CHRISTMAS IN A GLASS

This is just what it says: the smell of the gingerbread syrup as the prosecco’s fizz spritzes it through the air is almost parodically festive. I use the French syrup (Monin’s Pain d’epices) that bartenders have decorating their shelves and I get it online (£7.74, thedrinkshop.com, a useful source of drinks and syrups), but now there’s a coffee shop at pretty well every corner, it’s easy to buy the gingerbread syrup they use at this time of year to douse their lattes.

Pour the prosecco into wine glasses.

Top with the scented syrup. One 75cl bottle of prosecco should yield five glasses.

★ ★

I can’t quite believe how simple yet luscious these are. I prefer to get my scallops from the fishmonger for this, which is just as well as I don’t think I could ever get a supermarket to supply me with shells. You don’t need to take the corals off, but I like to turn this into two meals, and fry up the corals the next day with some butter and garlic oil, and eat them squished on to chunky bread or toast, spritzed with lemon juice and carpeted with parsley.