Chapter XIII – the drizzles

A cook can never have enough compotes or coulis or drizzles to choose from! They are quick and easy to make and have a gazillion uses – the usual suspects like toppings for pancakes, cereals and yogurt. Dressing up desserts like cheesecakes – giving that much needed sharpness - quick and simple over ice cream.

Here's the blueberry :

Blueberry Compote

250g blueberries – defrosted if frozen

100g caster sugar

juice of one small lemon

Place the blueberries and the sugar into a medium sized saucepan and cook gently until the sugar melts and the mixture begins to thicken – add your lemon juice. This should take approximately 15 minutes. Stir occasionally taking care not to break up the fruit – this is a marathon not a sprint – be patient – it's only 15 minutes. If you must walk away from the stove then make sure you've got your timer around your neck.

When the mixture is cooked leave it to cool – then spoon into the clean jar you've got ready!

To save you time – frozen blueberries are available from Sainsbury's or Asda, to name but two 400g for £2.15.

Enjoy the 15 minutes of therapy nurturing your compote – I certainly did!

Having gone to the bother of giving you the blueberry compote recipe it seemed rude not to give you another recipe in which to use it!

Lemon and Blueberry Hodgepodge

Serves 1

3 lemon meringues kisses, crushed if

available – plain will do just as well

1 scoop vanilla ice cream

30g lemon curd – microwave on medium for

10 secs – stir and then the curd is ready to pour

1 tbsp blueberry compote

sprinkle of toasted flaked almonds to decorate

Before we go any further – a couple of pointers. The lemon meringues I found in Marks and Spencer. You can make your own lemon curd or buy a good substitute as a back up – mine is Marks and Spencer's Sicilian.

Finally, the toasted flaked almonds. I toasted them in the oven – 160fan/180c/Gas 4 for 5 minutes. I set my timer a minute at a time – checked and gave the baking tray a shake - the colour of the almonds is up to you but don't forget them or you'll be really cross!

Construct as follows :

Meringues, crushed

add scoop of ice cream

drizzle the loosened lemon curd over the ice cream

add the blueberry compote

decorate with a sprinkle of toasted flaked almonds

It looks delicious in a glass dish or bowl!

Another easy assembly dessert option to include in your store cupboard arsenal!