BERGAMOT SORBET

Bergamots - pale fleshed, pale skinned (though some are green) and petite like a blood orange - have the most extraordinary flavour. Their juice is full of perfume and fresh, fresh citrus, and smells like a cup of the best Earl Grey tea imaginable.

Halved bergamots

Eating this sorbet was a perfect antidote to a cripplingly heavy lunch (mini pizzette with smoked provola, then sausages in red wine with parmesan polenta and pink radicchio, and more cheese after that); just tangy enough that you can get a full dose of bergamot, but not so much that your eyes start to water.

Bergamo sorbet

350g caster sugar

4 unwaxed bergamots, zested and juiced

1. Gently heat the sugar with 600ml water in a pan until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3 minutes then remove from the heat and stir in the bergamot zest. Allow to infuse and cool completely.
2. Stir in the juice and strain into the bowl of an ice cream machine and churn the machine until almost frozen then transfer to the freezer to set. Alternatively pour the cooled syrup into a large, shallow, freezeproof tub and freeze. Fluff up the sorbet with a fork every hour, then after 4 hours, leave to freeze. Keep it covered in the freezer for up to 3 months. 

Next time I might drizzle it in dark honey to serve, or infuse the syrup with pieces of ginger.

James Ramsden: "spectac"

[Must admit, bergamots aren't the easiest things to get you paws on but you can buy them here at Natoora. Now is when their at their best.]

CAVOLO NERO & HAZELNUT PESTO

Cavolo nero and hazelnut pesto

200g cavolo nero, trimmed of thick stems, washed and chopped

3 tbsp toasted hazelnuts

3 anchovies in oil

1 fat garlic clove

good handful of watercress leaves

juice and zest of 1/2 lemon

25g parmesan, grated

100ml olive oil

salt and pepper

Whiz all but the olive oil in a food processor then, still whizzing, gradually pour in the olive oil until you have a thick pesto. Season generously.

Stir through pasta, scoop up with crisps, dollop onto soup.