Here are the top 10 recipes to make the most of your strawberries this summer.
1. Strawberry and Champagne sorbet
Ingredients (serves 6): ½ cup sugar, ½ cup water, 10oz strawberries, 2tbsp lemon juice, 1½ cups Champagne
Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and cook over a medium heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Remove syrup from heat and cool. Place strawberries in a blender and mix until smooth. Pour strawberries through a sieve into an 8in sq pan, pressing against the sides of sieve to squeeze out the juice. Stir lemon juice, syrup and Champagne into strawberry puree. Cover and freeze for about four hours. Remove, put mixture back in blender and mix until smooth. Return to pan and freeze until firm. To stir, spoon into glasses. You can add more fresh strawberries or mint to decorate.
2. Eton mess
Ingredients: 6oz golden caster sugar, 3 large egg whites, 1lb strawberries, 1tbsp unrefined icing sugar, 1 pint double cream
Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the caster sugar gradually and continue to whisk until thoroughly mixed. Place rounded spoonfuls of the mixture on a lined baking tray and bake for an hour at 275°F. Leave the meringues to dry out overnight. Chop half the strawberries and put them in a blender with the icing sugar. Blend until smooth and sieve to remove the seeds. Chop the rest of the strawberries and whip up the double cream. Break up the meringues into about one-inch pieces, put them in a mixing bowl, add the strawberries and fold the cream in around them. Gently fold in all but 2tbsp of the puree to give a marbled effect. Place the mixture in a serving dish and spoon the rest of the puree over the top. Serve immediately.
3. Hot and sour strawberries with vanilla cream
Ingredients (serves 4): 12 strawberries, 4tbsp olive oil, 4tbsp caster sugar, 4tbsp red wine vinegar, 4tbsp red wine, 2 vanilla pods, 10fl oz double cream
Remove the seeds from the vanilla pods and put aside. Heat the olive oil, caster sugar, vinegar, red wine and vanilla pods in a frying pan. Add the strawberries and head gently until glazed. Spoon the strawberries around the edge of a serving plate and pour the juices over them. For the cream, lightly whisk the double cream and vanilla seeds together. Spoon the cream into the centre of the plate to serve.
4. Strawberry cheesecake
Ingredients: 250g digestive biscuits, 100g melted butter, 1 vanilla pod, 600g soft cheese, 125g icing sugar, 284ml pot double cream, 400g strawberries (sliced)
Butter and line a 23cm loose-bottomed tin with baking parchment. Put the biscuits in a plastic food bag and crush them to crumbs using a rolling pin. Put the crumbs in a bowl and pour over the melted butter. Mix thoroughly. Put the mixture in the tin and press firmly down into the base. Chill in the fridge for an hour to set. Remove the seeds from the vanilla pod. Place the soft cheese, 100g of the icing sugar and vanilla seeds in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the cream and continue beating. Spoon the mixture onto the biscuit base, working from the edges inwards and avoiding air bubbles. Leave in the fridge overnight to set. Bring the cheesecake to room temperature half an hour before serving. Remove the cake from the tin and put on a serving plate. Puree the strawberries in a blender with 25g of the icing sugar and 1tsp water, then sieve. Pile the remaining strawberries on the cake and pour the puree over top.
5. Strawberry and cinnamon torte
Ingredients: 175g ground almonds, 175g butter, 175g golden caster sugar, 175g self-raising flour, 1tsp ground cinnamon, 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk, 450g strawberries (sliced), icing sugar for dusting, whipped double cream to serve
Mix almonds, butter, sugar, flour, cinnamon, egg and egg yolk in a blender until evenly combined. Spread half the mixture over the base of a tin. Lay the strawberries on top. Add the remaining mixture on top. Bake for one hour at 180°C (check after 40 minutes – if it’s getting too brown, cover loosely with foil). Cool in the tin, then remove and place on a plate. Sprinkle with icing sugar. Add dollops of cream to serve.
6. Strawberry and passion fruit meringue roulade
Ingredients: 4 egg whites, 200g golden caster sugar, 200g lemon curd, 3 passion fruit (strain the seeds), 150ml double cream, 10 strawberries (chopped), icing sugar to dust
Line a Swiss roll tin (about 23cm x 30cm) with baking paper. Whisk the egg whites until stiff. Slowly add the sugar, still whisking, until stiff and glossy. Spoon the mixture onto a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes at 180°C, until crisp. Remove and cool. Flip the meringue out onto greaseproof paper. Spread the lemon curd over it and add the passion fruit seeds. Whip the cream with passion fruit juice and spread on top of the lemon curd. Sprinkle the strawberries on top. Roll the meringue up lengthways using the paper to help turn it over. Put on a serving plate and dust with icing sugar.
7. White chocolate and strawberry mousse
Ingredients (serves 6-8): 750g strawberries, 2tbsp lemon juice, 225g grated white chocolate, 7g powdered gelatin, 450ml double cream, 30g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting, biscotti, 4 sprigs fresh mint
Place half the strawberries in a blender and mix until smooth, then sieve to remove seeds. Place in a heatproof bowl with lemon juice. Slice the remaining strawberries and add. Put the bowl in a saucepan half-filled with boiling water on a low heat. Add the chocolate and leave until melted, then remove from the heat. In a small bowl, add the gelatin to about 50ml of water and leave for five minutes. Put a quarter of the cream with the icing sugar in a pan and simmer until warm. Add the gelatin and stir for five minutes over a low heat. Pour the cream and gelatin mix into the chocolate and stir until smooth. Add three-quarters of the strawberry puree. Put the remaining cream in a bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Fold the cream into the chocolate and strawberry mix. Put the mixture into individual serving glasses and chill in the fridge for at least two hours, preferably overnight. To serve, add a spoonful of the remaining puree to each glass and garnish with extra strawberries, icing sugar and mint, plus biscotti to dip.
8. Strawberry trifle
Ingredients: 4tbsp sugar, 2 pints strawberries (halved), 4oz softened cream cheese, 2 cups whipping cream, 1 pound cake, ½ cup melted raspberry jelly, cream sherry or strawberry liqueur
Stir 2tbsp of the sugar into the strawberries and set aside. Beat the remaining sugar into the cream cheese. Whip cream until stiff peaks form, then fold into the cheese mixture. Cut cake into 1/3in-thick slices. Arrange a layer of slices at the bottom of a glass bowl. Sprinkle with a tsp of sherry or liqueur and the melted jelly, then add a layer of strawberries and then a layer of cream cheese mixture. Continue layering, ending with cream cheese. Garnish with extra strawberries.
9. Strawberry tart
Ingredients: 200g plain flour, 100g butter, 100g golden caster sugar, 2 egg yolks, 100g mascarpone, ½ packet strawberry jelly, 500g small strawberries
To make the pastry, rub the flour and butter together, then mix in the sugar. Add the egg yolks and mix until you have dough (you may need a dash of cold water). Knead until smooth, then wrap and chill for 15 minutes. Lightly butter a 24cm tart tin. Roll out the pastry and use to line a tart tin, then chill again for 25 minutes. Line the base of the pastry with baking paper and bake for 15 minutes at 190°C. Reduce the heat to 150°C and bake for a further 10 minutes, then remove baking paper and bake for another 10 minutes. Leave the pastry to cool, then remove from tin and put on serving plate. Spread the mascarpone over the flan base. Melt the jelly crystals in 175ml hot water, cool, and, when it starts to thicken, add the strawberries and mix to coat them. Put the jelly-coated strawberries in a single layer upright in the case and spoon in jelly to cover. Leave to set.
10. Strawberry jelly
Ingredients: 200g caster sugar, 600ml water, 500g strawberries, 11g powdered gelatin
Place the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Boil for five minutes, then leave to cool. Put all but a few of the strawberries in a blender and pulp. Put pulp in a large basin and pour over the water/sugar syrup. Cover with a clean cloth and leave to infuse for 30 minutes. Once cool, pass the mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds. Put ¼ cup of cold water in a small dish, sprinkle the gelatin in the water and leave for five minutes. Heat one cup of the syrup in a small saucepan. Add the gelatin and water, simmer very gently until the gelatin has dissolved, then add to the strawberry liquid. Fill a ½-pint jelly mould with the strawberry mixture. Put in the fridge and leave to set. To serve, decorate with the remaining strawberries and add cream or ice cream, as desired.
To comment on this article, use the comment box below, or email us at clonews@ipcmedia.com. Read more about the countryside
For more news stories like this every week subscribe and save
Follow Country Life on Twitter
