Toasted Almond and Honey Granita

1. Firstly heat your oven to 180C and toast your almonds until a golden brown. Keep a close eye on them and turn frequently to ensure they toast evenly and that they don’t burn.

2. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Using a food processor blend to a fine crumb. Add a good tablespoon of the sugar and then add water slowly to make a paste. Keep adding water until you have a runny almond cream.

3. Dissolve the honey and remaining sugar in the rest of the water and then add to the almond mixture and combine well. Pour the whole mixture into a shallow dish and then freeze. Every so often run a fork or spoon through the mixture so that you get ice flakes.

4. To serve scoop the granita out of the dish and spoon into bowls or glasses as shown. Top with small scoops or quenelles of ice-cream dusted with cocoa powder for extra richness. Top with the flaked toasted almonds.

5. We mastered the art of making ice-cream quenelles in pretty short order – using opposing spoons. Take a scoop of ice-cream in one spoon then press the other spoon against the scoop. Scoop the ice-cream out of the spoon into the other and repeat a few more times until you have a lovely oval shape. If it all goes wrong – eat it. And just use a conventional ball of ice-cream.

This is delicious winter or summer.