This postprandial cocktail will add a citrus flourish (and a potent kick) to your supper.
By the time you read this I will be sitting at a crisply laid table at the Seahorse restaurant in Dartmouth, knife and fork poised in my fists, ready for my favourite meal of the year.I have spent every summer in Devon since I was tiny: my grandmother lived there, my step-grandfather still does, and now I take my own children on an annual pilgrimage. I love the place - it's in my bones - but after two weeks of fishing for crabs on a rain-lashed pontoon, I sometimes feel the need for a little grown-up luxury.We (my wife and I, and the other baggy-eyed parents holidaying with us) first went to the Seahorse soon after it opened in 2008 - wandering in off the street, quite unprepared for what was to come.The owner, Mitch Tonks (who has since become a friend), carpet-bombed our table with wave upon wave of perfectly cooked seafood: garlicky, breadcrumbed scallops in their shells; a salty black cuttlefish risotto with piquant aioli; fritto misto with bright green, basil-infused salt.
Each course was better than the last. We groaned with pleasure and begged for mercy. By the end, it seemed we would have to call for roadside assistance to lever us out of our chairs. And then Mitch produced his equivalent of the wafer-thin mint: a round of sgroppinos.A Venetian classic, the sgroppino is made by whisking lemon sorbet, prosecco and vodka together. It takes its name from the Venetian verb
sgropàre, which means to loosen, and it is a perfect little thing, frothy and light and sweet. Mitch adds black sambuca for extra deadliness, leaving a smudge in the snowy froth.But is it a pudding or a cocktail? Mitch suggested that we should have another one to inform the decision. Once you have tried one, you may find it hard not to follow the same advice.Make sure you serve it quickly, as it will separate if left standing.
Make your own sgroppino
Makes 4
4 scoops of good quality lemon sorbet 25ml vodka 40ml prosecco4 tsp sambuca1 Whizz together the sorbet with the vodka in a liquidiser or blender.
2 Slowly add the prosecco until it reaches a smooth, pouring consistency.
3 Divide between four small glasses and pour a little sambuca into the centre of each glass before serving.
Recipe by enry Dimbleby and Jane Baxter. Henry Dimbleby is co-founder of the natural fast-food restaurant chain
Leon (
@henry_leon)
Sorbet softie: make your own sgroppino. Photograph: Tricia De Courcy Ling for the Guardian