Soft lemon meringue with strawberry salad

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Sweet strawberries and tart lemon are a perfect flavour pairing, and Adam Gray's beautiful Summer dessert recipe is a fantastic example. With a refreshing strawberry sorbet, crisp meringue and tangy lemon curd, this dessert ticks all the boxes for flavour, texture and visual appeal.

First published in 2015

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Strawberry sorbet

Lemon curd

Meringues

Strawberry coulis

Strawberry salad

To serve

Equipment

  • Ice cream maker
  • Blender
  • Food processor with a whisk attachment
  • Squeezy bottle
  • Fine strainer
  • Piping bag with plain nozzle

Method

1
Start by making the strawberry sorbet. Hull, wash and roughly chop the strawberries. Combine in a blender with the sugar and lemon juice and blitz until very smooth and the sugar dissolves
2
Pass through a fine strainer and churn in an cream maker according to the manufacturers' instructions. Freeze until required
3
Place the caster sugar, butter, lemon juice and zest in a bowl and place over a saucepan of boiling water, without the base of the bowl touching the water. Once the butter has melted, beat vigorously until the mixture comes together
4
Beat in the egg yolks and continue cooking for a further 15–20 minutes until the curd has thickened. Remove from the heat, leave to cool to room temperature then place the curd in a sealed container until required
5
Preheat the oven 100°C/gas mark 1/4
6
For the meringue, whisk the egg whites in a food mixer (you can also do this by hand) until they reach soft peaks. While the mixer is still running, slowly add the caster sugar and continue to mix until stiff peaks form
7
Pipe the meringue into 8cm wide domes on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Place in the oven for 1 hour until firm. Remove from the oven and leave to cool to room temperature before using
8
For the strawberry coulis, roughly chop the strawberries and place in a small saucepan with the icing sugar. Place on a low-medium heat and stir every few minutes for 15 minutes, or until the strawberries have broken down and are very soft
9
While still hot, blend the mix until smooth and pass through a fine strainer. Allow to cool and transfer to a squeezy bottle until required
10
To serve, mix the quartered strawberries with a little of the strawberry coulis. Finely shred the fresh mint leaves with a sharp knife and add to the strawberry mix
11
Gently press the underside of each meringue to make an indentation and pipe in the lemon curd. Spoon a circular pile of the strawberry salad onto each serving plate and place the lemon curd meringues on top
12
Behind the meringue, spoon a little of the fresh vanilla custard and place a scoop of the strawberry sorbet on top. Serve immediately
First published in 2015

Adam Gray pulls off classic British flavours with grace, intelligence and admirable lightness of touch.

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