Five ways with strawberries, the star of the British summer

Synonymous with this time of year, British strawberry season starts in May and ends in October, but the cream of the British summer crop is undoubtedly at its best between June and August.

This year’s harvest began earlier and tastes sweeter than usual thanks to a spate of bright weather in spring, which means we should be making the most of our beloved strawbs now more than ever.

Cooking with strawberries isn’t limited to the Great British trifle, although you will find a stellar recipe for that below from Paul Ainsworth. We reached out to some of our other favourite chefs based in the UK to see what they could come up with.

Mark Birchall, chef patron of Moor Hall, which was named Britain’s best restaurant last year, serves them macerated and with an apricot crème anglaise and lemon verbena tea granita – and yes, you can achieve that at home.

Fine dining favourtie Pied à Terre’s executive chef Asimakis Chaniotis layers the fruit into his “favourite dessert of all time”, French mille-feuille. Tommy Banks, whose Roots in York we recently reviewed, puts his signature spin on flavours in a strawberry and basil cheesecake, while Wild by Tart’s Lucy Carr-Ellison and Jemima Jones whip up a refreshing sorbet.

By: Mark Birchall, Moor Hall

Ingredients:

For the strawberries:

100g sugar

¼ lime juice

For the apricot kernel mousse:

12g apricot kernel oil (available online or at most health food shops)

225g milk

150g egg yolk

80g caster sugar

150g honey

3 gelatine leaves

650g whipping cream

For the pumpkin seed crumb:

65g butter

50g sugar

50g demerara sugar

50g plain flour

50g ground almonds

25g oats

15g chopped pumpkin seeds

For the tea granita:

30g lemon verbena

160g sugar

700g water

1 whole lemon juice

8 x Darjeeling tea bags

Method:

For the mousse:

Heat the milk up in a pan to just under boiling. Remove from the heat and add the kernel oil.  

To make the creme anglaise, strain the hot milk through a sieve into a saucepan then add the egg yolk, sugar and honey and cook on a low heat to 75C or until the mixture thickens and leaves a clear path on the back of a spoon when a finger is drawn across (it will take around 5 minutes – stir constantly and do not boil). 

While cooking the anglaise put the gelatine leaves in a bowl with cold water to bloom.

Once cooked, remove from the heat, drain the gelatine leaves and mix well with the anglaise. Put the mixture in a bowl and chill in the fridge.

Whisk the cream to soft peaks.

Fold one-third of the whipped cream into the anglaise. Then add the rest of the cream making sure you don’t overmix.

Chill the mousse until serving (for at least two hours).

For the pumpkin seed crumb:

Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl. Mix until all combines together into a ball. Crumble the mixture onto a grease-proof lined baking tray so you have little clusters of crumble.

Bake at 160C for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

To make the tea granita:

Boil the water then add lemon, sugar, verbena and Darjeeling tea. Infuse for 4 minutes then pass through a sieve.

Allow to cool, place into a 1-litre container and freeze. You will need to do this 6 hours before you make the dish.

To macerate the strawberries:

Remove the green from the strawberries then slice into quarters half. Put them in a large bowl and add the sugar and lime juice. Gently roll the strawberries over with a spoon. Do this 10 minutes before serving the dish to allow the sugar to soften and sweeten the strawberries.

To serve:

Start with a large dessert spoon of the kernel mousse in the middle of the plate. Arrange the macerated strawberries around the front of the mousse.

Add the crumble mixture to the top of the mousse.

Then get a fork and scrape the top of the granita so it creates crushed ice. Add a heaped tablespoon to the top of the dish just before serving.

Garnish with lemon verbena leaves.

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By: Paul Ainsworth, The Mariners, Paul Ainsworth at No. 6 and Caffè Rojano

Serves: 10-12 small individual trifles

Ingredients:

For the cream cheese topping:

250g creme fraiche

700g Philadelphia cheese

250g icing sugar

500g double cream

1g vanilla seeds

For the strawberry jelly:

1kg frozen or over ripe/soft strawberries

300g caster sugar

2L white wine

5g hibiscus

¼ bunch of thyme

4 sheets of gelatine

For the set custard:

100ml double cream

700ml whole milk

4 rich egg yolks

100g caster sugar

35g Bird’s custard powder

2g vanilla seeds

2 sheets gelatin

Final ingredients to build trifle:

200g fresh ripe strawberries cut into wedges

10 sponge fingers

100s and 1000s sprinkles to finish

1 lemon for zesting

Method:

For the cream cheese topping:

In a bowl, whip the double cream until you reach a soft peak.

In a separate bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients and mix well to incorporate together. Fold through the soft peak double cream in 3 stages and once all is added you can whip until nice and thick.

Place the mixture into a piping bag and chill until you’re ready to finish your trifle.

For the strawberry jelly:

Place all of the ingredients into a pan except the gelatine, then bring to a gentle boil. Remove the pan from the heat and cover with a lid or cling film and leave to infuse for at least 5 hours.

Pass the infused strawberry stock through a fine sieve and keep in the fridge until you make the jelly.

To make the jelly, take 500g of strawberry stock and bring to a simmer. While this is happening, soak 4 sheets of gelatine in cold water and once soft squeeze off the water and add to your warm strawberry stock to dissolve.

Leave this to cool slightly before making your trifle.

For the set custard:

Mix the milk and cream together in a saucepan.

Whisk together the sugar, egg yolk and Bird’s custard until light and fluffy.

Pour over half the cold cream and milk mixture over egg mix to make a paste.

Heat the rest of the milk and cream with vanilla in a saucepan.

Pour heated cream and milk over the egg paste mixture.

Return all the mix to pan.

Cook on low-medium heat until starts thickening.

To set the custard for the trifle take 1 litre of finished custard and heat gently to about 70/80C. While this is happening, soak 2 sheets of gelatin in cold water and squeeze any water off once soft then add to the warm custard to dissolve.

Let the custard cool to room temperature before adding to the trifle.

Building the trifle:

To build the trifle, add some chopped strawberries to your dish then cover generously with the strawberry jelly liquid.

Chop the sponge fingers into 1cm pieces and add a layer onto the jelly. The liquid jelly should soak into the sponge. Place the dishes into the fridge to set completely.

Once the jelly is set, add a good layer of room temperature custard on top, about 1cm deep or more if you like. Place into the fridge again to set until firm.

Once the custard is set you can now pipe the whipped cream cheese mixture on top and make it as clean or as messy as you like.

Finish the trifle with 100s and 1000s and a little lemon zest

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By: Asimakis Chaniotis, Pied à Terre

“Mille-feuille is one of my favourite desserts of all time. The crunch of the pastry with the smooth, rich filling… it’s pure decadence and lends itself well to any seasonal fruit. A strawberry mille-feuille has always been on the menu at Pied à Terre in late spring and early summer, and with a little attention to detail, you can recreate it at home.”

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

4 strawberries, sliced

4 strawberries, finely chopped

Small lemon verbena leaves, for garnishing

1 packet of puff pastry

Icing sugar

For the creme patisserie:

250ml milk

3 egg yolks

45g sugar

30g corn flour

½ vanilla pod, seeds scraped

25g diced cold butter

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180C.

Start with the pastry. Take half of it and roll it out to a thickness of 2mm, using icing sugar instead of flour, and place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Place another layer of paper on top of the pastry and then something heavy like another baking tray. This will prevent it puffing up too much. Bake for 15-20 mins until it’s golden brown.

Remove from the oven and immediately cut 3 rectangles, 6cm wide by 12cm long. It must be hot when you cut the pastry, otherwise it will break and crumble.

Now make the creme patisserie. Add the milk and vanilla seeds into a pan and bring to the boil, then keep aside.

Whisk the eggs and sugar vigorously until pale and fluffy, and then add the cornflour and fold in with a spatula. Slowly pour in hot milk while whisking and then put the mix back in the pan and cook on a very low heat till the mix is very thick, stirring every so often.

Remove from the heat and mix into the cold butter. Allow to cool on the side before putting the fridge, covered with clingfilm, for an hour to set. 

When set, whip it for a minute and transfer to a piping bag.

To serve, place one piece of puff pastry on your serving plate and pipe 2 lines of creme patisserie along it before placing a layer of strawberry slices. Repeat the process in reverse.

For the ultimate presentation, place your chopped strawberries in a perfect circle around the dessert. Garnish the dish with a few tiny lemon verbena leaves.

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By: Tommy Banks, The Black Swan, Roots and Made in Oldstead

Serves: 10-12

Total time: 12-24 hours

Prep time: 30 minutes (plus 1 hour)

Ingredients:

250g shortbread biscuits, crushed

100g unsalted butter, melted

4 gelatine leaves (optional)

80g sugar

Small bunch basil, leaves picked (reserve 10 or so for garnish)

5 egg yolks

450g cream cheese

350g double cream

100g white chocolate, melted

10 strawberries, stems removed and cut in half

For your homemade strawberry sauce:

250g strawberries

25g icing sugar

Method:

Grease and line a 23cm round springform tin. In a bowl, combine crushed shortbread and melted butter and mix until well combined. Press mixture into the base of the cake tin,  and smooth with the back of the smooth to ensure the base is flat and even. Refrigerate.

Prep the gelatine leaves according to pack instructions. Meanwhile, with a pestle and mortar, combine 50g of sugar with the basil leaves and grind to a fine green pulp. Add to a small bowl with remaining sugar, and whisk together.

Next, in a stand mixer or with a handheld whisk, combine

In a stand mixer combine egg yolks, gelatine, cream cheese and basil sugar, and beat together on a medium to high speed for two minutes until thick. Before the mixture thickens completely, add in your melted white chocolate.

In a separate bowl, whisk cream until it reaches soft peaks and slowly fold into a creamy cheese mixture.

Remove tin from the fridge and add a layer of strawberry halves. Spoon over cheesecake mixture and ensure it’s evenly distributed and there are no air bubbles. Leave to set overnight.

When ready to serve, blend together strawberries and icing sugar with 50ml water for about 30 seconds.

Before serving, blend 150g strawberries with icing sugar and 50ml of water for 30 seconds. Drizzle over strawberry sauce, and garnish with basil leaves.

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By: Lucy Carr-Ellison and Jemima Jones, Wild by Tart

Ingredients:

225g water

200g sugar

75g light corn syrup

455g fresh strawberries (over ripe strawberries are best)

60ml freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice

Champagne, to serve, optional

Method:

Combine the water and sugar in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes, without stirring. Remove the syrup from the heat, pour it into a bowl, and set in the refrigerator to cool.

Place the strawberries and citrus juice in a food processor, and puree until completely smooth.

Press the purée through a fine-mesh strainer, to remove the seeds.

Combine the seedless puree with the corn syrup and sugar syrup. Chill for 1 hour, or until refrigerator-cold.

Make the sorbet according to the manufacturer’s directions for your ice cream maker. The finished sorbet will be fairly soft so put in the freezer for a couple of hours to firm up, if desired.

Serve with champagne for the ultimate treat.