Don’t be intimidated by this recipe. Please try it, even if just for the strawberry juice, which is brilliant – especially in a glass of chilled Champagne!
1.For strawberry juice, chop strawberries roughly and place in a metal bowl.
2.Add sugar and lemon juice, mix then cover securely with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place for 4 hours then transfer to the fridge and leave overnight.
3.In the morning you should find this amazing, clear strawberry juice and some old and tired strawberries in the bowl. Gently strain off the juice and discard the strawberries. Cover and keep chilled.
Strawberry terrine
4.For the terrine, hull the strawberries. If your mould is small, you may wish to slice strawberries (see tip).
5.Soak gelatine in ice-cold water until soft. Warm a little bit of your juice, mix in gelatine until it dissolves, then stir in rest of juice (except for a few tablespoons to dress dessert).
6.Line a terrine mould with plastic wrap.
7.Add strawberries to jelly liquid, mix and stir in mint. Pour into mould and leave in fridge to set for at least 4 hours (overnight is best, though).
Mascarpone
8.For the mascarpone, gently mix ingredients together (including pod and seeds) and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
9.Chill a nice white plate for a couple of minutes in the fridge. Take plastic wrap off terrine.
To assemble
10.Using a knife dipped in hot water, thinly slice terrine and layer onto plate like a carpaccio.
11.Dress with a little lemon oil, strawberries and reserved juice. Add a dollop of mascarpone (remove pod) and garnish with mint. If you like, add a little gold leaf for an opulent touch and scatter with edible flowers.
• Think about what you’ll set your terrine in – I use a special round casing normally used for sausage-making, which means I get nice round slices when I cut it. But you might have a terrine mould, baking dish or even an old ice cream container – it doesn’t matter. • What does matter is the size of the strawberries in relation to your vessel. If you have large strawberries and a small, narrow vessel, you might consider slicing them into small pieces (rather than leaving them whole) so they fit better. You want there to be lots of strawberries and not much jelly. • Alternative serving suggestion: You could use a martini glass as the mould and serve it as is, with no slicing – the result will be just as spectacular (but just use two leaves of gelatine).
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