Blueberry and banana ice cream.

The children love this recipe, as the ice cream is as purple as a bruise.

My very smart brother (they can fight over which one I'm talking about) always makes such a fuss when Orlando chooses blue ice cream on holiday.

Strangely, blue ice cream is one of the few dairy ice creams made without eggs, so with Orlando's food allergies, the "Azzuro" seemed the safest.

The ice creams are made with bananas, blueberry juice and a secret ingredient.

Here's our easy-peasy variation that has a similar colour but with a little less of the high blue sky. Serves four.

INGREDIENTS 400g blueberries 200g golden caster sugar 2 tbsp blueberry juice or cranberry juice or a liqueur of your choice 200g ripe banana 400g double cream METHOD 1 Heat the blueberries, sugar and juice or liqueur in a pan over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.

2 Reduce the heat and simmer until the blueberries are soft.

3 Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

4 When cool, strain through a sieve.

5 Put in a blender, add the banana and cream, and blend until smooth.

6 Transfer the mixture to an ice-cream maker. If you don't have one, put it in a plastic container and freeze it, stirring after about one hour to stop crystals of fat forming.

This quantity will take about two hours to freeze.

? Carina Contini is Owner of The Scottish Cafe & Restaurant - located at the gardens entrance of the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh.