Rose wine jelly with watermelon & basil salad

Dried gelatine revolutionised jelly making when it became available in the 19th century. While extravagant jellies had been commonplace in wealthy households for centuries, they were time-consuming and costly to make. Beef and pig bones needed to be boiled down, while sugar was prohibitively expensive.

Pre-packaged flavoured jellies took off in the 1950s, as refrigeration appeared in most households. In later decades though, jelly was relegated to food for children or invalids. However, it has recently been making a fashionable comeback in restaurants.

I used a Victorian copper mould (kindly lent to me by baking guru Alexa Johnston) for this jelly, but any four-cup capacity mould could be used. If you don’t want an alcoholic jelly, simply boil all the wine for a few minutes to evaporate the alcohol before reducing the heat and adding the sugar. If you are not planning on unmoulding your jelly, you’ll only need to use five gelatine leaves.

750ml rosé wine (I used Cuisine’s top 2011 rosé, Lil Rippa)
150g caster sugar
8 leaves gelatine
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Put half the wine in a saucepan with the sugar. Gently heat (don’t boil) until the sugar dissolves.

Place the gelatine in a bowl of cold water for at least 5 minutes to soften. Squeeze out the excess water then add to the warmed wine and sugar, stirring to dissolve. Add the remaining wine and lemon juice and stir to combine then strain the mixture through a fine sieve and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Pour the mixture into a 4-cup capacity jelly mould (or use individual glasses) then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set (a whole jelly, will take 4-5 hours).

If you want to turn the jelly out, dip the mould in a basin of warm water – depending on the thickness of your mould you’ll need to do this for anywhere between 2 and 30 seconds. If unmoulding on to a plate, wet the plate first to help centre the jelly.

Melon salad
1⁄4 cup caster sugar
1⁄4 cup water
1⁄4 cup purple or green basil leaves, plus extra to garnish
juice of 1 lime
1⁄4 watermelon
1⁄2 rockmelon
1⁄2 honeydew melon

Heat the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the basil and simmer for a further minute then remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Stir in the lime juice then strain through a fine sieve. Reserve.

Either use a melon baller to create balls of melon, or peel the melons then cut into cubes. Place in a bowl and add 2 tablespoons of the basil syrup (depending on the ripeness of the fruit you may need a little more of the syrup – taste then add more if required).

Just before serving, toss the extra basil leaves through the salad then serve with the jelly.

Wine A light, refreshing and sweetish sparkling wine, such as moscato.