Blackberries With Lemon Cream and Toasted Brioche

Molly Hawks-Fagnoni and husband, Michael Fagnoni, co-owners and chefs at Hawks in Granita Bay, Ca, love their homemade brioche so much that they created this dessert for it. They start with a layer of ethereal lemon cream, top it with a toasty slice of the brioche, then dollop it with whipped cream. The finishing touch is tart, juicy blackberries in rosemary-vanilla syrup. Food & Wine Magazine, August 2008. (About 2 hrs cooling time)

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup water
• 1 1⁄2 cups sugar
• 1  tablespoon sugar
•  rosemary sprig (2 inches)
• 1⁄4 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
• 1⁄4 cup  finely grated lemon zest
• 4  large eggs
• 3⁄4 cup fresh lemon juice (not the bottled stuff!)
• 8  tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 8 Tablesoon pieces (1 stick)
• 2  tablespoons butter, cut in 2 Tablespoon pieces
• 8  slices  brioche bread, sliced into 1/2 slices crusts removed
• 1  cup heavy cream
• 3  cups blackberries (12 oz)

Directions

1. In a saucepan, simmer the water with 1/2 cup of the sugar, until the sugar is dissolved; add the rosemary and the vanilla bean and seeds and let stand 2 hours.
2. Meanwhile, in a heatproof bowl, rub the lemon zaest into 1 cup of the sugar; whisk in the eggs and lemon juice.
3. Set the bowl over a saucepan with simmering water and cook over moderate heat, whisking until thickened, about 6 minutes.
4. Strain the custard into a food processor; let cool slightly.
5. With the processor on, add the butter 1 piece at a time, until fully incorporated before adding more.
6. Process the cream until doubled in volume, about 3 minuutes.
7. Scrape the cream into a bowl, press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
8. Discard the rosemary and vanilla bean from the syrup; simmer the syrup over moderately low heat until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes; let cool.
9. Preheat the broiler; arrange the brioche slices on baking sheet and broil for 1 minute, turning once, until golden.
10. In a bowl, beat the heavy cream with the remaining 1 T of sugar until softly whipped.
11. Add the blackberries to the sugar syrup and toss gently.
12. Spoon the lemon cream onto 8 plates, top with the brioche and dollop of the whipped cream.
13. Scatter the blackberries on top, serve at once.