Toasted brioche, baked gooseberries

My local delicatessen often has wedges of peel-studded panettone cut into thick slices on the counter. Sweet, vanilla-scented breads I buy to eat with coffee, mid-morning, or to toast and spread with mascarpone to eat as I work. All summer I have been using panettone, lightly toasted, to soak up the syrup from baked apricots or cherries. This week it is the turn of brioche, toasted in a similar manner, but piled with gooseberries that I had baked with a little mild honey and mint leaves.

Serves 2
gooseberries 250g
honey 2 heaped tbsp
mint leaves 6
brioche or panettone 125g

Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6.

Top and tail the gooseberries, then put them in a shallow baking dish. Spoon in the honey, crush and scatter over the mint leaves and add 3 tablespoons of water. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, maybe less if your gooseberries are ripe, till the honey has melted and the berries are starting to burst.

Slice the brioche or panettone thickly, then toast lightly on both sides. Spoon the hot, soft gooseberries and their juice over the toasted bread, removing the mint leaves as you go.