Ideal for a delicate yet decadent dessert, Simon Hulstone’s strawberry & elderflower liqueur dessert makes an excellent adults-only end to a meal
For the strawberry pillows
• 300g of strawberries, hulled and quartered
• 50ml of lemon juice
• 50g of sugar
• 100ml of water
• 2 gelatine leaves
• 1 vanilla pod
For the elderflower crème:
• 40ml of elderflower liqueur
• 375ml of cream
• 110ml of milk
• 180g of egg yolk
• 2g of agar agar
• 2 silver gelatine leaves
For the mascarpone:
• 150g of mascarpone
• 1/2 lemon, zest only
• 35g of sugar
For the crumb:
• 10g of freeze-dried strawberries
• 10g of freeze-dried raspberries
• 10g of freeze-dried yoghurt
• 10g of popping candy
To serve:
• 50g of strawberries, hulled and chopped
• 5g of sweet cicely
For the equipment:
• Thermomix TM31
• Piping bags
Method
For the strawberry pillows:
1 Place the chopped strawberries into a bowl with the lemon juice, vanilla, sugar and water. Place the bowl over a bain-marie and leave for 20 minutes.
2 Pass through a fine sieve, but do not push through the mx and allow as much of the clear liquid to drip through as possible. allow to cool and store in the fridge until needed.
3 To make the “pillow”, soak 2 leaves of gelatine in cold water until soft. Heat up 200ml of the strawberry juice mixture, once hot melt the gelatine into the liquid.
4 Pour into a mixing bowl and whisk, over ice, until the mixture starts to cool, set and expand. Continue to whisk until soft peaks form
5 Pour the mixture into a piping bag and fill the semi-circle moulds. Smooth off the tops then place in the freezer until frozen
For the elderflower liqueur crème:
1 For the elderflower crème, place the cream, milk, elderflower liquer, sugar, egg yolks and agar agar into a thermomix and bring up to 81°C
2 Once it reaches 81°C, add the soaked silver leaf gelatine then pass through a sieve into a bowl. Pour into the lined moulds and set in fridge until needed
For the mascapone:
1 Mix the lemon zest with the mascarpone cheese and sugar, spoon into a piping bag and store in the fridge until needed
For the crumb:
1 Mix the freeze-dried strawberry, yoghurt, raspberry and popping candy in a bowl to make a crumb
2 Remove the strawberry “pillow” from the freezer. Using a melon baller, scoop out some of the middle, then fill the hole with the mascarpone mixture. Return to the fridge
3 Pop the mascarpone-filled strawberry pillows out of the moulds and stick them together to make a ball, repeat to make 3 more. Roll each ball until evenly coated and set aside
4 Cut the fresh strawberries into a 1/2cm dice and mix with a little of the remaining strawberry juice from step 1 and set aside
To serve:
1 Remove the elderflower crèmes from the moulds and place in the centre of each bowl. 2 Place the ball on top of the crème, then spoon around the diced strawberries and juice. 3 Scatter with some sweet cicely and serve
Recipe and image courtesy of Simon Hulstone
