Iced strawberry and rose fool

Serves 4-6 Desserts and puddings

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Method

First make the strawberry sauce. Put the sugar and 1tbsp water in a small pan over a low heat to dissolve the sugar. Add the strawberries and bring to the boil for around 12 minutes until the mixture looks jam-like. Transfer to a bowl and put in a larger basin of cold water to cool it down quickly then set aside until cold.

Meanwhile, put the milk for the fool in a pan and heat gently until bubbles just begin to show around the edge. Whisk the yolks, sugar and rosewater in a large bowl and pour the hot milk over it, whisking all the time. Clean out the pan and pour the milk mixture back into it. Cook over a low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 8 minutes or so, but don’t let it boil. The custard won’t get very thick but should lightly coat the spoon. Transfer the mixture to a wide bowl and put in a larger basin of cold water to cool it down quickly. The custard will thicken as it cools.

Chop the strawberries for the ice straight into a blender, add the rosewater, sugar and grenadine, if using, and process to a purée. Pour into a sieve set over a bowl and push the purée through with the back of a ladle using a circular motion. Discard the seeds.

Whisk the cream for the fool until just floppy and fold into the cold custard to get an even colour. Divide the custard as equally as possible between two freezerproof containers. Add all the strawberry ice purée to one of the containers and stir well. Freeze both for around 1 hour until ice crystals form, then mix the outer edges into the centre. Repeat twice more. When quite firm, break up the two batches, separately, in a food processor until soft and snowy. Alternatively, churn the two batches separately using an ice-cream maker, freezing the first right away until the second batch is churned.

To assemble the fool, strain the jam-like strawberry mixture through a sieve set over a bowl. Add the strawberry ice to the plain custard mixture and swirl together gently along with the strawberries and some of the syrup (save the rest to drizzle over if you wish). Cover and freeze for 2 hours. If leaving it longer and it hardens too much, remove the lid and soften in the fridge a little before serving.