Soft Lemon Meringue with Strawberry Salad

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.

Preheat the oven 100°C/gas mark ¼.

To make the strawberry sorbet, add the strawberries to a blender with the sugar and lemon juice, blitz until all the sugar is dissolved and the mix is smooth.

Pass the strawberry mix through a fine strainer, add the strained liquid to an ice cream maker and churn as per the manufacturer’s instructions. Keep this frozen until required.

To make the lemon curd; add the caster sugar, butter, lemon juice and zest to a bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of boiling water ensuring that the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the water. Allow the butter to melt, beat vigorously until the mixture comes together.

Beat the egg yolks into the butter, sugar and lemon mixture and continue cooking for a further 15-20 minutes until the curd has thickened.

Remove it from the heat and leave to cool at room temperature; you can then place in a sealed container until required.

For the meringue, whisk the eggs whites until it is reaching soft peaks. Slowly add the caster sugar and continue to mix until stiff peaks are forming.

Use a piping bag to create 8cm wide domes with the meringue mix, on a greaseproof paper lined baking tray. Place the tray in the preheated oven for 1 hour until the meringues are firm. Remove from the oven and allow the meringues to reach room temperature before serving.

For the strawberry coulis; chop the strawberries roughly and add to a small saucepan with the icing sugar. Leave the pan on a low-medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes, or until the strawberries are very soft and have broken down.

While the strawberries are still hot, blend them until smooth. Pass the mixture through a fine strainer. Allow the strained liquid to cool, add to a squeezy bottle until needed.

To serve, mix the quartered strawberries with a little strawberry coulis. Finely shred the fresh mint and add to the quartered strawberry mix.

Gently push the bottom of the meringues to create an indentation, pipe in your lemon curd mixture into the meringues. Add a circular portion of the strawberry salad onto each serving plate, put the meringues on top.

Spoon a little of the fresh custard behind the meringue and some strawberry sorbet on top. Serve immediately.