VERY BERRY JUBILEE
Strawberry and Feta Tart
Roasting strawberries makes them tangy and sweet and they go particularly well with salty fresh feta. Accompanied with a salad, it’s the perfect dish to bring to a Jubilee Street Party.
Serves 6
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25 – 30 minutes
Ingredients
• 375g sheet puff pastry, defrosted if frozen, at room temperature
• 200g reduced fat soft cheese
• 1 tbsp chives, snipped
• 2 tsp lemon thyme leaves or 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
• 125g feta cheese, crumbled
• 125g strawberries, hulled and sliced
• Drizzle of balsamic vinegar (optional)
• Rocket leaves to serve
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas mark 6. Unroll the pastry sheet onto a baking tray, keeping it on the paper from the pack. Score a line 2cm from the edge down each side.
2 Combine the soft cheese, chives, the thyme or lemon zest and some pepper (the feta will add salt) and spread it over the pastry. Scatter over the feta and strawberries and bake for 25 – 30 minutes until golden and puffed up.
3 Serve warm drizzled with balsamic vinegar or top with rocket leaves and serve with a large salad.
Raspberry Fondant Fancies
Give these Fondant Fancies a royal makeover and colour them red, white and blue.
Makes 25
Prep time: 1 hour (plus freezing time)
Cook time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the sponge:
• 175g softened butter or margarine
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 175g self-raising flour, 2 tsp reserved
• 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
• 150g raspberries
To decorate:
• 150g marzipan
• 400g ready-made vanilla or lemon butter cream at room temperature
• 1kg fondant icing
• Red and blue food colouring
• 50g milk chocolate, melted
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/160C/gas mark 4. Line a 20cm square cake tin with parchment. For the sponge, put all the sponge ingredients except the raspberries and reserved flour in a mixer and beat until well combined. Toss the raspberries in the reserved flour and fold into the mix. Spoon the sponge mix into the tin and bake for around 30 minutes until golden, springy and just pulling away from the edges. Place on a wire rack to cool, then remove the cake paper and freeze for 20 minutes.
2 Thinly roll out the marzipan. Remove the cake from the freezer and spread over a thin layer of buttercream. Top with the marzipan trimming away any overhang. Cut the cake into 25 even pieces. Spread four sides of each cube with buttercream and pipe a small blob on top, then return to the freezer for at least 10 minutes.
3 Chop the fondant into pieces and place in a food mixer. Starting it gently beat until it breaks down, adding 150ml water in small amounts of until you get an almost pouring consistency. Divide into 3 different bowls. Leave one white, add red colouring to one and blue to another, mixing to the desired shade. Spear the base of the cube with a fork and dip it into the icing removing, lift it up twisting as you go to cover the whole cube and transfer to a wire rack to set. Repeat to create a mix of red, white and blue fondant fancies.
4 Once softly set, drizzle all the cakes with milk chocolate. Its easiest to do this with a piping bag and leave to set for a few minutes before serving. Store in an airtight container for up to two days.
Strawberry and Elderflower Sorbet
A wonderfully refreshing and decadent dessert for fancy summer parties. This can be made in advance then served scooped into pretty teacups and decorated with edible flowers.
Serves 6
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes
Freezing time: 6 – 8 hours
Ingredients
• 300ml/ 1⁄2 pt water
• 150g/5oz caster sugar
• 500g/1lb 2 oz strawberries, hulled
• 3 tablespoons elderflower cordial, undiluted
• Juice 1⁄2 lemon
• 1 egg white
• Edible flowers and biscuits to decorate (optional)
Method
1 Pour the water into a saucepan, add the sugar and heat gently, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat and boil for one minute then leave to cool.
2 Meanwhile purée the strawberries in a food processor or liquidiser until smooth. Pour into a sieve set over a bowl and press the purée through with the back of a spoon then discard the seeds.
3 Stir the purée into the sugar syrup then mix in the undiluted elderflower cordial and lemon juice.
4 Pour into a non-stick roasting tin or shallow plastic container – the larger the container the shallower the syrup will be and the quicker it will freeze. Place in the freezer and freeze for four hours or until semi frozen.
5 Lightly beat the egg white in a small bowl until frothy. Mash the semi frozen sorbet with the fork to break up the ice crystals then beat in the egg white. Spoon into a plastic container. Cover and seal, freeze until firm enough to scoop.
6 Scoop sorbet into teacups, decorate with flowers and serve with soft amaretti or small shortbread biscuits.
Tip: If you have an ice cream machine, churn the strawberry syrup in the pre-cooled machine for about 20 minutes, until semi frozen and then gradually pour the lightly beaten egg white through the feeder tube at the top. Continue churning until the sorbet is thick enough to scoop then serve immediately or transfer to a plastic container and store in the freezer until required.
www.lovefreshberries.co.uk
