New Forest Strawberry Dessert Recipe

19^th Jun 2017

New Forest Strawberry Sorbet with Strawberry Jelly, Bergamot Cream and White Chocolate Crumble.

Synonymous with summer, the British strawberry season begins with the arrival of early season fruit grown under cover. Imported strawberries, now sold for most of the year, are picked whilst slightly under-ripe to ensure that they don't spoil during transportation, however strawberries do not ripen after being picked and so imported strawberries are often hard and have an undeveloped flavour - a pale imitation of our in-season British strawberries at their best right now.

Here is this month's recipe for a delicious strawberry dessert to impress your guests at your summer BBQ.

Ingredients:

Strawberry sorbet

1 lemon, juiced

400g of strawberries, puréed in a blender

Strawberry jelly

1/4 lemon, juiced and zest cut into strips
250g of strawberries, hulled
2 gelatine leaves, bronze
1 sprig of fresh thyme
10g of fructose sugar

Bergamot cream

1/2 lemon, juiced and zest cut into strips
50g of caster sugar
85ml of double cream
1 bronze gelatine leaf, soaked in water
bergamot essence to taste

White chocolate crumble

200g of white chocolate
200g of feuilletine

Stock sugar syrup

caster sugar
water
Method

To make the strawberry sorbet, mix the strawberries, 85ml of the stock syrup and the lemon together and churn in an ice cream machine until firm, then freeze until ready to use

To make the bergamot cream, bring the cream, sugar, lemon juice and zest to the boil in a saucepan, then add the gelatine and pass through a fine sieve. Stir in the bergamot and place in bowls to set in the fridge

To make the strawberry jelly, place 40ml of the stock sugar syrup and all the ingredients except the gelatine in a bowl and cover with cling film. Place over a pan of simmering water and cook gently for 1 hour. In a separate bowl, soak the gelatine

To make stock syrup, simply heat equal amounts of water and sugar in a pan until dissolved

Pass through a sieve and add the soaked and drained gelatine. Pour onto the set bergamot cream to form a thin layer and return to fridge to set.

To make the crumble mix, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over barely simmering water. Then stir together the feuilletine and melted chocolate, leave to set and break into crumbs.

To serve, remove the bowls from the fridge and top with a scoop of strawberry sorbet, sprinkle over some of the crumble and decorate with some of the fresh fruits.

Photography by David Griffen for Great British Chefs.

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