My winter warmer

Oh, sloe gin. It warms where other spirits will never reach. An amazing transformation given how unpleasant the sloes are to eat without being steeped in gin. This is my 2004 vintage, the sloes picked from a blackthorn bush by my parents chicken house. They were a little small but needed to be picked before the birds got to them.

Traditionally you're supposed to wait until the first frost before picking the berries, but a couple of hours in the freezer does the same job and means you can get on with making your brew much sooner.

I'm trying to find my recipe - it's knocking around the kitchen somewhere and I'll post it once found. The basics are pretty easy though.

Pop the sloes into a sealable and sterile jar, add large amounts of sugar and the cheapest gin you can find. Store in a dark cool place for a minimum of three months, swirling the jar around each day for the first week to ensure the sugar has fully dissolved.

I reckon you can leave the sloes in the mix for up to a year, dramatically enhancing the flavour. Others favour removing the berries after a maximum of six months. To be honest, as with all these things, it's down to personal preference.

Enjoy... Preferably in a hip flask, outside on a cold crisp day.

Requiring a dose of summer

It's been a rather hectic weekend what with one thing and another. So hectic in fact that I forgot to take any pictures of Sunday lunch - Oxtail casserole with spicy parsnip mash and buttered cabbage. A shame really, as it went down bloody well.

I did however remember to snap a shot of pudding. This is gooseberry & elderflower ice cream with damson and sloe gin coulis and cracked sugar. I'm pretty pleased with the result, especially as the coulis came from a bottle in the back of the cupboard. I think my mother-in-law brought it round a while ago and I'd forgotten it was there until a recent clear out brought it to light.

The ice cream combines a basic custard with a good slug of elderflower cordial (found in the freezer from a batch I made last year), around 300g of frozen gooseberries from the local farm shop and just under half a pint of double cream, whipped into stiff peaks. I let it chill right down before mixing it all together and putting it into the ice cream maker.

I chucked far too much mix into the frozen bowl, but it seems to have frozen fine.

The coulis comes from Chatsworth preserves and is marvellous. I can't see it being too difficult to make your own and I have a quantity of 2004 vintage sloe gin in the cabinet to use so may make my own attempt this summer, when I can get my hands on some damsons.

the cracked sugar is simplicity itself. Take some caster sugar, bung it in a frying pan and put in on a medium heat. Wait until the sugar has melted and turned golden brown, without touching it. Tip onto baking parchment, let cool and then break it. The only thing to remember here is that stirring the sugar turns it cloudy, so leave it well alone.

So, one good pudding and an opportunity missed. All in all, not a bad Sunday!