Fruit Fool
Too easy to make and it looks sooo good. Got a dinner party coming up? Serve this, everyone will love you and even if you messed up the starter and main, this will be your reprieve. Along with the funky presentation the rich, smooth creaminess of the chantilly cream, balanced against the fruity flavours of the coulis and the tartness of the yoghurt works like a dream

Use whatever soft fruits are in season

Serves 4

Ingredients
450g / 1lb mixed soft fruits (strawberries, raspberries, plums, cranberries etc)
4 Tblsp caster sugar
1/4 Tsp vanilla essence
1/3 cup cranberry (or orange) juice
1 Tblsp lemon juice
425ml/ .75 pint double cream
425ml/ .75 pint yoghurt
Mint tips to garnish

Mise-en-Place:
Wash the fruit and if you've purchased large fruits, ie strawberries/ plums cut into segments

Method:
Reserve half the fruit for garnish, the other half put in a saucepan with 1 tablespoon of the sugar, half the vanilla, the lemon juice and all the cranberry juice
Simmer over a medium heat for 10-15 minutes until soft and the juice has reduced
(This stewed, sweet fruit is known as a 'coulis')
Allow the coulis to cool
Whip the cream to 'firm peaks'. Sweeten with the remaining sugar and vanilla
To serve arrange in layers in a suitable glass

Adjust:
The Coulis:
Too bitter: Add more sugar
Too sweet: Add more cranberry juice
Too thick: Add more juice
Too thin: Reduce the liquid content through reduction by increasing the heat

The whipped cream:
Too soft/ won't hold a peak: Continue beating
Too tart/ sour: Add more sugar and vanilla
Over whipped: Unfixable! Sorry dude, run out and buy some more cream!

Presentation:
Arrange contrasting layers of coulis/ uncooked fruit/ cream/ yoghurt in a glass
If you wish to take this dish a step further you can garnish the plate with coulis and some of the reserved, uncooked fruit.
Sweep a circular shape around the plate, add small bursts of uncooked fruit, place the glass in the middle

Chef Insight: Chantilly cream is a whipped cream that has been flavoured with vanilla and sweetened with sugar. The term chantilly comes from the Chateau of Chantilly, a historical culinary landmark that produced famous foods during the 17th Century.
(Although the cream was named after the location, it is only an honorific title as the actual chantilly cream wasn't made until the late 1800's/ early 1900's)

Science behind the dish: How cream is whisked into a stable foam
Whipped cream is a (semi) stable foam of liquid and air. As the cream is whisked air particles become trapped in the liquid, these air bubbles are stabilised by fat globules which form walls around the air bubble.
Over beating results in the fat globules breaking apart from the air bubbles and moulding together to form larger clusters of fat. As this happens the foam loses stability and breaks apart into separate layers of fat and liquid