My dad has been giving me punnet after punnet of strawberries from his allotment style garden and as there seems to be no end to them. So it is time to deal with the back log and get creative. I also have a lovely basil plant he grew for me which smells divine, so decided to marry the two.

I do admit I am very lucky. Dad takes pity on me and my little yard with a few pathetic herbs, tomatoes and some fruit bushes which have not produced fruit AGAIN this year (damn you green fly and caterpillars, DAMN you). But, admittedly, as hard as I try with my fruit growing, it is a lot easier to be given the produce at the end isn't it? Cheers old chap :)

The weather seems to be treating us right at the moment so a nice refreshing sorbet with all the flavours of the summer seems just the ticket. (Cue thunderstorms, hail, Arctic winds and the shortest summer on record.)

Ingredients
500g strawberries hulled
250g caster sugar
250ml water
2 tsp lemon juice
1 egg white
12 fresh basil leaves, very finely chopped

Put the caster sugar and water into a saucepan and heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Allow it to cool completely.

Blend the strawberries and then sieve to remove any pips and bits. Add the sugar syrup, lemon juice and very finely chopped basil to the strawberry puree.



Pour the mixture into a plastic box and freeze until it has almost set - about 2-3 hours. Then remove from the freezer, tip into a food processor along with an egg white and whizz until creamy. The egg white just changes the texture completely, and you will find you have a lot more of the mixture after adding it. Pop back into the freezer until fully set.

* Note the crystallized texture in the photo. I was rubbish and forgot I'd taken it out of the freezer to serve and it turned to slush, thereby requiring a refreeze to serve. The taste was fine but I'd obviously compromised the texture. Fool.