Cooked cream with roasted rhubarb

Serves 8

(LISA BARBER)

I had this absolutely beautiful dessert for the first time only a week or so ago. It was made by Jeremy Lee, the chef at London's Blueprint Café, who is one of my favourite cooks. It is as delicate as you can imagine.

Jeremy quickly brushed over the technique and, like all professional cooks, gave no quantities or cooking times, just a sketchy outline. This is what I came up with. I added the biscuits myself.

600ml/1 pint double cream
5oz/150g caster sugar
The juice of half a lemon

For the rhubarb

2 sticks of rhubarb
21/2oz/65g caster sugar
The juice of one orange

Place the cream and sugar in a pan over a medium heat. Stir once or twice to dissolve the sugar, then allow to scald. Reduce the heat and cook for three minutes.

Remove from the heat and squeeze over the lemon juice. Stir well and finely strain into a serving dish. Allow to cool to room temperature then place in the fridge to chill.

Heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas6. Wash and pat dry the rhubarb and slice into two-inch pieces. Place in a bowl, scatter over the sugar, toss well and squeeze over the orange juice. Lay in a roasting tin and place on the middle shelf of the oven for 15 minutes or until the rhubarb is soft but retains its shape. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before chilling in the fridge.