For 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. Pour
the hot milk into 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 about
8 minutes, without letting it boil,
until it lightly coats the spoon.
Transfer the mixture to a wide
bowl and put in a larger basin
of cold water. 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 the purée into
a sieve set over a bowl and
push 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, then divide as
equally as possible between
two freezerproof containers.
Add all the strawberry 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, 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 when serving if you like).
Cover and freeze for 2 hours
before serving.
Recipes and photographs taken from cook sweet by Karen Martini, photography by Armelle Habib (Hardie Grant, £20).
