Nothing says summer to me more than a bowl of cherries. Or peaches. Or nectarines. When I’m not eating a piece of fruit just as it is, all refreshing and sweet, I’m thinking of the many ways to turn it into a meal. I love pairing sweet, summer fruit with tangy cheese and fresh herbs – nothing beats the watermelon-feta-mint combo – but it also, of course, makes for the most perfect of puddings.
Summer fruit salad with coconut (pictured top)
When you put a tin of coconut milk in the fridge overnight, the cream and water will separate naturally (if you don’t have time to chill the coconut milk, strain it through a clean tea towel or muslin to separate the cream and water). The water is the perfect dressing for this fruit salad, while the cream can be whipped with a little salt and spooned on top to serve. Play around with different fruit – whatever’s ripe and available. The fruit can be cut in advance, if need be, but for the best results don’t dress it until about an hour before serving.
Chill Overnight
Prep 10 min
Cook 10 min
Rest 30 min+
Serves 6-8
400ml tin full-fat coconut milk, left in the fridge overnight
Fine sea salt
½ green or orange melon, deseeded, skinned and flesh cut into 3-4cm pieces (560g)
2 peaches, peeled – use your hands to pick off the skin or, if the fruit is firmer, use a peeler (250g)
2 nectarines, peeled – see the note about the peaches above (240g)
10 lychees, peeled, halved and stoned, or 320g apricots, halved and stoned
Juice of 2 limes (35ml)
30g light brown sugar
1 tsp finely chopped stem ginger, plus ¼ tsp extra to serve
1 tsp stem ginger syrup, plus ½ tsp extra to serve
Carefully spoon the cream off the top of the chilled tin of coconut milk and put it in a fine sieve set over a large bowl. Once any liquid has strained off the cream, transfer the cream to a small bowl, whisk in an eighth of a teaspoon of salt, cover and put in the fridge.
Pass the coconut water through a fine sieve into the strained liquid in the bowl, and discard any solids. Add the fruit, lime juice, sugar, ginger and ginger syrup to the coconut water and mix gently to combine. Put in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes (and up to three hours).
To serve, transfer the fruit salad to a serving bowl, spoon the coconut cream on top and finish with the extra ginger and ginger syrup.
Cherry trifle with pistachio and rosemary crumble
Pitted frozen cherries are the ultimate lazy move, I know, but it’s summer, so we’re allowed to be. I’ve made this in individual portions here, but if you have a trifle bowl and want a ta-dah! moment, assemble it in there and keep in the fridge until needed.
Prep 25 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 6-8
500g pitted black cherries – I used frozen, but fresh work, too
120g caster sugar
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2 limes, 1 peeled in strips, then both juiced, to get 2 tbsp
60ml kirsch, or cherry brandy
280g shop-bought madeira cake (or other plain sponge cake), cut into 1½cm-thick x 7cm-wide slices
2 shop-bought meringue nests
1 handful fresh cherries, to finish (optional)
For the pistachio crumble
1 tbsp rosemary leaves
30g caster sugar
50g pistachios kernels, lightly roasted
⅛ tsp flaked salt
For the sabayon
4 egg yolks (save the whites for another use)
100ml kirsch
40g caster sugar
600ml double cream
Put the cherries, sugar, rosemary, lime peel and kirsch in a saucepan and turn the heat to medium-high. Cook for five to six minutes, until the cherries have softened but still hold their shape; add a splash of water to the pan, if need be.
Strain, reserving the liquid, then return the liquid to the pan and cook for another five minutes, until thickened and syrupy. Take off the heat, return the cooked cherries to the pan and leave to cool.
For the crumble, put the rosemary and sugar in the large bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the pistachios and salt, and pulse again until finely crumbled.
Now for the sabayon. Quarter-fill a medium saucepan with water and put it on a medium heat. Put the egg yolks, kirsch and sugar in a large bowl that will sit snugly on top of the saucepan, then put the bowl on the pan, making sure the base doesn’t touch the hot water. Whisk for four to five minutes, until it looks like a thick, foamy cream, then take off the pan and leave to cool for five minutes, whisking two or three times while the sabayon cools down.
Put the cream in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a balloon whisk and beat at medium-high speed until it forms soft peaks. Gently whisk half the cream into the cooled sabayon.
To assemble, put one slice of cake on a plate and spoon over some of the cherries and juice, so that the sponge gets soaked. Spoon over some of the sabayon, followed by some of the remaining whipped cream, then crumble the meringue over the top and scatter over some pistachio crumble. Serve topped with two fresh cherries, or with another spoonful of cooked cherries.
