AVA Berries

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Strawberry and Lemon Meringue Sundae

Recipes / by

This ice cream sundae uses AVA strawberries in 3 ways: as part of a sauce; as a strawberry ice cream; and with pieces of the macerated fruit running through the sundae. The inclusion of lemon curd adds an extra level of freshness, which is then balanced out by the Italian meringue topping.

There are lots of parts to this recipe which can be bought already made, making it a really easy one to put together eg. the meringue base, the vanilla ice cream and the lemon curd. I would suggest you try to have a go at the Italian Meringue – it gives that beautiful shiny topping and adds a real balance of sweetness to the sundae.

Strawberry Ice Cream

  • 300ml double cream
  • 300ml whole milk
  • 115g caster sugar
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 300g AVA strawberries blitzed in a food processor with 2 tbsp caster sugar and a squeeze of lemon
  1. Heat a pan with the milk and cream until it just comes to simmer point. Add the vanilla bean paste and infuse for a couple of minutes.
  2. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy (this could take a couple of minutes)
  3. Pour the milk and cream mixture over the eggs and combine. Now return to the pan and bring up to a temperature of 82C or until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon
  4. Chill the custard mixture in the fridge and mix with the blitzed strawberries
  5. Once cool, either add to an ice cream maker and churn for 45 minutes, or place in the freezer. If you place in the freezer, remove every hour or so and blitz in a food processor. Repeat the process until fully frozen.

Strawberry Sauce

  • 250g AVA strawberries
  • 2 tbsps caster sugar
  • 2 tbsps lemon juice
  • Cut the strawberries into small pieces and place in a pan with the sugar and lemon juice
  • Bring to the simmer and cook gently until the strawberries are soft
  • Use a stick blender or food processor to blitz until smooth
  • Pass through a sieve to get a nice smooth strawberry sauce

Lemon Curd

  • 2 unwaxed lemons, zest and juice
  • 100g unrefined caster sugar
  • 50g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
  • 1 free-range eggs, plus 1 free-range egg yolk
  1. Put the lemon zest and juice, sugar and butter into a heatproof bowl. Sit the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, making sure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl. Stir the mixture every now and again until all of the butter has melted.
  2. Whisk the eggs and egg yolk and stir them into the lemon mixture. Whisk until all of the ingredients are well combined, then leave to cook for 10 minutes, stirring every now and again, until the mixture is creamy and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
  3. Remove the lemon curd from the heat and set aside to cool, stirring occasionally as it cools. Once cooled, use some of the curd in the sundae and store the remainder in a sterilised jar for future use.

Meringue Kisses

  • 2 egg whites
  • 100g caster sugar
  1. Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until you get stiff peaks
  2. Add the caster sugar spoon at a time until glossy
  3. Pipe the mini meringues onto a lined baking tray and place in the oven at 100C for 1 hour. Turn the oven off and leave meringues there until oven is cold.

Italian Meringue

  • 3 egg whites
  • 170g caster sugar 
  1. Whisk the egg whites using stand or hand mixer until they reach stiff peaks
  2. Put the sugar into a small pan with 4 tbsp of water and put over a low-medium heat, swirling the pan gently until the sugar is dissolved. Turn up the heat and simmer until it reads 120C on a sugar thermometer.
  3. Beat the egg whites and slowly pour the syrup mixture in, turning the bowl as you do. Continue to beat the mixture for 2-3 minutes until it is thick and glossy. The egg white is fully cooked now and can be left to stand for a few hours if you are not ready to use immediately.

To Assemble the Sundae

Crush the meringue at the bottom of a sundae glass. Scoop some of the strawberry ice cream and any other flavour you like on top. Add a layer of fresh cut strawberries, lemon curd and strawberry sauce, then another layer of ice cream. Finally, top the sundae with some of the italian meringue – piped on top in a swirl. Use a blow torch to brown the top.