Welcome to the River Cottage Spring recipe page. All recipes from the series are shown here, please scroll down, or for specific programme recipes click on the links below:
Programme One
Programme Two
Programme Three
Programme Four
PROGRAMME ONE
Tim’s Asparagus
Serves 4
Ingredients
300ml apple balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons caster sugar
24 spears of asparagus, woody ends trimmed
3 tablespoons extra virgin rapeseed oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
40g hard goat’s cheese
First, make the balsamic reduction. Put the vinegar in a small pan, stir in the sugar until dissolved, then boil until reduced by a third. You don’t want it to be too syrupy, just to hold its shape on the plate.
Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the asparagus spears for 2-3 minutes depending on their thickness – they should still have some bite to them. Drain and arrange half a dozen asparagus spears on each warmed plate. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
Drizzle over a little rapeseed oil and some of the balsamic reduction then use a vegetable peeler to shave some of the goat’s cheese over the top.
Hugh’s Asparagus
Serves 2
Ingredients
2 large eggs, at room temperature
A dozen slim stems of asparagus, any woody ends trimmed
A knob of unsalted butter
A few drops of cider vinegar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Bring a pan of water to the boil. Carefully lower in the eggs, then simmer them for exactly 4 minutes. Steam the asparagus over the top of the boiling eggs, or cook in a separate pan in boiling water for a couple of minutes. The asparagus should be tender but not soft and floppy.
Transfer the eggs to egg cups. Cut the top off each egg and take them to the table with the asparagus. Drop a nut of butter, a few drops of cider vinegar and some salt and pepper into the hot yolk (alternatively, just sprinkle some salt and pepper on the plate), stir with a bit of asparagus, dip and eat.
Liver with sage
Serves 4
Ingredients
About 500g fresh lamb’s liver
4 tablespoons plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6-8 sage leaves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons groundnut oil
TO SERVE:
Creamy mash (see recipe below)
Peel any membrane from the liver and trim out any tough ventricles. Using a sharp knife, finely slice the liver about 1cm thick, or even thinner if you prefer.
Mix the flour with the salt, pepper and sage. Dip the liver slices into the seasoned flour and shake off the excess.
Heat the oil in a large, heavy frying pan over a high heat and, when very hot, add the liver slices. Cook for a minute or two on each side, depending on the thickness and how you like your liver. Transfer to 4 warmed plates and serve with the creamy mash (recipe follows).
Creamy Mash
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1kg large, floury potatoes (such as King Edward or Désirée)
200ml whole milk
50g unsalted butter
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Peel the potatoes and halve them (quarter them if they’re very large). Put them into a saucepan with enough water to cover them by about 2cm. Bring to the boil and add a teaspoon of salt.
Reduce the heat and simmer until tender – test them with a knife after about 10 minutes. Drain the potatoes into a colander and let them sit for a couple of minutes, so that excess moisture evaporates.
Put the milk and butter into the still-warm pan until the butter melts and the milk warms up. Tip the potatoes back into the pan and mash until smooth, then season with salt and pepper.
This receipe has been taken from The River Cottage Meat Book
Hugh’s Mum’s shepherd’s pie
Serves 4–6
Ingredients
About 1kg leftover roast lamb, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, chopped
Any juices or gravy saved from the joint, and/or concentrated lamb stock made from the bone
1 small glass of red wine
1–2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1–2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Up to 1kg creamy mashed potato (see recipe) – be careful not to make it too runny, so reduce the milk to about 150ml
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan or wide saucepan big enough to accommodate all of the ingredients. Brown the meat in the pan, then remove onto a plate.
Sweat the onions in the same pan until just beginning to turn lightly golden. Return the meat to the pan, along with any gravy, juices or stock, the wine and a tablespoon each of ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, then season with salt and pepper. Simmer gently for a few minutes, adding a little water if the mixture looks dry. Taste for seasoning and add a little more ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, salt or pepper, as you see fit. Simmer gently for another 20–30 minutes, until the meat is tender and the flavours well blended. Do a final taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary. Again, add a little more water, or wine, to loosen the mixture if you think it needs it. I like it well lubricated but not soupy.
Put the meat in a pie dish or casserole dish and pile the mash on top, covering the meat completely. Use a fork to rough up the surface of the mash. Bake in a fairly hot oven (200°C/Gas Mark 6) for 30–40 minutes until the mash is nicely browned on top and the sauce is bubbling up around the edges. Serve at once, ideally with minted peas.
Devilled hearts
Serves 3-4
Ingredients
2 lamb’s hearts
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 stick of celery, roughly chopped
a bouquet garni of thyme, parsley stalks and a bay leaf tied together with string
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small glass of sherry
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon redcurrant jelly
A few good shakes of Worcestershire sauce
A good pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon English mustard
2 tablespoons double cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
TO SERVE:
Sourdough toast (if you'd like to make your own sourdough bread, you might be interested in our forthcoming handbook Bread. To pre-order your copy click here)
Halve the hearts and cut away all of the veins and arteries back to the muscle, but leave on the fat as this will help to moisten the meat as it cooks. Place the hearts in a saucepan with the onion, carrot, celery and bouquet garni and add enough water to cover. Simmer gently for an hour or until tender, then remove the hearts from the stock.
Cool the hearts a little, then trim away any remaining tubes or fat. Slice the hearts into generous, bite-sized pieces.
Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan, add the hearts and sizzle for just a minute to brown them, tossing them occasionally in the pan.
Pour in the sherry, let it bubble for a moment, and then add the cider vinegar. Add the redcurrant jelly and stir to dissolve. Then add the Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, mustard and plenty of black pepper. Season with a pinch of salt, take the edge off the fire with an enriching slug of double cream and bubble for another minute or two, shaking the pan occasionally, until the sauce is reduced and nicely glossy. Taste for piquancy, and add more cayenne and black pepper if you like.
Serve with thick, sourdough toast to mop up the sauce. Alternatively, to make a more substantial supper dish, serve with plain boiled rice and a crisp green salad.
If you have been tempted by the TV series to try your hand at butchery we offer various courses here at River Cottage HQ run by our meat guru, Ray Smith.
Spicy Asian noodle lung soup
Serves 3-4
Ingredients
The light from one fresh lamb pluck, about 150g
A good thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into 2mm slices
4 pieces fresh lemongrass cut into 2-3 cm lengths, (optional)
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla)
2-4 leaves fresh or dried kaffir lime leaves
2 tablespoons fresh coriander leaves, chopped (reserve the stalks)
1 small fresh chilli finely chopped
300ml water or chicken stock
2-3 tbsp lime or lemon juice
1 spring onion, thinly sliced
100g thin noodles
Detach the lungs from the pluck. Trim and cube the lung in to 2- 3 cm square pieces removing any sinew or ventricles as you go. Take 100g of the lung and rinse it well. Place in a saucepan covered with some stock vegetables (see method for Devilled hearts). Place a plate on top of the pan to weigh the lung down. Bring to the simmer and cook for about 1 – 1.5 hours, or until the lung is tender. Set aside to cool. Discard the cooking liquor.
Put the ginger, lemongrass, garlic, kaffir lime leaves, coriander stalks, chili and water or stock into a saucepan. Bring to the boil on medium heat for 5 - 8 minutes, then strain the liquid into a clean pan.
Cut the lung into 1cm square chunks, checking once again for sinew, then add it to the soup along with the noodles. Continue to cook on a medium heat, covered, for about 2-3 minutes.
Remove from the heat and add lime juice, coriander leaves and spring onion. Season, stir well and serve.
Anchovy, garlic and chilli dressing 
Ingredients
12 anchovy fillets, drained
75ml olive oil
75ml rapeseed oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled
leaves from a sprig of thyme
1/2 small red chilli, or a pinch of dried chilli flakes
dash of cider vinegar
a few twists of black pepper
Blend all the ingredients for the dressing in a liquidiser until completely smooth. Alternatively, if you are using fresh chilli, you can leave it out of the liquidiser and chop it very finely by hand, then stir it into the dressing. This gives it a little texture, and nice flecks of red.
This recipe has been adapted from The River Cottage Cookbook.
PROGRAMME TWO
The gardener’s revenge
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 Little gem lettuces, halved
5-6 radishes, halved
3 spring onions, sliced
30g unsalted butter
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
8-12 blanched shelled Burgundy snails
100 g cooked tender pigs cheek, shredded (optional)
juice of half a lemon
Warm the oil over a medium-high heat in a large frying pan. Add the lettuce, cut side down, along with the radishes and spring onions, and sauté until everything is just softened, about 3 minutes. Remove from the pan onto a warm plate and set aside.
Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Throw in the garlic and cook for a minute before adding the snails and the pig’s head and cook until warmed through, about 2 minutes.
Arrange the lettuce mixture on four warmed plates and top with the snails, pig’s head (if using), pour over the buttery, garlicky juices and squeeze on a little lemon and serve immediately.
Lettuce with breadcrumbs and anchovy dressing
Serves 4
Ingredients
A couple of handfuls of fresh breadcrumbs
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons rapeseed oil
4-5 anchovies
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
Juice of half a lemon
A few grinds of black pepper
1 clove of garlic, chopped
120-150ml vegetable oil
2-3 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 soft-leaved lettuce, washed, we used May Queen but any soft-leaved variety would be good
Warm the oil in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add the breadcrumbs, along with a little salt and pepper and fry until just golden. Pour onto a plate and set aside.
Next, make the dressing. Put the anchovies, egg yolk, vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice, black pepper and garlic into a food processor and blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly pour in the oil, until you have a smooth, mayonnaise-y consistency (you may not need all of the oil). Stir in the parsley.
Put 6-8 lettuce leaves on each plate along with little bowls of breadcrumbs and dressing. Encourage your guests to roll some of the breadcrumbs up in the lettuce leaves and then dip into the dressing.
Hugh’s barbecued lettuce
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 Little Gem lettuces, halved
12 spring onions, trimmed
5 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
60-80g Ticklemore cheese, or other hard goat’s cheese
Brush the cut side of the lettuces with a little olive oil and place on the hot barbecue. After a minute, place the spring onions, also brushed with olive oil, onto the barbecue with the lettuce. When both are pleasantly charred and slightly softened, divide them between four plates.
Drizzle over a little more olive oil, some salt and pepper and use a vegetable peeler to shave over the goat’s cheese. Serve immediately.
Roast honeyed rhubarb
Serves 4
Ingredients
500g rhubarb, trimmed, washed and cut into 5cm pieces
3 tablespoons runny honey
Preheat the oven to 120°C/ Gas 4.
Place the rhubarb in a roasting tin in one layer, drizzle with honey and roast for about 30 mins or until the rhubarb is tender but still holding its shape. Allow to cool before seriving with ice cream.
Ultimate creamed spinach
Serves 4
Ingredients
500g fresh spinach
1 onion, peeled and cut into thick slices
250ml whole milk
1-2 bay leaves
50g unsalted butter
25g plain flour
sea salt
A couple of twists of black pepper
A few gratings of nutmeg
Trim the spinach, stripping out the coarse central stalks and wash well. Cook the spinach, covered, in a large saucepan – you don’t need to add any water, as the droplets clinging to leaves from when you washed them will be enough. When the leaves are wilted and cooked through, refresh them briefly cold water then squeeze them with your hands to extract as much water as you can before roughly chopping.
Put the onion and bay leaves in a pan with the milk. Bring almost to boiling point, remove from the heat then leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Strain into a warmed jug, discarding the onion and bay leaves.
Melt the butter in the same pan (you don’t need to wash it) and stir in the flour to get a loose roux. Cook this gently for a couple of minutes, then add half the warm, seasoned milk and stir in. When the sauce is thick and smooth, stir in the rest of the milk. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for just a minute. Season well with salt, pepper and a few grinds of nutmeg.
Next stir in the chopped spinach. Heat through until thoroughly hot, but don’t let it bubble for more than a minute. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, and a touch more nutmeg if you like. Serve at once, ladled generously into large warmed bowls.
This recipe has been adapted from The River Cottage Year.
Ivan’s neck of lamb
Serves 5-6
Ingredients
4 tablespoons olive oil
1kg scrag end of neck of lamb, on the bone, or chops from the neck end, or a mixture of the two
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1 ½ lemons
7-8 sprigs of thyme
a wine glass of water or lamb stock
100g pearled barley
a couple of handfuls of baby spinach
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan or a deep-sided frying pan. Add the lamb and allow it to sizzle and spit for a few minutes, turning until it’s lightly browned all over. Season well with salt and pepper.
Add the lemon juice, thyme and water or stock to the pan, then turn down the heat, bringing the mixture to a gentle simmer. Leave to simmer, with the lid on, for 25 minutes or so then add the pearled barley. Stir, cover and cook for a further 40-50 minutes or so, until the meat is tender. Stir in the baby spinach in the last minute.
Serve with plenty of good white bread, and perhaps a simple tomato salad.
This recipe has been taken from The River Cottage Cookbook.
Spicy North African Lamb Burgers with Minty Yoghurt
Ingredients
1kg lamb, coarsely minced if possible
1tbsp coriander seeds
1tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp caraway
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black onion seeds
1 tsp cayenne
A large pinch of paprika
1tbsp ground nut oil
For the minty yogurt
200ml whole full fat or Greek yoghurt
A good pinch of sea salt
2 tbsp mint leaves, finely shredded
Flat breads or pitas to serve
In a small frying pan, dry roast the coriander, cumin and caraway for 30 seconds or so until they just release their fragrance. Pour into a pestle and mortar and pound to a fine powder.
Peel the garlic and mash to a paste with the salt.
Tip most of the spices into a bowl with the lamb (reserve a teaspoon to season the yoghurt), along with the onion seeds, garlic and salt, cayenne and paprika. Mix together with your hands until everything is thoroughly combined. Form the lamb into patties 1cm thick.
In a small bowl, stir together the yoghurt, salt, mint and the left over spices.
Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan over a medium-high heat and fry the patties for a minute or so each side – they’re very thin so won’t need much cooking.
Serve rolled in the flat breads or tucked into the pitas with a good dollop of the minty yoghurt.
Dandelion and Burdock
Ingredients
2 large Burdock roots
2 Dandelion roots
4.5 litres/1 gallon of water
500g/1lb caster sugar
2 tbs black treacle
Juice of 1 lemon
Yeast
Wipe the roots clean and cut off their leaves.; cut the roots into small pieces. Put the chopped roots into a pan with 2.2 litres/4 pints water and boil for 30 minutes.
Add the sugar, treacle and lemon juice to the rest of the water in a large pan and simmer. After 30 minutes, strain off the roots and leave the liquid to cool.
Meanwhile, mix the yeast with some warm water so it starts fermenting. When the root liquid is tepid, add the yeast. Leave it to ferment in the bucket for 3-4 days. Put into bottles and drink after a week.
The recipe has been taken from A Cook on the Wild Side.
PROGRAMME THREE
Radish and Goats Cheese Raita
Serves 4 - 8
Ingredients
200 g of fresh, firm radish, topped and washed
300ml of rich Natural organic yoghurt
100 g of fresh soft goats cheese
2 tsp of chopped fresh mint
Method
Slice the radish across its length in to 1- 2 mm rounds.
Place the yoghurt in a small bowl and using the back of a fork mash in the goat’s cheese. Gently fold in the radish and the mint.
Serve as an accompaniment to spicy foods or a s a dip for crudités.
Growing your own vegetables is very rewarding but if you are having trouble getting started, we have put together a River Cottage Garden hamper to help give you a few ideas. We have carefully selected some seeds for a herb garden and some easy to grow salad plants together with some very useful tools. If you think you need a little guidance why not try one of our gardening courses.
Potato Canapés
Ingredients
A few handfuls of freshly dug small new potatoes such as Milva or Belle de fontenay
1 large bunch or sorrel, washed and course stalks removed
100 g or so of butter
Salt and pepper
Method
Wash the potatoes under a cold running tap, freshly dug potatoes don’t need much scrubbing.
Place them in a pan of lightly salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 6 -8 mins or until just tender, drain.
Melt half the butter in another pan; roughly chop the sorrel and add it to the pan, it will wilt very quickly. Add the potatoes, toss and season to taste.
Serve as a canapé or with fish.
Broad Beans on Toast
Serves 2 for supper
Ingredients
About a 750g freshly picked smallish broad beans
100 – 150g of pancetta or bacon lardons
1 Small bunch of spring onions
2 Tbls of rape seed oil
Juice of ½ a lemon
Salt and pepper
Method
Pod the beans. Put large beans in one bowl and smaller beans in another, they cook at different times.
Bring a large pan of water to the boil.
Add the large beans cook for 1 minute, now add the small beans.
Cook for a further 30 seconds or until you see the skins of the larger beans just starting to split. This shouldn’t take much more than 2 minutes in total.
Drain the beans. Any thicker skinned beans can be discarded at this point by simply popping out the inner bean and just using that, although this shouldn’t be necessary with very fresh beans.
Heat a frying pan over a medium high heat. Add a small dash of oil followed by the bacon or pancetta. When it’s just starting to crisp add the spring onions, cook for a further minute. At this point add the beans to the pan. Toss the pan to combine.
Season with the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Spoon the beans along with any juice or oil over the toasted sourdough.
Drizzle with a little more rape seed oil to serve
Veg Patch Omelette
Serves 2
Ingredients
6 eggs
Knob of butter
Dash of oil
1 small bunch of baby onions
Handful of pea shoots
Handful of broad bean shoots
Method
Break 6 eggs into a bowl and add a pinch of salt and pepper and beat with a fork until the egg yolk and white are well mixed. Heat a knob of butter in a pan, with a dash of oil to stop it burning. Add some roughly chopped baby onions and sweat them in the pan. Add in the pea and broad bean shoots, cook for a few minutes until just wilted. Tip in the beaten eggs.
Serve with a salad of lettuce leaves and edible nasturtium flowers.
PROGRAMME FOUR
New Season Garlic Bhajis
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
90g chickpea (gram or besan) flour
2 tbsp plain flour
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
A good pinch of cayenne pepper
A good pinch of black onion (nigella or kalonji) seeds
3 tablespoons finely chopped coriander
4 bulbs of new-season wet garlic, sliced cross-ways as finely as possible
About 100-130ml beer or water
Groundnut oil for deep frying
Method
Sift the flours, ground coriander, salt and cayenne together into a bowl. Whisk in the black onion seeds, coriander and fresh garlic. Gradually pour in the beer or water until you have a smooth batter, stirring as you go. You may not need all of the liquid.
Pour the groundnut oil into a deep, heavy-bottomed saucepan to a depth of about 8-10cm and warm over a medium heat. You want the oil to be hot, but not too hot as you want the garlic and flour to cook through without the outside of the bhajis burning. Drop the batter into the oil in spoonfuls and cook until golden, about 4-5 minutes. Don’t overcrowd the pan; you may need to cook them in batches. Drain on kitchen paper briefly and then serve with radish leaves and radish raita (see below). For an extra garnish, shred some of the fresh garlic stems, fry them until crispy and scatter them over the top.
Chicken and New Season Garlic Soup
Serves 4
Ingredients
About 1 litre very good, home-made chicken stock
3 bulbs of new-season wet garlic
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 x 1cm slices of good, white bread
Method
Halve the garlic bulbs and simmer in the stock for 30 minutes until very soft. Whizz in a blender or puree with a stick blender until smooth then pass through a fine sieve. Return to the pan and warm through gently. Check seasoning and add a little sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper if you like.
Cut the bread into 1cm cubes and scatter some into the bottom of four warmed soup bowls. Ladle over the garlic soup and serve immediately.
Roast New Season Garlic
Ingredients
6 bulbs of new season garlic
3-4 tablespoons rape seed oil or olive oil
1 tsp fine sea salt
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Top and tail the garlic and put them on their bases in an oven proof dish. Drizzle with the oil, sprinkle with salt and roast until golden, about 45 minutes.
Barbecued Cuttlefish
Serves 4
Ingredients
About 700g cuttlefish, flesh and tentacles, cleaned
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp fine sea salt
A few grinds of black pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
Method
Cut the flesh of the cuttlefish into bite-sized pieces and score with a criss-cross pattern. Whisk together the garlic, salt, pepper and oil and add the cuttlefish to the bowl, tossing with your hands and making sure everything is very well coated.
Heat a barbecue (or a cast-iron griddle or heavy-based ridged pan) until very hot. Cook the cuttlefish for about a minute each side until just beginning to char – you need to cook it very quickly over a very high heat, or it will become tough. Serve immediately.
If you are interested in finding out more about Cuttlefish and other Cephalopods you might be interested in the River Cottage Fish Book. For the budding fisherman, why not try one of our Catch and Cook events or if you don't yet have your sea legs you could try the Fish Skills event where your feet remain on firm ground!
Grilled Mackerel
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
5-6 grinds of black pepper
4 fresh bay leaves, very finely shredded
4 tablespoon olive oil
4 mackerel, gutted
Method
Whisk together the garlic, salt, pepper, bay leaves and olive oil. Rub the marinade all over the mackerel and inside the cavity.
Make sure your barbecue is very hot. Put the fish on the grill and turn after five minutes, allowing the other side to cook for a few minutes longer until the fish is opaque all of the way through. Serve straight away.
Elderflower Champagne
Makes 24 bottles
Ingredients
About 24-30 elderflower heads, in full bloom
2kg sugar
4 litres hot water
Juice and zest of four lemons
1-2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
A pinch of dried yeast (you may not need this)
Method
Put the hot water and sugar into a large container (a spotlessly clean bucket is good) and stir until the sugar dissolves, then top up with cold water to 6 litres. Add the lemon juice and zest, the vinegar and the flower heads and stir gently. Cover with clean muslin and leave to ferment in a cool, airy place for a couple of days. Take a look at the brew at this point, and if it’s not becoming a little foamy and obviously beginning to ferment, add a pinch of yeast.
Leave the mixture to ferment, again covered with muslin, for a further four days. Strain the liquid through a sieve lined with muslin and decant into sterilised glass bottles. Seal and leave to ferment in the bottles for a further eight days before serving, chilled.
For other mouthwatering Elderflower recipes see our River Cottage Cookbook.
Gooseberry Granita
Serves 6
Ingredients
300g caster sugar
1kg gooseberries
4-5 sprigs of mint
Method
Tip the gooseberries into a saucepan with the sugar and mint and enough water just to cover. Simmer until the fruit is soft enough to crush against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon. Pass the gooseberry mixture through a fine sieve, taste and add more sugar if necessary – as it is going to be frozen, it’s better if it’s a little too sweet, as the freezing dulls the sweetness slightly.
Pour the mixture into a plastic container and cool. Cover the container and freeze until solid. Remove from the freezer, allow to soften a little and then scratch it up into ice crystals with a fork. Serve immediately.