Gooseberry and elderflower jelly and ice cream

Serves 6 Desserts and puddings

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Method

First, make the jelly. Put the gooseberries and sugar in a large pan. Pour over the elderflower cordial and sparkling elderflower. Heat gently for 10 minutes to dissolve the sugar, then poach the fruit gently for about 3-5 minutes until just soft but not falling apart. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Sieve the liquid into a measuring jug and bring it up to the 600ml mark with more sparkling elderflower or water. Soak the appropriate number of gelatine leaves (follow packet instructions) in cold water for about 8 minutes, until floppy. Put a few tablespoons of the liquid in a small pan and heat. Squeeze the gelatine and add to the pan, then immediately remove it from the heat and swirl the liquid until the gelatine dissolves.

Pour this back into the rest of the liquid with about 50 of the gooseberries. Place in the fridge to chill for 2 hours, until just setting (gelling). Pour into 6 glasses, taking care to push the gooseberries down into the jelly. (You may need to push them in every 20 minutes until they stay put.) Leave overnight to set completely.

To make the ice cream, put the rest of the gooseberries into a blender with the elderflower cordial and whizz to a purée. Push this through a sieve and set aside. Put the milk in a pan and heat until almost boiling. Beat together the egg yolks, cornflour, caster sugar and glucose powder until pale. Mix the hot milk into the egg mixture. Put into a clean pan on a medium heat and stir continuously until it thickens, which takes a couple of minutes.

Pour into an approximately 16cm x 22cm deepish container and leave to cool. Mix in the gooseberry purée. Whisk the cream until just floppy and mix into the custard. Churn in a machine following the manufacturer’s instructions and freeze. Or follow the ‘still freeze’ method below.

Freeze for 2 hours, then using a fork break up the frozen mixture and whisk with electric beaters until all the same texture. Freeze and repeat 2 hours later. Freeze for another 2 hours and transfer to a processor and whizz until smooth. Either method you use, after the last churn freeze again until needed, preferably only 1-2 hours. If longer and it freezes hard.

Bring it to a scoopable state by putting in the fridge for around 30 minutes before eating.