Lemon parfait with citrus compote

1. Whip the cream until it forms medium peaks. Refrigerate until needed.
2. Bring a saucepan with a bit of water to the boil over low heat.
3. Combine the sugar, egg yolks, lemon zest, juice and salt in the metal bowl of an electric mixer, and first whisk by hand to combine.
4. Put the bowl on top of the saucepan of hot water and keep the heat on low. Keep whisking the mixture by hand until the sugar has dissolved and it turns light and fluffy (about 4–5 minutes).
5. Remove from the heat and continue whisking with the electric mixer until the mixture is cold, thick and doubled in volume.
6. Add the chilled whipped cream in four stages, a quarter at a time, folding it in gently after each addition.
7. Pour it into eight individual silicone molds or ramekins, or one large mold (a bread-loaf mold lined with plastic wrap works well).
8. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the freezer for 4–5 hours.
9. Hold a clementine in your hand over a saucepan to catch the juices. Carefully cut each fleshy segment away by sliding a small, sharp paring knife along both sides of the white membrane. Place the segments into a bowl. Repeat with the other three fruits.
10. Squeeze out any remaining juice from the leftover membranes (once all the flesh has been cut away) into the saucepan.
11. Add the sugar to the juice and heat just to dissolve the sugar.
12. Remove from the heat and stir in the honey and clementine segments.
13. Remove the parfait from the freezer and serve the individual molds or ramekins as is, or unmold the single large parfait onto a serving plate and slice to serve.
14. Spoon the freshly made compote on top.

The sweet parfait filling can be frozen overnight or even a few days in advance. If serving it in glasses (which makes a really beautiful dessert), you’ll have to make the compote to layer with the parfait filling before popping the glasses into the freezer.

Naartjies or oranges can be substituted for the clementines, or berries can be used instead of citrus fruit. Instead of compote, you can make a fruit salad, cutting the fruit into very small pieces to serve. Scooping the pulp from fresh granadilla also makes a beautiful garnish.