Summer fruits with crushed brandy snaps

Serves 4 Late summer dishes up an abundance of fruit and berries at their finest. The beauty of this desert is that you can use whatever fruit and berries you like. The hot syrup just cooks the rhubarb so that it still has bite, and the cool liquid coats the berries in deliciousness. The longer the fruit sits in the liquid the more juicy the fruit, and stronger the flavour and colour of the liquor. We like to pour in loads of liquid to the bowls so that fruit is surrounded by a moat of red.

Ingredients

• 1 cup caster sugar
• 500ml water
• 3 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 vanilla pod, halved
• 3 nectarines, peeled, stone removed and chopped into pieces
• 4 stalks rhubarb cut into 2cm pieces
• 8 cherries, halved and stones removed
• 1 punnet of strawberries, green tops removed and strawberries cut in half
• Handful of blueberries
• 1 generous slice of watermelon
• Store bought brandy snaps

Method

1. In a medium pan, place sugar, water, star anise, cinnamon and vanilla and bring to a boil, stir until sugar has dissolved. Turn off heat.
2. Add stone fruit and rhubarb and leave in cooling liquor.
3. When the syrup and stone fruit mixture is cold add the berries and watermelon.
4. Cool in the fridge. At this stage it can be refrigerated overnight to intensify the flavours.
5. Divide fruit in between individual deep bowls and pour over some of the liquor.
6. Just before serving crush the brandy snaps into small pieces and sprinkle on top.
7. Serve with ice cream or sorbet.

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