Tom Beauchamp recipe: Gooseberry and elderflower fool with shortbread rounds
Tom Beauchamp, head of production and development at Sodexo, gives us his delightful recipe for gooseberry and elderflower fool with shortbread rounds
For me the fool has to have both a custard and a cream base. It is a little indulgent, but there is something special about those two elements. It’s the way they come together with the gooseberries on the spoon, which evokes fond memories of summer holidays with my grandparents. You could serve this with some lightly salted shortbread rounds.
Ingredients
- 500g fresh gooseberries topped, tailed and washed
- 200g elderflower syrup or cordial
- 50g elderflower wine
- 100g blossom honey
- 50g unsalted butter
- 4 large egg yolks
- 500g double cream
Serves: 4 Difficulty: Easy Time to cook: 30 mins
Method
Gooseberry and elderflower fool with shortbread rounds
1 In a heavy bottomed pan, add 100g of the cordial, 50g of the honey, the butter, elderflower wine and the gooseberries and bring to a gentle simmer. Place a lid on top and cook gently until the berries start to pop.
2 Remove from the heat to cool and for the syrup to soak in to the fruit, making them beautifully plump. Stir a little to break the mixture down somewhat.
3 In another pan, add 200g of the cream and the remaining cordial and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and pour over the yolks, whisking continuously.
4 Return to the pan and heat very gently until the mixture thickens but do not boil. Allow to cool.
5 Gently whisk the remaining cream until it just starts to thicken, then carefully fold in the rest of the honey.
6 While all the elements are still warm or soft enough to work with, artfully layer into glasses.