Strawberries With Elderflower Cream Recipes

STRAWBERRIES WITH ELDERFLOWER CREAM

Steps:

• Combine cream, liqueur, lemon zest, and confectioners' sugar in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until soft peaks just form. Serve with strawberries and macarons.

STRAWBERRY JELLIES WITH ELDERFLOWER ICE CREAM

Steps:

• First, make the ice cream. Heat the sugar, milk and glucose in a pan set over a low heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
• Beat the egg yolks with an electric whisk until pale and creamy, then slowly pour the warm milk mix over the yolks, whisking continuously. Pour into a clean, heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook over a low heat, stirring continuously, until the custard has thickened. Be careful not to let it boil. To check it's ready, dip a wooden spoon into the custard and run your finger over the back of the spoon - if it leaves a channel, it's done. Pour into a clean heatproof bowl and leave to cool.
• Whip the cream until it holds its shape but isn't stiff. Fold into the cooled custard along with the crème fraîche, cordial and lime juice. Chill for 30 mins.
• Churn the mixture in an ice cream machine following manufacturer's instructions, or put in a shallow container and freeze. After a couple of hours, remove the ice cream from the freezer and blitz in a food processor or beat with an electric whisk. Repeat twice more as it freezes - about 6 hrs total.
• For the jellies, put the gelatine in a bowl and cover with cold water. Leave to soak for about 5 mins - the gelatine should be completely soft.
• Heat the sugar with 200ml water over a low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly. When it is hand-hot, squeeze the excess water from the gelatine and add it to the syrup, stirring until the gelatine has melted (the syrup must not be too hot or it will impair the gelatine's setting qualities, but too cold and it won't melt the gelatine). Stir in the wine.
• Cut the strawberries into slices about the thickness of a 50p piece. Divide about a third of the jelly between eight glasses, then spoon a third of the strawberries on top of the jelly. (The glasses should be big enough to hold three layers of jelly and fruit, plus a scoop of ice cream on top.) Put the glasses in the fridge to set slightly. When the jelly has a skin on top, add another third of the strawberries. If the remaining jelly has set too much, very gently heat it (it should only ever be hand-hot) and pour another third over the strawberries. Put the jellies back in the fridge to set slightly again, then repeat the process with the last of the jelly and fruit. Chill until completely set, about 2 hrs.
• To serve, top the jellies with a scoop of the elderflower ice cream.

STRAWBERRY & ELDERFLOWER COBBLER

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Toss the strawberries in an oval, roughly 25cm, ovenproof dish with the vanilla, lemon, sugar and cordial. Roast in the oven for 10 mins, or until the strawberries are jammy but holding their shape. Remove the vanilla pod and discard. Mix a little of the strawberry juices into the cornflour, then add the cornflour mixture to the strawberries, combining well.
• For the cobbler topping, toss the flour with the sugar and a pinch of salt. Rub the butter into the flour mixture using your fingertips, then swiftly stir in 80ml buttermilk. If it looks dry, stir in the remaining 20ml. Spoon the cobbler mix over the strawberry base (about eight large spoonfuls), sprinkle over the demerara sugar and bake for 25-30 mins, or until the topping is lightly golden brown. Leave to rest for 10 mins, then serve with clotted cream or ice cream.Twist itSummer berries: Use a mixture of summer berries and up the sugar to 60g. Frozen summer berries work well - just leave out the cooking time for the fruit in step 1, toss the berries with the vanilla, lemon, sugar and cordial, then follow the method from step 2.Peach melba: Slice 3 ripe peaches and toss them with 400g raspberries in step 1 for a peach melba twist. Remove the elderflower cordial if doing this twist, and top the cobbler with flaked almonds before baking.Gooseberries: Simply use the same quantity of gooseberries and cordial, but increase the amount of sugar to 80g.