Early-season strawberries are often pretty tasteless, but sometimes you just can’t resist buying them because they remind you that spring is here. Usually I brighten up dull strawberries by halving them and marinating with a little sugar and a splash of Carthagène or Muscat for a few hours; this really brings out what flavour they have. I’ve also been known to use black pepper and balsamic vinegar. Today I found another way of enhancing them which made a very nice change.
It seems a terrible oversight that I do not yet have an entry for ile flottante, my favourite French nursery dessert. This is ace home cook Louisette’s way of doing it. This is one large island — the spoon-sized blobs of egg white floating in a sea of custard are oeufs à la neige. Ile flottante is easier to get right in my opinion, and certainly more manageable when cooking for a crowd.
These really are an “amuse-gueule” — when you bite into the crisp caramel coating, the sweet tomato inside explodes with juice. We had the recipe from one of our favourite local restaurants, the Relais du Val d’Orbieu.
… inspired by a recipe for white chocolate and lime mousse. The flavours complement each other surprisingly well. Use good-quality chocolate with a high proportion of cocoa butter (i.e. 25%), not the Milky-Bar type which won’t melt properly.
A good way of using melons that are not as tasty as they might be. We use the local Charentais melons (which are wonderful), but you could use any sweet melon (ideally with orange flesh, because it looks nice).
Instead of buying ready-made cream desserts from the supermarket, make these instead — they take only minutes to do and are much nicer.
Original recipe by Aldo Zilli. Serve with a coulis of raspberries or mixed red fruit or, if calories and cholesterol are no object, with butterscotch sauce.