LandScape Craft and Cookery Special

TASTE OF SUMMER
Dazzling in colour and full of flavour, sweet, juicy strawberries
make delectable desserts evocative of the sun-filled season
Strawberry
and cream pie
Serves 8
400g strawberries, hulled
400ml double cream
120g butter, plus extra for
greasing
300g digestive biscuits
1 tbsp vanilla paste
• Recipes: Liz O'Keefe • Photography: Food & Foto
Grease a 23cm round, 5cm deep,
loose-bottomed tin. In a large saucepan, melt the
butter until liquid. In a bowl, crush the biscuits
with the end of a rolling pin. Off the heat, add the
biscuit crumbs to the butter and stir thoroughly.
Press the mixture into the prepared tin using the
back of a dessert spoon, to make a tart base,
pushing it together until it is solid. This may take
several minutes. Chill the biscuit base for 1 hr.
Place half the strawberries in a food processor
and blend until pureed. In a large bowl, whip the
double cream for 3 mins until firm, then fold the
strawberry puree and vanilla paste through the
cream. Fill the biscuit base with the cream
mixture and flatten with the dessert spoon. Slice
the remaining strawberries in half and decorate
the top. Leave to chill for 1 hr before serving.
PREPARATION Hulling or coring strawberries removes the green stem or
calyx from the top of the fruit, and is the first step in many recipes. A simple and
easy method involves angling a small, sharp knife to cut around the green stem and
into the paler flesh below, using a circular motion.
Strawberry creams
Makes 15
15 strawberries, hollowed out,
with tops sliced off and set aside
100g cream cheese
300g icing sugar
Place the cream cheese in a small bowl
and add the icing sugar, creaming together
using the back of a metal spoon. Fill a
piping bag, fitted with a small fluted
nozzle, with the icing, then pipe it into the
strawberries, topping with the strawberry
tops. Leave to chill until ready to serve.
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