Strawberry and champagne sorbet with basil cream and vanilla shortbread
Item 1 of 1
This luxurious strawberry sorbet recipe by Pete Biggs makes a spectacular summer dessert, with the crisp sharpness of the Champagne paired with juicy strawberries and a fragrant basil cream. Once you've extracted the juice from the strawberries for the jelly don't throw away the leftover fruit – spoon over yoghurt or porridge for a delicious breakfast compote.
First published in 2015
discover more:
Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
Sorbet
- 175ml of Champagne
- 60ml of water
- 250g of strawberries, puréed
- 50g of sugar
- 100g of glucose
Jelly
- 500g of strawberries
- 100g of sugar
- 2 gelatine leaves, soaked in cold water
Shortbread
- 225g of unsalted butter
- 75g of caster sugar
- 350g of flour
- 1 vanilla pod, seeds only
Basil cream
- 400ml of double cream
- 120ml of milk
- 60g of caster sugar
- 1 1/2 gelatine leaves
- 15g of basil leaves
Garnish
- 12 strawberries
SAVE RECIPE
Method
1
For the sorbet, combine the champagne, water, sugar, strawverry purée and glucose together in a pan. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and leave to cool. Churn in an ice cream and freeze until ready to serve
- 175ml of Champagne
- 60ml of water
- 250g of strawberries, puréed
- 50g of sugar
- 100g of glucose
2
For the jelly, mix the strawberries and sugar in a bowl and cover tightly with cling film. Place the bowl over a pan of boiling water to heat up, then leave to cool for 25 minutes until the strawberries have released plenty of juice
- 500g of strawberries
- 100g of sugar
3
Pass the juice from the strawberries through a sieve and measure out 200ml of the juice. Squeeze any excess water from the soaked gelatine and add to the juice, gently warming the mixture until the gelatine has dissolved completely. Mix well and pour the jelly mixture into a tray, transferring to the fridge to set
- 2 gelatine leaves
4
Meanwhile, prepare the shortbread. Gently mix together the butter, sugar, flour and vanilla in a bowl until they form a dough. Cover and leave the dough in the fridge for about half an hour to rest
- 225g of unsalted butter
- 75g of caster sugar
- 350g of flour
- 1 vanilla pod, seeds only
5
Preheat the oven to 160°C/ gas mark 3
6
Roll the dough out thinly onto a baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes until golden, then remove from the oven and leave to cool. Once cool, break the shortbread into a coarse crumble and set aside until ready to serve
7
For the basil cream, bring the cream, milk and sugar to the boil. Soak the geleatine in water and add. Mix and pour over the basil. Blitz in a blender, pass through a fine sieve and chill immediately over ice. Divide between six small bowls and leave to set
- 400ml of double cream
- 120ml of milk
- 60g of caster sugar
- 1 1/2 gelatine leaves
- 15g of basil leaves
8
To serve, arrange eight strawberry quarters on top of the basil cream in each bowl and top with four small chunks of jelly. Place a generous scoop of the sorbet in the centre of the cream and sprinkle over the shortbread crumb
Get in touch
Please sign in or register to send a comment to Great British Chefs.
You may also like
SITES
© Great British Chefs 2025