PASSION FRUIT JELLY WITH HOMEMADE YOGHURT ICE CREAM

"Passion fruit is my favourite fruit. It has everything, it is sweet and sour with great flavour and texture. In short, it rocks. Jellies are simple to make and fun. Who didn’t love jelly and ice cream as a kid? I loved it and still do! Your imagination is your only limit when it comes to making jellies. They don’t have to be sweet, it is up to you. Just remember, 4-5 sheets of gelatine to 500ml of liquid. You can’t go wrong. When
presenting your jellies you can use anything to hand: wine glasses, plastic water cups, cocktail glasses and shot glasses, as I have done."

Yoghurt ice cream is so simple to make and you can do any variations you want. All you need is equal quantities of the listed ingredients and multiply them as you require.

Jelly Ingredients:
3-4 Passion Fruits
60g Caster Sugar
200ml Water
3-5 Leaves of Leaf
Gelatine (see method)
Lemon Juice

Ice Cream Ingredients:
250g Set Yoghurt
250g Caster Sugar
250g Double Cream

1. Selecting your passion fruits
Look for wrinkled and dimpled passion fruits; this means they are ripe. Cut them in half and squeeze the fruit’s contents into a saucepan. A teaspoon will help to get the last bits. Leave all the pips in for now.

2. Add sugar and water
Once all the fruit is safely in the pan, weigh the sugar and add. Finally, add water.

3. Cook the jelly mix
Place the pan on a stove and bring to the boil. When the water is boiling, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer. Let it simmer for 2 minutes or until all the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the stove and leave to one side whilst the flavours develop.

4. Add gelatine
Now, soak the leaf gelatine in cold water until it goes soft. Do not leave it for too long or the gelatine will start to disintegrate. Once it has softened, lift it out with your hands and squeeze out any excess water. Add the gelatine to the jelly liquid and whisk it to make sure it is well
incorporated.

5. How many seeds would you like?
This bit is entirely up to you. You can now strain the mix through a sieve and remove the seeds. This allows you to add back as many as you would like. This depends entirely on your taste. Personally I find that too many seeds produce a jelly with too much ‘crunch’, so I add just a few seeds to the mixture as this makes it look good and gives added texture without ruining the smoothness of the jelly.

6. The jelly mould
You may now pour the jelly mixture into a mould. This can be anything you desire. For this demonstration I have used a shot glass. Put the mould into the fridge and leave it to set for a minimum of two hours (depending on the size of your mould).

7. Serve
Serve the jelly with cream, crème fraiche or ice cream.

8. Yoghurt ice cream
Blend or whisk all the ingredients and place in the freezer. If you wish, add the same weight of fruit as the other ingredients (250g). You may also want to try adding Maltesers or pieces of chocolate.