Rose geranium with meringue, raspberries and wild sorrel

Summer

This is a wonderful assembly of some of my favourite things. I like puddings like this. Puddings that give you choice and a little room to move depending on the season and what you can get hold of. There are a few simple rules, but they are mostly about contrast in texture and finding the right balance between sweetness and something a little sharp or bitter.

In late summer raspberries are at their best, dark, ripe and sugary. They are scented and delicate and need very little embellishment, though sometimes I can’t help pairing them with one or two other things.

Rose pelargonium (Pelargonium graveolens), often called rose geranium, is a lovely flowering plant from the geranium family. Its leaves are wonderfully aromatic and heady and are brilliant to cook with. They have a unique and beautiful flavour and are often used to perfume sugars, ice creams, cakes, jams and syrups. Here I make a simple syrup with the leaves and pair it with the raspberries.

I’ve also chosen to use sorrel, a lovely plant with a sharp, bright flavour that reminds me of gooseberry, apple skin and lemon. The cultivated varieties grow happily in pots or herb beds and are easy to keep, but sorrel can also be found growing wild for much of the year.

Serves 4

Ingredients

250g to 300g raspberries
1 handful small wild sorrel leaves
2 large egg whites
100g caster sugar
200g caster sugar
200ml water
6 to 8 rose geranium leaves, plus a few petals to serve
250ml double cream
2 to 3 tablespoons rose geranium syrup

Method

To make the syrup

Place the 200g of sugar and water in a small heavy based saucepan. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove the syrup from the heat and pour it into a jar. Add the geranium leaves and allow it to cool. The leaves will darken slightly in the warm syrup. You can replace them with a few fresh leaves once the syrup has cooled. The syrup will keep well in the fridge.

To make the meringue

Preheat the oven to 120C. Line a baking sheet with non stick baking parchment and brush it very lightly with sunflower oil.

Put the egg whites into a very clean large mixing bowl and start to whisk. When they form soft peaks, which may take a few minutes, gradually spoon in the 100g of sugar. Continue whisking for 5 to 6 minutes. It is important that the sugar dissolves fully into the egg white, otherwise the meringue may weep in the oven. The mixture should look thick and glossy and hold firm peaks.

Spoon the meringue onto the baking tray. I like mine slightly irregular in shape, but you can make them as neat and round as you like. Bake for about 1½ hours, then leave them to cool completely.

Place the raspberries in a bowl with 3 to 4 tablespoons of the rose geranium syrup. Mix very gently and leave for an hour or so in a cool place.

Pour the cream into a large mixing bowl with 2 tablespoons of the rose geranium syrup and whisk lightly until it holds soft peaks.

Serve the meringues with spoonfuls of the scented cream and the syrupy raspberries. Scatter over a few wild sorrel leaves and, if you have them, a few petals from the geranium flowers.

For a summer cocktail

Take a good handful of ripe raspberries and a similar amount of ice and crush them together in a bowl. Spoon over 4 tablespoons of rose geranium syrup and add a few shots of vodka. Top up with lemonade and ladle into tall glasses.

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