Christmas bombe and strawberry martini

You can’t celebrate Christmas, certainly not in our household, without fruit mince pies and strawberries making some sort of appearance. This is my Christmas take on a bombe alaska finished off with an indulgent strawberry martini sauce.

Ingredients

3 cups	Vanilla ice cream (Main)
4	Christmas mince pies, roughly chopped (Main)
1	Sponge cake, 6 small discs cut out (or any type of cake) (Main)
4	Egg whites (Main)
1 cup	Caster sugar
1 Tbsp	Cornflour, sifted
1 tsp	Malt vinegar
1 punnet	Strawberries
2 Tbsp	Gin
2 tsp	Vermouth, dry

Directions

1. Mix icecream and mince pies together then fill into 6 small coffee cups and freeze.
2. When completely set hard, loosen with a small knife then tip out on to sponge disc bases. Store on baking paper in the freezer.
3. Whisk egg whites in an electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form, then gradually add in the sugar, whisking continuously until stiff and shiny (4-5 minutes). Fold in cornflour and vinegar.
4. Cover each bombe with the meringue, using a small knife or the back of a teaspoon and return to the freezer.
5. Cut strawberries into small even dice — you will need about ⅔ of a cup. Place the remaining strawberry trimmings into a saucepan with an additional ⅔ cup of sugar and ⅔ cup of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool. Strain through a fine sieve. Keep a little strawberry sauce alcohol-free on the side for those who don't like alcohol and mix the gin and vermouth in to the rest.
6. Arrange diced strawberries in a circle on each plate.
7. Place a bombe in the centre then toast all over with a kitchen blowtorch. Pour strawberry martini sauce all around.

See the rest of Geoff's 3 course menu

• Caramelised scallops with citrus and crispy shallots
• Turkey, pancetta and sour cherries