We have two very good elderberry trees growing by our house, and in the fruiting season, we harvest them, freezing them in 100g bags and using them up over the next few months. Mostly, we do things like stewed apple and elderberries with home made custard for desserts, but we've also developed this. The fruit and wine portion of the sauce has a wonderful fruity, sensuous flavour, and the tiny hint of chocolate, while not giving a massive chocolatey taste, ‘riches’ it up beautifully. It goes incredibly well with rich cheesy dishes. You can also do this without elderberries - we've done it with blackberries and jostaberries, very successfully, we've even done it with a dessert spoon of bottled blackcurrants and three teaspoons of juice from the jar, after the elderberries had run out, and it was lovely. Amchoor, by the way, is a regular in Indian cuisine (it is dried mango powder) and adds a citric tang to a dish. The last part of this recipe depends very much on your tastebuds, by the way! Only add the chocolate at the very last minute as it disappears when the sauce is reheated. Freezing, however, seems to ‘set’ the chocolate flavour, because it reheats from frozen very well

1 dsp spring onion, chopped finely

150g elderberries (or bottled blackcurrants, see above)

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

thumbnail sized bit of mace

1/2 tsp demerara sugar

1/2 tsp amchoor (optional)

Small sprig lemon thyme

1 dsp apple balsamic vinegar

150ml red wine

Soy sauce

1 heaped tsp cocoa powder, mixed with a little splash of water to make a smooth, thin paste

Knob of butter to fry

• Gently fry the spring onions, mace and cinnamon in butter till the onions are soft. Add the vinegar, and bubble for 20 seconds, then add the lemon thyme and elderberries and simmer till soft

• Add the sugar, amchoor and wine, and allow to bubble for a few minutes

• Sieve into a small saucepan

• Bring to a bubble, and add a tiny splash of soy. Have a taste of it, it should be rich and fruity, not too sweet, not too sour

• Turn the heat down as low as it will go, and add half a teaspoon of the chocolate paste. Stir it in well, then taste. If it’s got just a hint of a chocolatey taste, but the rest of the sauce’s flavour seems much richer than it did a moment ago, it’s ready to go. If not, add the other half a teaspoon of chocolate paste. Turn off the heat as soon as it’s ready and serve immediately