“This dish was served at Stephanie’s Restaurant over many years during the ’80s, and probably into the early ’90s. I was introduced to scented geraniums by my mother, who had quite a collection in her own herb garden – peppermint, nutmeg, clove and, our favourite, rose,” says Stephanie Alexander. “My first dish using the rose-scented geranium was an old-fashioned junket. Later I added them to panna cotta, but I think this sorbet was the most successful of all. Just to show that there’s nothing new under the sun, recently in Paris I had lunch at one of the ‘hot’ restaurants, Saturne, and dessert was a raspberry and rosegeranium sorbet with a tiny serve of red and gold raspberries. The flavour of ripe raspberries dominates this delicious sorbet here, but the rose-scented geranium adds a haunting after-note that’s not at all cloying. The fragile wafers are based on a recipe that has appeared in several of my books; any excess batter keeps covered and refrigerated for several days.”
2.For honey wafers, preheat oven to 180C and line 2 oven trays with baking paper. Trace about 9 evenly spaced rounds per tray using a 9cm cutter as a guide. Turn paper over so ink is underneath. Process butter and sugar in a food processor until creamy. With motor running, add flour, honey, eggwhite and ginger, and blend to a smooth spreadable consistency. Spread batter thinly and evenly into traced rounds with the back of a spoon or small palette knife, then bake a tray at a time until golden brown (7-8 minutes). Cool wafers for a minute on tray then, using a flexible spatula, lift onto a wire rack to cool completely. Wafers are best eaten soon after baking – they become soft over time.
3.Whisk cream to soft peaks in a bowl. Add half the raspberries and whip to firm peaks, then stir in remaining berries, reserving some to garnish.
4.To serve, anchor a cold wafer to each plate with a dot of cream. Pile on a spoonful of raspberry cream, balance another wafer on top, pile on a second spoonful of cream and top with a third wafer. Dust with icing sugar, garnish with raspberries and geranium leaves, and serve with a scoop of raspberry and rose-geranium sorbet.
Rose geranium plants are available from select nurseries.
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