Recipe: Gabrielle Hamilton's Figs and Raspberries with Steeped Lemon Cream

Yield: 6 orders

2 cups heavy cream
zest of 2 small lemons, without pith, taken in long spirals as possible
2 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
2 pints figs—fresh, perfect
1 pint raspberries, also fresh and perfect

Grind lemon peels with sugar in clean, pastry-only spice grinder until wet, oily sand consistency.

Put mixture in quart container and pour in heavy cream. Shake very well to dissolve sugar.

Steep 1 full day.

Shake well before using, at each use. Keep very cold.

To plate:

Cut ripe black figs open to reveal hopefully jammy, perfect, red interiors and arrange in shallow small bowl.

Stud ripe red raspberries in and around the figs, or in a mound in center.

Shake lemon-sweetened cream in quart container and pour through small passoir to strain out bits of zest, letting cream pool up in and around fruit without drowning it completely.

Make sure fruit is room temperature and cream is cold, please.