blackcurrant mousse ice cream recipe

The taste of pure blackcurrants is so intense that they are best eaten in a mousse or ice cream - best of all in a softly frozen mousse made an hour or two before you want to eat. The purple ice cream topped with some passionfruit pulp, a few frozen blackcurrants and their bright green leaves looks marvellous.

for 6

• 450g blackcurrants
• juice of ½ orange
• 225g icing sugar
• 275ml double cream

To serve

• 3 passion fruits
• a few whole stems of blackcurrants, frozen
• a few blackcurrant leaves, frozen

Put the blackcurrants in a saucepan with the orange juice and cook until soft. Press them through a sieve to extract the seeds. Add the icing sugar to the fruit. Whip the double cream to soft peaks and fold into the purée.

Pour the mixture into an ice-cream maker if you have one. Freeze/churn for about 20 minutes, then pack into a plastic container and freeze for 2 hours. If you don't have an ice cream maker, place the mixture in a shallow container and freeze until half-frozen (about 1 hour). Remove and fork through, mixing the frozen edge into the middle to break up the ice crystals. Repeat twice.

Cut open the passion fruits, scrape the seeds and pulp into a bowl and break up a bit with a fork.

Before serving, allow the ice cream to soften in the fridge for 15 minutes. Serve 2 or 3 scoops per person with the passion fruit pulp drizzled over the top. Decorate each plate with1 or 2 whole stems of frozen blackcurrants and a few blackcurrant leaves.

This recipe features on p.209 of Sarah's 'Food for Friends and Family'.