Strawberries and cream, garden mint

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This intricate take on traditional strawberries and cream by Lisa Allen is challenging but stunning with the addition of crunchy chocolate soil. Lisa uses a garnish of spun sugar and silver leaf but the dish will work just as well without these.

First published in 2015

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Strawberry coulis

Vanilla cream

  • 94g of whipping cream
  • 69g of sugar
  • 62g of milk
  • 1g of vanilla pod
  • 4g of vanilla essence
  • 2 gelatine leaves, soaked in cold water
  • 310g of whipping cream, semi-whipped

Mint purée

  • 225g of milk
  • 125g of double cream
  • 50g of sugar
  • 25g of mint
  • 2g of agar agar
  • 2g of maltodextrin

Coating

Chocolate soil

  • 100g of sugar
  • 30g of water
  • 50g of chocolate, 53%

Macerated strawberries

To garnish

  • silver leaf

Equipment

  • Hand blender
  • 5cm silicone semi spheres 8
  • Sugar thermometer

Method

1
To make the strawberry coulis, blitz all of the ingredients together with a hand blender and pass through a fine sieve
2
For the vanilla cream, bring the cream, sugar, milk, vanilla pods, and vanilla essence to the boil in a saucepan. Leave to cool slightly then whisk in the gelatine. Once cooled, mix with the semi-whipped cream and add to the semi-sphere moulds. Transfer to the freezer until almost solid then use a teaspoon to take a small scoop out of the middle. Fill with the coulis and return to the freezer
  • 94g of whipping cream
  • 62g of milk
  • 1g of vanilla pod
  • 4g of vanilla essence
  • 2 gelatine leaves, soaked in cold water
  • 310g of whipping cream, semi-whipped
  • 69g of sugar
3
Once frozen, remove the semi-spheres from the mould and stick together before returning to the freezer
4
To make the mint purée, boil the milk, cream, sugar and chopped mint in a saucepan. Cover with cling film and leave to infuse until cool. Pass through a sieve and return to the boil with the agar and maltodextrin. Transfer to a container to set in the fridge. Once set, blitz in a blender until smooth and pass through a fine sieve
  • 163g of milk
  • 125g of double cream
  • 50g of sugar
  • 25g of mint
  • 2g of agar agar
  • 2g of maltodextrin
5
To coat the frozen spheres, melt the chocolate and butter then mix in the remaining strawberry coulis, food colouring and sesame seeds. Insert a toothpick into each of the balls and dip them in the mixture one by one. Once the coating has dried, transfer to the fridge to defrost
6
To macerate the strawberries mix, the strawberries with the lemon juice and icing sugar. Set aside for 20–30 minutes
7
To make the chocolate soil, bring the sugar and water to 136°C using a sugar thermometer. Mix in the chocolate and stir until it resembles a crumble. Remove from the heat and tip onto a tray to cool
  • 100g of sugar
  • 30g of water
  • 50g of chocolate, 53%
8
To serve, place one full teaspoon of mint purée to the back of a plate and then using a small pallet knife swipe the purée across the plate. Lightly sprinkle the chocolate soil on top of the mint purée
9
Place the strawberry sphere in the middle of the plate and place the macerated strawberries around. Garnish with silver leaf and mint leaves
  • silver leaf
First published in 2015

Lisa Goodwin-Allen's cooking is playful and twists the hallmarks of Lancastrian cuisine to invoke new tradition.

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