Roast a quantity of rhubarb, washed and cut into chunks, put into a roasting dish and covered with foil. It takes about an hour to soften and I usually do this when cooking something else in the oven.
Do not add any water or sugar the the roasting process.

Allow to cool, blitz in a food processor or with a hand blender to a smooth liquid. You can freeze this for later or use straight away.

To make the drink – Put some ice in a jug, pour over a quantity of the rhubarb ‘smoothie’, add Prosecco, or another sparkling wine or use soda or tonic for a non alchoholic blend. The mixture will need some sweetness, the best sweetner to use is some ‘Ginger Rosemary’ syrup (see seperate recipe for syrups). Add this to taste, keep sampling to get it right!! You may also need to add a squeeze of Lemon or Lime Juice to bring out the flavours.

Enjoy!

You will need:
2 cups granulated Sugar
Handful Lemon verbena leaves (on stems is fine)

Dissolve sugar in the same quantity of water by volume until almost boiling, remove from heat.
Throw in the Lemon Verbena cuttings and allow to cool. I usually leave for an hour or so but you can leave overnight if you like a stronger syrup.
Bottle in steralised bottles. Best stored in the refrigerator and once opened used within 4-5 days.

Drizzle over ice cream, use in lemon drizzle cake, great in summer drinks.