Chocolate, Rosemary & Sea Salt Pots
A couple of years ago, a friend from home moved in with me while she was working near Belfast. What started off as a connection born from home quickly grew into a friendship seasoned with tasty home cooked meals, Game of Thrones feast nights and red, red wine… a few bottles were harmed in the making of this friendship! She gave me an incredible book a couple of years ago that has really shifted my approach to recipe building. The book, written by Niki Segnit, published in 2010 is called “The Flavour Thesaurus: Pairings, recipes and ideas for the creative cook”. In it is a collection of over 4,000 flavour pairings. Some classic, some really unusual! Both for beer and food, this book has served up some inspiring flavour combinations for me to try.
I was searching through Niki’s book for inspiration for rosemary and chocolate recipes having picked up a bar of dark chocolate made by Cobden + Brown and rosemary infused sea salt made by Red Dog Foods in Arcadia Deli on the Lisburn Rd. The flavour thesaurus listed a simple recipe for a rosemary infused creamy chocolate desert, originally credited to chef David Wilson and I added a sprinkle of rosemary infused sea salt as garnish to contrast the sweetness in the dish.
Caroline and Tony, the couple behind Cobden + Brown have been making chocolate since 2013. Their son, Jonathan was diagnosed with Coeliac disease and an allergy to eggs and Caroline, who had been making all his meals from scratch thought she’d give chocolate making a whirl with Jonathan as chief recipe taster! Together, they’ve done a great job at picking the best formulations and now Cobden + Brown produce award-winning, allergen-free, specifically gluten-free and egg-free, chocolate in Lurgan. Some of their dark chocolates are dairy free too and suitable for Vegans. For this recipe we used their award winning 70% dark chocolate single origin Ecuadorian.
If you’ve followed our blog before, you know we love Red Dog Foods who make the rosemary infused sea salt. We used their Southern Sauce with English mustard in this recipe for chicken wings with MFC’s baby buck cheese – soooo good! Barbara Ann and Paul, the couple behind Red Dog, are BBQ masters and have a range of sauces, salts and BBQ rubs. This rosemary infused sea salt was delicious with this sweet recipe, but would make a great addition to rosemary salted fries/chips, rosemary roast potatoes and the obvious rosemary salted lamb chops.
This is a simple recipe, a rich desert and an unusual combination of flavours that work beautifully together. I hope you try it and enjoy it as much as I did!
Chocolate, Rosemary & Sea Salt Pots
Makes: 6-8 servings (keep the servings small – it’s a rich recipe!)
Preparation time: 20 mins
Chilling time 2-3hrs
Ingredients
250g caster sugar
250ml dry white wine
juice and grated rind of 1/2 lemon
600mL double cream
2 large whole stems of rosemary
165g Cobden+Brown dark chocolate, grated
25g Cobden+Brown dark chocolate, grated for decoration
Pinch of Red Dog rosemary sea salt
Method
- In a hot pan, heat the sugar, white wine and lemon juice until the sugar dissolves.
- Add the rosemary stems to the pan and pour in the cream and simmer.
- Add 165g of grated dark chocolate and stir on a medium heat until the chocolate dissolves and the mixture simmers again.
- Remove the rosemary stems, pour the mixture through a sieve to catch any rosemary stems remaining.
- Pour the mixture into small serving glasses and chill for 2-3 hours.
- Once the mixture has set, sprinkle grated dark chocolate and rosemary sea salt to serve.
- Best enjoyed in good company!
SculleryMade produces artisan goods using quality, local ingredients in Belfast. For recipe ideas using local ingredients check out our blog at http://scullery-made.com
For local artisan ingredients that inspire our blog, visit: The Farmer’s Market at The Inns on the first Saturday of every month at BT8 7HN
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Contact: Caoimhe@scullery-made.com
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