Great British Strawberry Puds…for cheaters!
Hands up if you love strawberries!!!!
We do!!! 🙂
Maybe I’m biased, but I don’t think you can beat a good ‘British Strawb’ in peak season. They remind me so much of being a little girl and wandering around the Strawberry Fields with my mum. I think I had more strawberries in my tummy and on my white sandals than I did in the tub. It’s such a happy memory and something that I can’t wait to recreate with our boys.
The official season runs from late April to Early October. That means we are bang in the middle of sweet season now, making them ultra tasty and cheap…what more of an excuse do we need to fill up on these delicious treats?
I’m no chef and this is by no means a ‘serious recipe’ post (you would be much better off googling Delia for that) but I do love food! I think it’s great to have some really simple, quick and easy puds up your sleeve for a midweek treat or even if you have guests over for lunch or dinner.
Below are two of my favourite ways to knock something together quickly with your strawberries. Archie loves getting involved too as they look quite impressive and require very little work. A bonus is that they are pretty healthy, so perhaps one of the best things for little people to be having for pudding.
A few Strawberry facts before we get started:
A quintessentially British treat, 28,000kg of strawberries were consumed at Wimbledon this year, washed down with 7000 litres of fresh cream…YUM!!
Strawberries actually whiten your teeth!! The acids in them remove stains.
Just 8 strawberries contains more Vitamin C than a large orange.
In the 16th century, strawberries were sold in cone-shaped straw baskets thus becoming one of the earliest packaged foods.
This is my favourite…Strawberries are not berries and are actually part of the Rose family!
Good Old Eton Mess
There’s nothing better on a warm summers day after a light lunch in the sunshine.
To make enough for 4 hungry people, you will need:
4 Meringue Nests
300ml Double Cream
350g British Strawberries
A teaspoon of Caster sugar
These measurements are all approximate, just make it how you like it, more strawberries, less cream etc…
Method
Crumble the meringue with your fingers (Archie’s favourite job), keeping some bits quite large and the rest like a sweet dust. The Waitrose meringue nests are particularly good as they’ve got a nice chewy centre.
Whip the double cream into soft peaks. Add a large handful of your crumbled meringue to the cream and mix.
Cut 3/4 of the strawberries however you would like them. A mix of different sizes is good in the mess.
To make a Coulis:
Blitz the remaining strawberries with a teaspoon of sugar in a food processor until smooth. Strain through a sieve if you wish to make it really smooth.
Now it’s time to build your mess!!
We sometimes like to put each component into it’s own pretty bowl (Anthropologie have some gorgeous ones) and mix ourselves at the table.
Archie loves this ‘build your own’ stuff, and each person can make it how they wish.
If you’re preparing it ahead of time, simply mix the meringue, strawberries and cream together in a large bowl.
Just before you serve, ripple the Strawberry Coulis through the mix…and Hey Presto! delicious Eton Mess in minutes!!
Enjoy with a cold glass of Chapel Down English Sparkling Wine for the adults, or Belvoir Sparkling Elderflower Presse for the children and preggos!
The Easiest Strawberry Flan
This is total cheat, but tastes so delicious and looks pretty impressive too!
You don’t need to use ‘just strawberries’, you can use whatever you like, or a mix of summer fruits.
To make a large flan for 6 hungry people, you will need:
One Large Flan Case
400g British Strawberries
A sachet of Greens Quick Gel
Extra Thick Jersey Double Cream – to serve
Method
Simply cut up your strawberries and lay in your flan base. You can lay them cut-side up, or down, or a mix of both. Make sure you fill the base as much as possible so no flan shows through.
Make your Quick Gel as per the instructions on the pack.
Once almost cool, spoon over the strawberries, ensuring that every strawberry has a glossy coating of gel.
If you want it to look really professional use a pastry brush.
Pop it in the fridge for 20mins or so to set…and thats it!!!
A delicious Strawberry Flan to serve with a drizzle of double cream and a nice espresso or cup of tea.
It’s also particularly good after a few hours, when your guests have gone home and the strawberry juice has soaked into the flan and made it all mushy…mmmmm!!
There are so many other ways to enjoy your Great British Strawbs too. With Scones and Clotted Cream (YUM!!), in a boozy Trifle, chewy Pavlova or…ahem…all of the healthy options too!!
Let’s make the most of them while their at their very best. Happy munching!! 🙂
