[Mirabelle]

On the subject of lemon curd, here is a simply wonderful dessert that will delight friends and family.

Lemon curd parfait, winter berry jelly, with candied roses
recipe by Jason Atherton.


Serves 4
Prep time: 1 hr (not including overnight freezing, cooling and setting times)

For the lemon curd parfait:
100ml double cream
4 egg yolks
65g caster sugar
100ml buttermilk
180g lemon curd

Put the eggs and sugar in a stainless steel bowl and put on top of simmering water and whisk to make a sabayon, until it is thick andholds a figure of 8.

Then tip in to a electric mixer and beat tillcold and creamy white. Then semi whip up cream and then fold all the ingredients together and then freeze into small rings till frozen solid.

For the winter berry jelly:
18g of gelatine sheets
300ml of winter berry juice (sloes or frozen made purée is good)
110ml of stock syrup (see below)
40ml Campari
Candied roses from a good cake decorating shop (or online at MSK food)

Basic stock syrup:
150g caster sugar
300ml water
2 strips lemon zest

To serve:

Turn out the parfait onto a plate, then scoop a spoon of jelly on the
side and scatter the candied roses on top, grate a little fresh lemon
to garnish and a little spearmint.

The stock syrup from above ingredients.

This will make about 500ml of syrup, but any surplus can be kept in a sealed container in the fridge for up to three weeks and used to dress any type of summer fruit or salad.

Put the sugar and water in a small, heavy-based pan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Add the lemon zest and bring to the boil for 5 minutes. Allow to cool, then strain and transfer to a glass container with a lid, and place in the fridge until required.