Passito fruit jelly...

Jewel-like and mesmerising, this is a dish of berries suspended in a clear jelly of dessert wine (and nothing else) - the berries can be anything you like, as long as they won't leech juice into the jelly, so: raspberries, strawberries, wild strawberries, blueberries, blackberries...
For the jelly, I use passito, which is the local dessert wine in this part of the world. Sauternes would probably be the wine of choice in France; use whatever you have of reasonable quality and that won't break the bank.

For four individual servings.

Ingredients: 1 litre dessert wine; 8g powdered gelatine; 150g raspberries (or your berry of choice).

Method:

1. Spray or wipe the inside of four ramekins with a flavourless oil.Place them inside the freezer for at least twenty minutes, so that they are already very cold before you begin to fill them.

2. Put the wine into the top part of a double boiler, over medium heat, and sprinkle the gelatine over the surface of the wine. Stir gently with a whisk, to speed the gelatine melting. After five minutes or so, the gelatine should have completely dissolved. Pour it into a jug and place in the fridge for half an hour, to cool completely.

3. Into the base of the chilled ramekins, spoon a thin layer of cooled wine-gelatine mixture - just enough so that the fruit, when you add it, will not touch the bottom of the ramekin. Place back in the fridge, until the first layer of jelly has set. 

4. On the set jelly arrange in a layer in each ramekin a quarter of the berries. Spoon more jelly mixture over the berries, to cover, and return to the fridge. Once set, repeat with the remaining berries and jelly. Leave in the fridge to set for around four to six hours.

5.To un-mould the jelly, sit each ramekin for a few seconds in small bowl of very hot water, while you run the tip of a sharp knife around the top of the jelly itself, and then upturn the ramekin onto a plate.

I serve these with some chilled creme anglaise (here, flavoured with a mixture of vanilla and orange flower water) and some extra berries for garnish.