Recipe time: Persian-style watermelon sherbet

I have no idea if they actually eat anything resembling this in Iran, or anywhere near it. It's just something that I came up with in an idle moment years and years ago. It's dead simple, looks beautiful, tastes amazing, what more can I say?



1. Get some fresh watermelon. About a quarter of a large one should be more than enough - that's how much juice there is in the bowl in the picture above.

2. Squeeze and strain out as much juice as you can. Make sure there's no seeds in it. Bung it in the freezer till it's frozen solid - there's no need to put it in an ice-cream maker or to stir it like you would with a granita, because you're going to shave it instead.

3. A few hours before serving, finely chop up some pistachios (peel them if you're really fancy by soaking them in just-boiled water and squeezing them out of their skins when they're cool enough to handle), some apricots, and (maybe at the last minute) some mint leaves. About a handful of each. Get a pomegranate and pop out all the seeds.

4. Make sure your watermelon juice has been in the coldest part of the freezer, and chill a separate bowl in the freezer well in advance.

5. Take it out and start grating it. This is the arduous part - I used to do it by ploughing into it with a fork, which is what I'd done in the photo, but you might be better off with one of those microplane graters. Even a cheese grater might do - the key thing is to make sure that your shavings come out cold and dry. Transfer them immediately to the chilled separate bowl - it will melt very quickly if you're not careful. If it's all getting a bit molten, put the whole shebang back in the freezer and let it refreeze before trying again.

6. You'll end up with an enormous pile of sweet, refreshing watermelon snow. Take your pistachios, apricots, mint and pomegranates and mix it all in, then add some chilled rosewater to taste. Serve it immediately - it will start melting within seconds.