you want a second type, choose peppermint or chocolate mint. Both are good in teas and in chocolate desserts.
FRESHLY CUT SPEARMINT from your garden will smell much stronger and fruitier than what you buy packed in a little plastic container.
MINT IS NOTORIOUS for taking over a garden by running with underground stems and popping up where it’s not supposed to. Plant it in an isolated spot or in a large container.
WILD MINTS, OR NEGLECTED MINTS that escape to corners of gardens, often have inferior flavor. If they’re in your garden, get rid of them and plant mints with good flavor.
TYPICALLY, YOU CAN HARVEST MINT by cutting halfway down the stems. If the plants are looking tired and spindly, cut the whole patch back all the way to the ground, feed and water it, and wait for it to grow again. Always cut mint back when it flowers. Hang the cut stems in bunches to dry, as this is when its flavor is strongest and best for tea.
MINT MIGHT GROW LIKE A WEED wherever you plant it, but it does best with at least half a day’s sun and plenty of water.
