Karen Martini's roasted rhubarb and strawberries with rose geranium and prosecco

This makes a delicious dessert with some Italian meringue, or a scoop of gelato or frozen yoghurt. Add a good sprinkling of smashed freeze-dried strawberries to make the plate look really smart. You could also serve it with chilled vanilla custard, honey and shards of crisp, layered filo. It's also great with chocolate cake, and served with some thick plain yoghurt makes for a decadent breakfast treat.

Tips

1. You can order rose geranium from a good grocer, or just go to a nursery. It's a great plant to have on hand to infuse custard, ice-cream or jelly, just make sure it hasn't been sprayed with anything nasty.

2. Look for fine, firm-stalked and brightly coloured rhubarb.

3. I like to leave the rhubarb unpeeled, as it imparts deep, beautiful colour, and, if you're using new season rhubarb, it won't be stringy.

1 bunch rhubarb with fine finger-width stalks, washed, trimmed and cut into 12cm lengths

400g strawberries, hulled

400g castor sugar

½ lemon, zest peeled

200ml prosecco (or other sparkling or white wine)

4 sprigs rose geranium

1. Preheat the oven to 220C fan-forced or 240C conventional.

2. Add the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and lemon zest to a roasting dish and toss through. Set aside for one hour.

3. Pour the prosecco into the dish, add the rose geranium sprigs, and roast for 20 minutes, or until the liquid is bubbling around the edges. Remove from the oven and gently shake the dish. Set aside on the bench for five minutes before serving.

Makes About 800g

Drink Brachetto d'Acqui, a light, softly sparkling, strawberry scented wine from the Piedmont region of Italy