Strawberry ice

Tamara West

Ripe, perfumed strawberries are my choice of spring fruit for desserts. Their season begins in September but we often don’t really get into them until Christmas when they are almost at an end. In this dessert I’ve used the strawberries three different ways to give an intense variation of strawberry tastes, temperature and texture. This dessert is dairy and gluten-free.

Strawberry ice

30 g	Sugar
30 ml	Water
50 g	Strawberries, diced (Main)
200 ml	Sparkling rose (Main)
2 tsp	Lime juice

Strawberry syrup

250 g	Strawberries, whole
150 g	Sugar
100 ml	Sparkling rose
2 tsp	Lime juice
80 g	Raspberries

Directions

Strawberry ice

1. In a small saucepan, boil the sugar, water and strawberries for 1 minute. Allow to cool then blend in a food processor until smooth, then strain through a fine sieve.
2. Add the sparkling wine, lime juice and an additional 50ml water. Pour into a shallow metal tray and freeze overnight or until solid.
3. Just before serving, use a fork to rake the frozen surface, make four piles of the strawberry ice and keep frozen until ready to serve.

Strawberry syrup

1. To make the syrup, dice 100g of the strawberries, place in a small saucepan with the sugar, sparkling wine and 1 tsp of the lime juice. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve, cool then add the remaining lime juice.
2. Slice the remaining strawberries and divide evenly among the serving dishes with the raspberries.
3. Pour over the syrup and serve topped with strawberry ice.

Chef's tip

If your strawberries are not fully red just keep them out on the bench, covered to avoid fruit flies. Then you can keep them in the fridge, laid out on a paper towel in a covered container. Strawberrries will turn red after picking but will not become sweeter.