Cool, green and zingy… This fantastically easy lime jelly stole the show when I made it for a special dinner a little while ago.

The sparkling white foamy head is created by whisking egg whites into the jelly mixture until it begins to set. You can hear it fizz as you sink your spoon in and down… down to the pale green jelly below. The flavour is so clean, vibrant and well… limey, that it wakes up mind and body after a rich meal.

This recipe is so easy to play with. Adding a generous handful of chopped mint in stage one and replacing some of the water with white rum will give you mojito jellies–I’d be tempted to serve this rather more potent jelly in shot glasses with tiny spoons as a pre-dessert or even a palate cleanser… You can keep whisking the mixture long past the just-setting stage until it is a complete mass of bubbles for a mousse-like jelly. Of course, you can cheerfully convert it back to lemons (3 lemons needed) or use any citrus fruit you fancy.

This would be wonderful with some coconut tuiles or some sliced mango, but frankly, it was awesome with the little Scottish raspberries that I had in the fridge.

Lime jelly

Source: adapted from a Gordon Ramsay recipe published in The Times
Serves 4, generously

250ml water
15g gelatine powder
100g caster sugar
zest and juice of 6 limes
3 large egg whites

1 Place the water and the gelatine in a small saucepan and leave to soak for five minutes. Add the sugar, lemon zest and juice. Place the pan over a low heat and allow the gelatine and sugar to dissolve, but do not allow the mixture to boil.
2 Remove from the heat and strain into a large mixing bowl, then leave until cold.
3 Add the egg whites and with an electric mixer whisk the jelly until it is very foamy and beginning to set. This will take at least 10 minutes but you can speed things up by placing the bowl over a second bowl of ice.
4 Pour into individual glass dishes and chill for 3-4 hours before serving.