Brownie, raspberry sorbet and crème anglaise

This dessert is simply exquisite; no need for a special occasion to try this recipe out. The combination of intense dark chocolate, salted nuts, tangy raspberry sorbet and the delicate vanilla scented custard is a match made in heaven.

Ingredients:

For the Brownie:

· 65g milk chocolate
· 135g dark chocolate
· 150g diced butter
· 100g sugar
· 50g flour
· 3 eggs
· ½ Tsp. of baking powder
· 15g of toasted pecan nuts
· 15g pistachio nuts
· A pinch of salt

For the Crème anglaise:

· 1 Scraped vanilla pod
· 3 egg yolks
· 250ml whole milk
· 50g caster sugar

For the Raspberry sorbet:

· 300g frozen raspberries
· 80ml water
· 30g caster sugar
· 10ml gin

Method:

1. To prepare the brownie

· (Best served warm) Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C

· Place the chocolate and butter in a large mixing bowl over a bain-marie. Stir from time to time until all is completely melted.

· In a separate mixing bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar, flour and baking powder. Once the melted chocolate has achieved room temperature pour over the egg mix and whisk continuously. Finally add in the roughly chopped nuts. Pour in a rectangular baking tin (25 x 18 cm) previously lined with greaseproof paper. Bake for 20 minutes; remove from the oven and leave to cool down.

2. To prepare the Crème anglaise

· Combine the milk and a pinch of the sugar in a saucepan. Scrape in the seeds from the vanilla pod and bring to a simmer.

· In the meantime; whisk egg yolks and sugar in medium bowl. Then gradually whisk the hot milk into yolk mixture and return the custard to the saucepan. Stir over a low heat until the custard thickens, about 5 minutes (do not boil). Rapidly, strain the crème anglaise into a bowl; cover and chill.

3. To prepare the raspberry sorbet

· Place the frozen fruit and alcohol directly into your food processor. Heat the water and sugar in a small saucepan. As soon as the sugar has dissolved (no need to boil); pour the liquid over the fruit. Blitz until smooth sorbet texture.

The wines

Sweet wines with a distinctive red fruit character are the most ideal.

- Banyuls produced in the Rhône region: delivers the perfect balance between black fruit and subtle cacao aromas.

- Ruby Port

- Recioto della Valpolicella

- Japanese Choya Umeshu plum wine served on the rocks

- Alternatively, an icewine from Northeast China may do the trick just as well

Ebook and paperback versions of recipes from the French Wine Harvest are available from lulu.com. The ebook is also available from amazon.com, apple.com and other usual websites.