Strawberry Recipes

At the moment, we are picking an incredible amount of strawberries every day, so it's really nice to find some nice recipes for them, apart from just having them with cream.  Here's some of the things that I like to do.

STRAWBERRY AND CINNAMON TORTE

I have been doing this torte for quite a few years and it never fails to please!

175g ground almonds
175g butter softened
175g golden caster sugar
175g self-raising flour
1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon
1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
450g strawberries, sliced
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180c/gas 4.  Line the base of a loose-bottomed 23cm cake tin with greaseproof paper and butter the sides.  Or you can do, as I do, and use one of those rubbery type cake moulds...for want of a word....as no buttering or lining of paper to do!

Mix almonds, butter, sugar, flour cinnamon, egg and egg yolk in a food processor just until the ingredients are evenly combined. 

Spread half the mixture over the base of the tin in a smooth layer with no gaps -easiest to do this with two forks.  Lay the sliced strawberries on top.  Add the remaining cake mixture and spread it as best you can, but don't worry if a few strawberries peep through.

Bake for 1 hour (it may need an exra 5 mins) but check after 40 minutes - if it is getting too brown, cover loosely with foil.  The torte should be slightly risen and dark golden brown when cooked.

Cool in the tin slightly, then loosen the edges with a knife and remove from the tin. Slide the torte onto a plate and sprinkle with a dusting of icing sugar.  Serve warm or cold, in wedges with dollops of cream.  Yummy!

ETON MESS

Having had some egg whites left over, I decided to make some meringues and to use up some strawberries and some of that lovely cream that Mr TK brought back, so decided to make an Eton Mess.

First make the meringues:-

2 egg whites
110g white caster sugar

Put your oven on to heat up - quick high setting - In a clean bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff, then add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time, the mixture should then be quite thick and shiny.  Place spoonfuls onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.

Then place the baking tray into the oven and immediately turn the oven down to gas 1/275f/140c and leave them for 30 minutes.  After that, turn the oven off and leave the meringues to dry out in the warmth of the oven until it is completely cold (usually about 4 hrs or overnight). 

The meringues will store very well in a tin or polythene box and will freeze extremely well. 

Make the Eton Mess:

There are many versions of this, but this is what I like to do, I've no set quantities, so adapt as required.

•1 punnet strawberries

•a dash of sugar
•a dash of port
•meringues, broken up
•cream, softly whipped

Mash the strawberries with a little sugar and port, and fold in broken meringues and softly whipped cream.

Et Voila!