Poppy seed, lemon and tarragon dessert

Fresh summery desserts with not so everyday flavors coming your way!

I bought a new half sphere silicone mold and I had some poppy seeds at home waiting for me to use them, so I started to conceptualize a dessert around that. I researched what flavors go well together with poppy and the first one was lemon, doh, poppy and lemon dessert are quite known. Then I saw that tarragon goes well with poppy too, now doesn’t that sound interesting ? I’m all for new interesting flavors, so I had to use tarragon too.

On these pictures I didn’t use a real mirror glaze, that’s why they look shinier and more see through than the actual ones. But I re-tested the recipe and it tastes better with the mirror glaze recipe that you can find below. For decoration I used some melted chocolate, edible pansies and daisies from my garden.

Ingredients

(makes 6 portions)

Poppy seed sponge
120 g flour
180 g sugar
70 g poppy seeds
5 g baking powder
2 dl milk
0,5 dl oil
1 egg
some rum (2-3 tsp)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Tarragon bavarian cream
100 g heavy cream
100 g milk
1 tsp gelatin (you can use in sheet form)
20 g sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 tbsp dried tarragon
130 g heavy cream

Lemon curd
40 g lemon juice
zest of 2 lemons
60 g sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
80 g butter

Mirror glaze
100 g glucose
70 g condensed milk
100 g sugar
50 g water
100 white chocolate, chopped
7 g gelatin powder (yes, you can use the sheet form here also)
40 g water

Instructions

Tarragon bavarian cream
Bloom the gelatin by the instructions on the packaging (mine was: mix with 1 tbsp cold water and wait 5 min). Mix the egg yolks with sugar and set aside. Heat the first part of heavy cream (100 g), milk and tarragon until boil. Pour the hot cream slowly to the egg yolk mixutre while stiring, so the eggs don’t curdle. Return the mixture to the pan and cook for a few minutes, until it reaches 84°C, stiring constantly.
Now you have creme anglaise! Remove from heat, add the bloomed gelatin and stir until it’s melted. Strain the mixture to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap that should be touching the cream and let it cool down. This will take some time, so if you are in a hurry, place the bowl to another bowl filled with cold water and ice, stir occasianally. When the creme anglaise is at room temperature, whip the second part of heavy cream (130g) to soft peaks, it shouldn’t be whipped too stiff, so stop whipping when it makes a soft shape. Gently fold it into the creme anglaise. Pour the mixture to six 7 cm semi sphere moulds, cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for about half-one hour.

Lemon curd
Mix the lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, egg and egg yolk. Put the bowl with the mixture over a pan with simmering water, without the bowl touching the water. Cook for a few minutes (about 10), stiring often, until it’s thick enough to coat a spoon (because of the eggs, the T shouldn’t be over 85°C). Remove from heat, strain and add butter in a few pieces. Stir it in, until it’s melted and incorporated. Cover the lemon curd with plastic wrap and set aside to cool.

Poppy seed sponge
Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 24 x 32 cm baking tray with parchment paper. Mix the egg, oil, milk, rum and vanilla together. Add flour, sugar, poppy seeds and mix until combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 20-25 min, or until a toothpick/knife inserted into the batter comes out clean, with no wet batter.

Assemble
Take the bavarian cream from the freezer. Remove some of the cream in the centre with a teaspoon and fill it with cooled lemon curd. You will have some lefover lemon curd, because it’s hard to make less, but when was a little extra sweetness a bad thing? Use it for another recipe or eat with a spoon. Cover the desserts again with the plastic wrap and put in the freezer for a few hours, until everything is fully frozen.

Mirror glaze
Bloom the gelatin in 40 g water, or prepare by the instructions on the package. Bring the sugar and 50 g water to a boil on a low-medium heat and boil for a minute or so, until the sugar is fully dissolved. Remove from the heat, add the condensed milk and gelatin and mix them in. Now add the chocolate and let it sit for 3 min. Mix everything together with an immersion blender. Be careful not to put air in the glaze, keep the immersion blender under the glaze. Tap on the counter a few times to reduce the bubbles. Strain the glaze to remove the bubbles and leave the glaze to cool to 33°C.

Assemble
Level the poppy sponge with a knife and then cut out six 7 cm circles. Place them on a serving board. Take the frozen desserts from the freezer and place them on a wire rack that you put on top of a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, or just something that will catch the dripping glaze. Take your mirror glaze that should be at 33°C and pour over the frozen desserts. You can do that twice, if you want a thicker, more yellow layer. Wait for the mirror glaze to set a bit and then remove the excess that is dripping down with a knife. You can save the leftover glaze for another time, it keeps in the fridge or the freezer for a long time. When the glaze is set, carefully place each dessert on top of a poppy sponge circle that you cut out. Decorate with chocolate and edible flowers.
Be sure to thaw before serving and keep in the fridge.

Enjoy :)!!