This recipe is from Elizabeth David, who has been called "Britain's most inspirational cookery writer."  Though it will work well with uncooked strawberries, uncooked raspberries, or blackberries cooked like the gooseberries, David, in her delightful book, An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, says, "I give precedence to those dishes made from the gooseberry, because green gooseberry fool is--to me at any rate--the most delicious as well as the most characteristic of all these simple, almost childlike, English dishes." 

Ingredients:

2 and 1/4 quarts gooseberries (about 2 pounds)
1 cup superfine sugar
1-2 cups heavy cream whipped to soft peaks

Directions:

Wash the berries; there is no need to top and tail them.  Put them with the sugar in the top half of a double boiler and steam them for about 30 minutes until they are quite soft.  Strain off the surplus liquid (which would make the fool watery) and puree the berries in a food mill or processor.  When the puree is quite cold, add the cream.  Serve in a stemmed glass.  Serves 6-8.

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