Does it get better than this? Berry soup and ice cream

A week ago, Guy and I prepared a dinner we had donated to a fundraiser for his chorus. If I may digress from the recipe for a minute, I want to talk about how easy it is to make friends if, as my idol Anna Madrigal advises "you don't need to keep up. You need to keep open."

The winner of the dinner was my new friend Jeff. I did not know who he was. No idea whatsoever. But when the organizers gave me his name, I thought it would be a good idea just to introduce myself, and get the ball rolling. For those of you who are afraid to do that kind of thing, understand that Jeff has become one of my best friends. It doesn't take much effort if you're open. Anyway, we chatted for a bit, found out we had a few things in common, and a friendship developed. At first, it was solely by email, and it was probably a month before we met, face to face. If anyone kept a book of those emails, and the ones that followed, they would see how a friendship develops, how it warms, how it gets better.

Well, there were a few glitches on the way to the dinner, and it finally happened. By that time, Jeff was more than a winner of the dinner, and I wanted something special. He's also more than a bit of a foodie, and did what I wish more people would do: we discussed the menu. We discussed it a lot. And then he gave me carte blanche with dessert.

Oh boy. Now, when someone has a role in planning the rest of the meal, giving a cook free rein with the dessert is an honor, and also a challenge. I knew that this dessert had to be special. And it's summer. Or the end of summer anyway. Soon, many of the things that we associate with summer won't be around anymore. One of those things is fresh berries. So my thoughts turned to berries right away. And something different, and good.

A week or so before, my friend Raffaele, the chef at Bellae Vitae restaurant, had served me a dessert of fruit soup, with blueberries and strawberries, with a shot of balsamic vinegar, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Being the competitive type, I needed to do this a bit better.

Sorry, Raffaele, I think I did. Since I was not hemmed in by the constraints of a restaurant budget, I used blueberries and strawberries, but also wild blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. And my ice cream was home made lemon verbena.

I think people liked it. I won't present lemon verbena ice cream here, but I will describe the "soup." It's very easy to make, and damn good. Put any ice cream you like in it, or just some whipped cream, or creme fraiche, or any dairy product.

Blueberries and strawberries are the sturdiest of the berries, and can handle cooking. So start with these. Add a pint of cultivated blueberries to a non reactive pot, together with about a third of a cup of sugar, and a tablespoon of water. Cover it, and cook it over low heat for about five minutes. The berries will begin to pop and give up their liquid. When that happens, add an equal amount of strawberries, hulled and halved, and cook them for another five minutes.

Get that pot off of the heat, and then, just before you're ready to serve, add liberal amounts of all or any of black, rasp, and wild blueberries. Stir it gently, and taste. You may need more sugar, depending on how sweet your fruit is. If it's too sweet, squirt in some lemon juice. Just a teaspoon or so. Finally, if you are lucky enough to have some fresh lemon verbena, tear up a few leaves and add that. It will give a surprising "lift" to the soup.

Serve this at room temperature, or just slightly warm. It's nice if the dairy can melt into it a little.

And that's Jeff's dessert. Something special and direct, for someone special, and direct.

More in the future, Jeff. I promise.