ROSE & ANIS SEED COMBINATIONS...

A while back I had tried these truly wonderful rose- anis macarons at Ladurée. I was pleasantly surprised with the combination of the two flavours. The refreshing edge of the anis overlaps very nicely with the sweet smoothness of rose. So, the other day when I was going through the kitchen closets, I spotted a bottle of concentrated rose syrup which we received from Syria. Then in another closet, a jar of anis seeds was staring right back at me. At that moment my mind went back in time recalling the heavenly Ladurée rose-anis macaron- and that is basically how I came up with this dessert… which is something like a panna cotta, but not quite…

Of course, as you can see from the photos, there is more then just anis and rose here. The base is a fuschia pink fig & rose, whereas the top layer is anis seed infused in a mixture of cream & milk (panna cotta like-ish). Views on this dessert were mixed because it all depends what side you come from. There are those people I know who are real traditionalists, who only love vanilla, chocolate, strawberry & co type classics. Then there are the “others” who like to experiment around and who generally preferred my dessert this time. And then there were just a few traditionalists that went over to the other side and enjoyed the flavour combination too. As for me? Well, I loved it. And no, I don’t love every single dessert I make- there are some that turn out to be disastrous and that see the light of day only once in their life, while there are other real keepers that I enjoy making over and over again. This was my first time preparing this specific dessert, but I know for sure I will be back at it again!

Above: concentrated rose syrup vs rose water.

The one I used this time was the concentrated rose syrup.

P.S: No recipe this time as everything was quite spontaneous. For the bottom part, I started with a layer of fresh figs followed with the rose syrup mixed with water and gelatine which was left to set in the fridge. After that, for the upper part, follow a panna-cotta type recipe and add on top of the bottom layer- only after it has set!