From Lauraine Jacobs's larder, two desserts for festive feasting.
Photo Elizabeth Clarkson/styling Kate Arbuthnot
The first of the season’s large, juicy outdoor strawberries always seem the sweetest, and they’re so irresistible we’ve been eating them as an all-day snack. To celebrate strawberries, hospices throughout the country will be having a National Strawberry Festival over the first week or two of November. Last year, various initiatives managed to sell almost 9000 punnets of berries and 2500 litres of ice cream, raising funds for hospice services and celebrating the hospice philosophy of making the most of life for people needing end-of-life care.
Perhaps my favourite way to have strawberries is atop a meringue that’s crisp on the outside and slightly chewy inside. I will be making several batches and hope to sell them, decorated with whipped cream and a ripe strawberry, in downtown Auckland’s QEII Square on November 9 for the Mercy Hospice. Other events around New Zealand are listed on www.strawberry festival.org.nz.
Later in the season when there’s likely to be a surfeit of strawberries, I’ll make jam. Strawberry is a firm favourite, up there with raspberry jam and tart plum jam. When making strawberry jam, always add a good squeeze of strained lemon juice. It does wonders for the flavour and also helps with setting. Another favourite is stewed strawberries. If your strawberries have sat around for a day or two, or have been picked after rain so are not quite perfect, wash them, then toss into a saucepan with a few spoonfuls of sugar. Bring them slowly to the boil and allow to barely simmer for about two minutes to let the juices come out. Chill the berries and their juice and serve over ice cream or in a trifle.
Strawberries also make great decorations. When sliced vertically to reveal the perfectly formed interior, they make ideal decorations for the top of cream sponges or trifles. Make a salad by leaving smaller berries whole, slicing the larger fruit and placing them in a bowl with a mere sprinkling of sugar and the juice of two oranges. For a real treat, add a couple of spoonfuls of Grand Marnier or Cointreau. The dessert recipes here are for special-occasion feasting. The trifle uses both stewed and fresh strawberries. The custard isn’t very thick, so if you prefer it thicker, use a commercial variety or one made with custard powder. I first served this at a family Christmas and it’s been on our menu ever since.
STRAWBERRY TRIFLE
- 3 punnets of strawberries
- 3 tbsp sugar
- ½ cup water
- 1 block sponge cake, cut into thin fingers
- 3 tbsp Grand Marnier
- 6 egg yolks
- 160g sugar
- 600ml milk
- 1 vanilla bean
- 300ml cream
Select about 12 of the best berries for the top. Put the rest in a saucepan with 3 tablespoons of sugar and the water. Bring to a gentle simmer, then cook for about 2 minutes. Place the sponge fingers in the bottom of a clear glass bowl. Add the Grand Marnier and allow it to soak in. Ladle in the strawberries and juice. To make the custard, beat the egg yolks and sugar until light and thick. Heat the milk and vanilla bean in a heavy-based saucepan until almost boiling. Tip the hot milk onto the egg mixture in a bowl and stir well to combine. Rinse the pan that the milk was heated in, return it to the heat and strain the egg, sugar and milk mixture into it. Carefully reheat the custard, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens enough to coat the spoon. Do not let this boil, as the mixture will curdle. If the mixture starts to curdle around the edges, immediately remove from the heat and whisk vigorously until smooth. Once the custard is cool, tip it over the strawberries. Finally, lightly whip the cream then spread it Sover the custard. Decorate with halved strawberries. Chill before serving. Serves 8-10. Wine match: demi-sec champagne.
Mille-feuille is served cold, so it’s essential the pastry is made with butter. Puff pastry is in my repertoire of recipes, but I no longer need to make it because I can buy Paneton’s frozen pre-rolled butter flaky puff pastry from my supermarket or by mail order from Sabato. In Dunedin, Jim Byars at the Highgate Shop sells his stunning puff pastry on Fridays. It is also stocked in Christchurch at Mercato.
SIMPLE STRAWBERRY MILLE-FEUILLE
- Mille-Feuille
- 3 sheets best-quality butter puff pastry,
- 30cm x 12cm
- 300ml cream, whipped
- 1 punnet of strawberries
- ½ cup redcurrant jelly
- ½ cup strawberry jam
If using a block of puff pastry, roll it out to size, place on baking sheets and allow to rest for 30 minutes. (If the pastry is pre-rolled, omit this step.) Prick the surface all over with a fork. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Bake the pastry until golden and crisp – around 15 minutes. Set aside. Whip the cream until lightly stiff. Hull the strawberries then slice the fruit in half. Gently heat the redcurrant jelly in a small saucepan until the jelly melts. To assemble the mille-feuille, take a sharp knife and trim the edges off the pastry sheets to make them sharp. Place the first sheet on a serving platter. Spread with several tablespoonfuls of jam, then top with half the cream. Spread the second sheet with more jam, then place gently on top of the first sheet. Spread with the remaining cream and top with the last pastry sheet. Decorate the top with halved strawberries, then use a pastry brush to paint redcurrant glaze over the strawberries. It doesn’t matter if a little drizzles down. To serve, cut into slices with a sharp knife. Serves 6. Wine match: Asti Spumante.