Recipe from Nigella Lawson
This is so far from being the sort of jello you’d expect at a children’s party as can be imagined! The white currant decoration may be unavailable, but what matters is the drink-made-dessert itself!
Serves: 8
1¼ cups water (plus 3 tablespoons more)
1½ cups superfine sugar
zest and juice of 2 lemons
1⅔ cups tonic water (not diet)
1 cup gin
1 ounce sheet gelatin (platinum grade) Available on Amazon. Worth it
2 containers of white currants or raspberries
1 teaspoon confectioners’ sugar (if using raspberries)
You will need a 5 cup jello mould, lightly greased with almond or vegetable oil.
Put the 1¼ cups water and the sugar into a wide, thick-bottomed saucepan and bring to the boil. Let boil for 5 minutes, take off the heat, add the lemon zest and leave to steep for 15 minutes. Strain into a measuring jug, then add the lemon juice, the tonic water and the gin; you should have reached the scant 5 cup mark; if not, add more tonic water, gin or lemon juice to taste.
Soak the sheet gelatin (platinum grade) in a dish of cold water for 5 minutes to soften. Meanwhile, warm 1 cup of the gin and tonic mixture in a saucepan until hot but not boiling. Take off the heat and let it cool a little, then squeeze out the sheet gelatin (platinum grade) and stir them into the warm gin and tonic mixture until dissolved. Then stir this into the remaining gin and tonic mixture in the measuring jug, making sure it is thoroughly dispersed.
Pour into the mould and, when cold, put in the fridge to set. This should take about 6 hours.
When you are ready to unmould, half-fill a sink with warm water and stand the jello mould in it for 30 seconds or so. Clamp a big flat plate over the jello and invert to unmould, shaking it as you do so.
If it doesn’t work, stand it in the warm water for another half-minute or so and try again. If you’ve used a dome mould, surround the jello with the white currants/raspberries or fill the hole with them if you’ve used a ring mould.
Raspberries are just as good, but dust these with confectioners’ sugar – it sounds poncey, but it makes the pale-jade glimmer of the jello and the otherwise-too-vibrant red of the fruit come together on the plate. The whitecurrants should be left to glimmer, opal-like, without interference.