This Summer I fell in love.... head over heels kind of love, can't stop thinking about you kind of love, always wondering what we could do together kind of love...her name was Elderflower -a delicate, heady, fleeting blossom. She's gone now but we had some delicious fun -we made tangy goosegog and elderflower pie, we made refreshing cordial, we made a delectable custard, we made cocktails with prosecco and we made a beautiful, opaque, wibbly wobbly jelly. For me elderflower is the queen of the foraging world -even in the city you can easily find them -just follow your nose. I made a huge batch of 'blessed cordial' after I happened upon a fantastic collection of trees close to a convent in Dublin...but I can't tell you where it is of course! Soon the elderberries will be out and they have lots to offer too -you can make an apple and elderberry tart or concoct a syrup from them which will help to ward off colds during the Winter months.

Elderflowers

I served the following dessert at a recent supper event, I was inspired by a Nigel Slater recipe from his Tender Vol II book. It's a good make ahead dessert and so works really well if you're cooking a for a group. I had also made an Apricot Liqueur for the same supper event so I popped one of the booze soaked apricots into the bottom of each glass -a nice little surprise as it looked like an egg yoke. I crystallised some rose petals from the garden for a little variation in texture and decided to make Hugh Fearnleys gooseberry curd to twist through some whipped cream. My Dad provided the tasty gooseberries and raspberries -thanks Dad, sorry you didn't get any!

Fruit + Jelly + Cream = Heaven

What you need: serves 4

leaf gelatine 12g
140ml elderflower cordial (this is double what Nigel says, but for me it needed it)
1 heaped tbsp caster sugar
250ml fizzy water
250ml white wine
400g raspberries
100ml of cream whipped
4 crystallised rose petals -optional
1 tbsp of goosegog curd -optional, you could use lemon curd
4 booze soaked apricots -optional

What you need to do:

Soak your gelatine leaves in cold water until it softens -roughly 5 mins
Into a saucepan put the cordial, sugar, water and half of the white wine
Place your gelatine in and whisk it all around
Put onto a low heat and stir until the gelatine and sugar have dissolved completely
Take off the hob and pour in the rest of the wine
Pop an apricot into the bottom of the glass and split the raspberries evenly between each glass
Pour over the liquid jelly mixture and when cool put into the fridge
Give them a few hoursto gain some solidity or leave overnight
To serve simply swirl the curd gently through the whipped cream -dollop on and top it off with a rose petal

Crystallised Rose, Thyme & Rocket Flowers

How do you crystallise petals?

It's very easy, all you need to do is whisk an egg white, pop in a shallow bowl, put some caster sugar into a shallow bowl, take your petals and dip first in the egg white followed by the sugar -leave on greaseproof paper to dry out -pop into an airtight container.

The XX song Crystalised -don't think they were singing about things of a culinary ilk...