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Brown bread ice cream with summer fruits compote

Claire Macdonald from Seasonally Scottish
Claire Macdonald makes a memorable late summer dessert of brown bread ice cream with fresh berries macerated in fragrant blackcurrant leaf syrup

Brown bread ice cream with summer fruits compote

Method

1. To make the compote, put the water, sugar and lemon rind together in a saucepan over a moderate heat and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. Increase the heat and boil the syrup for 5 minutes.

2. Remove the pan from the heat and add the blackcurrant leaves and the lemon juice, pushing the leaves down into the syrup. Leave for several hours, to cool completely.

3. Strain the syrup through a sieve, discarding the leaves and pared lemon rind.

4. Pour the syrup over the fruit and leave to macerate for several hours.

5. Meanwhile, make the ice cream. Toast the breadcrumbs until golden brown.

6. Put the sugar into a heavy saucepan, add 3 tablespoons water and heat gently, until the sugar has dissolved completely. Increase the heat and boil the mixture for 2-3 minutes, until caramelised.

7. Add the toasted crumbs to the hot syrup and stir until the syrup cools - the crumbs will become encrusted in the caramel. Bash any that form large hard lumps into smaller pieces using a rolling pin.

8. Whip the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla essence and stir in the cooled, sugar-crusted crumbs. Pour the mixture into a plastic container and freeze.

9. About 20 minutes before serving, remove the ice cream from the freezer and transfer to the fridge to soften.

10. Scoop into pretty bowls and serve with the summer fruits compote.

Cook's note: The syrup for the compote uses blackcurrant leaves, which give the exquisite taste of Muscat grapes. In the absence of blackcurrant leaves, just use the lemon in the recipe, or in season, substitute a handful of elderflowers.