Gooseberry Fool with Elderflower
Elderflower is the classic partner to gooseberries giving them a scent of muscat. Here I have added a hint of orange zest for a counterpoint of flavour. Use small, green, slightly hairy, cooking gooseberries for this recipe which is quintessentially English. Decorate with a redddish brown dessert gooseberry if you can find a punnet!
Put the gooseberries in a saucepan with the orange zest, half the sugar and 1 tbsp water. Bring to the boil, then turn heat down low and simmer gently for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the berries have softened and slumped. Add 2 tbsp of the elderflower cordial and stir in well. Purée in a processor or strain it through a sieve. Leave to cool. Put the cream and yoghurt in a mixing-bowl, add the sugar and the rest of the cordial. Whisk well until it holds its shape, then loosely swirl in the gooseberries. Spoon it into individual glasses. Serve with home made shortbread or amaretti biscuits.
Theo Hodges
Theo Hodges was born in Kent. After a degree in Graphic Design she joined J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency as an Art Director working on accounts such as Rowntrees, Kraft and The Butter Council. While she was at University in Perugia, Italy she started collecting recipes from friends and family. In 1980 she set up her own design agency: Theo Hodges Design Consultants. For many years when they were young Theo, her sister and six cousins used to spend vacations at her Grandmother’s Victorian vicarage in Kent. ‘The thing about remembering childhood’ she says, is ‘there’s a whole lot of oblivion, and then out of it something floats up, quite sharp and clear. Many of the meals I can still see vividly and various recipes of mine were originally from Granny’s kitchen. ‘The kitchen garden was stuffed with raspberries, huge red dessert gooseberries, strawberries, runner beans, peas and much more with the hens in a shed at the back. But Granny only ate chicken breast and runner beans, followed by raspberries and Jersey cream - and therefore so did we. When raspberries were out of season, and in those days the season was much shorter, Granny made Victoria sponge cakes sandwiched with cream and home-made raspberry jam. On this limited but delicious diet we all thrived’. Theo’s mother was an excellent cook as well, and had been taught by the house- keeper at their house in Mougins, South of France. And once rationing was withdrawn in England in 1952 and good, fresh ingredients became available again, she amassed an enormous number of recipes which has formed the basis for Theo’s collection of family desserts.