Here comes summer! – With the arrival of July brings the excitement and anticipation of balmy days ahead. It is also the time to celebrate the English Strawberry season – what better way than to spend a summer’s day out strawberry picking for delicious berries. Look out for Sweet Eve and Eve Delight, high in natural sugar with a perfumed aroma, English Rose for its orange zest flavour and Jubilee for a good all-rounder.
The peak season runs from June to July but if there is good weather the English strawberry can still be very much enjoyed up until the end of September. The best thing about strawberries is that they can be made into a spectacular dessert, eaten straight from the punnet for picnics or just simply with cream or ice cream. Or as here if you have a glut of the strawberries from the garden can be transformed into a smooth, refreshing sorbet served with macerated strawberries and a vanilla cream– a perfect cooling dessert for a warm day. At the restaurant we serve this delicious sorbet accompanied with a star anise financier.
English Strawberry Sorbet with Macerated Strawberries and Vanilla Cream
Serves 6
Ingredients
Stock Syrup
200 g caster sugar
150 ml water
½ lemon zest and juice
½ orange zest and juice
½ vanilla pod
1 x star anise
Strawberry Puree
2 punets of English strawberries
20 ml water
Juice of 1 large lime
20g caster sugar
Strawberry Sorbet
100g strawberry puree
125g stock syrup
30g lime juice
12g strawberry liqueur
10 g lemon juice
1 pod vanilla seeds
Macerated Strawberries
25g castor sugar
½ to 1 punet of English strawberries sliced thinly
100 g mascarpone cream lightly whipped with a little lemon juice and the seeds of a vanilla pod
Borage flowers to garnish
Method
Stock Syrup
- Place all the ingredients into a thick bottomed pan bring to the boil then remove from the heat and leave to infuse overnight and then strain
- Chill in the fridge until very cold.
Strawberry Puree
- To make the strawberry puree macerate 3 punnets of strawberries with the sugar, lime juice and water blitz in a liquidizer and then pass through a chinois
Strawberry Sorbet
- Add the 100g strawberry puree to 125g stock syrup and gently mix
- Churn in an ice cream machine or alternatively place in a tub in a freezer and then beat every hour until set.
Macerate Strawberries
- Macerate the sliced strawberries with the caster sugar to soften
To serve
Place the macerated strawberries into four pretty glass bowls or plates. Add two quenelles of the sorbet and garnish with fresh borage if you have and serve with the vanilla mascarpone cream.
