Rose and spice-infused berries with citrus-honey yoghurt

Light desserts or pre-desserts are coming into fashion.

The marinated berries and the creamy yoghurt highlight this dish. Together with the spiced sugar syrup, that magic is beautiful. I like to serve this dish as a pre-dessert as a prelude to the main heavier dessert. It serves to transition your palate from savoury to a sweet course. You can use your choice of berries; a mix is terrific, and the mint is essential for the herby freshness,

Sabrina Ghayour is a chef, TV celebrity and cookbook author. She has published several cookbooks, and I have most of them, with absolutely amazing recipes. I have just got this book and started cooking through the recipes. They are amazing, and most of the recipes are super simple, like this salad. You will see more recipes from this book and this fantastic chef.

For more wonderful recipes from this cookbook, click here.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground green cardamom

A pinch of nutmeg

2 tablespoons dried, edible rose petals

2-3 tablespoons rose water

1\3/4 cup yoghurt, Greek preferred

Zest of 1/2 orange

Zest of 1/2 lime

3 tablespoons honey

24 oz. Berries, a mix of hulled strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries or other

Mint, to garnish

To make the syrup, add the sugar, water, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and rose petals to a small pot and boil. Simmer gently for 20 minutes until the syrup thickens. Strain through a fine mesh sieve and cool the syrup completely. Add the rose water and mix in well.

Mix the yoghurt with the zests and honey and set aside.

Add half the syrup to the berries and allow to macerate for 1 hour at the minimum.

To serve, layer the yoghurt onto a flat platter. Add the berries on top and drizzle the rest of the syrup. Garnish with mint and serve.