Matt Weedon's summery dessert is a veritable ode to the strawberry. A white chocolate and strawberry cheesecake is accompanied by strawberry salad, strawberry sorbet and strawberry gel to add a cheffy touch to the dish, and is garnished with crumbled meringue. For an extra crunch, add a nut tuille of your choice to finish the dish.
Add the sugar and egg whites to a clean metal bowl for the Swiss meringue. Place over a pan of simmering water and whisk until a sugar thermometer shows the mixture has reached 50°C. Remove from the heat and continue to whisk as the meringue cools (to room temperature)
Spread the cooled meringue over a mat and let crisp up overnight in a dehydrator. Break the finished meringue into small pieces ready for the garnish
For the base, use a food processor to blitz the biscuits to a crumb. Mix the biscuit crumb, syrup and butter together in a saucepan until melted and combined
On a flat baking tray or chopping board, roll the mixture to a ½ cm thickness between two sheets of parchment paper and leave in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes. Remove the top sheet of parchment paper and put a 20cm x 30cm metal pastry mould / tin 2cm deep onto the rolled out mix. Firmly press down the mould / tin so that it trims the pastry to fit. Remove any excess pastry and put it back in the fridge with the mould still in place
To make the white chocolate mousse, put a large bowl over a pan of simmering water and melt the chocolate. Once melted, take off the heat and keep warm
Immerse the gelatine in iced water until it softens, and then add in to 60g of boiled cream, stirring until dissolved. Cover it to keep warm. Whip the remaining cream until it forms soft peaks and mix together with the chocolate and gelatine. Put it in the fridge for 4 hours to set
Once it has set, whisk until smooth and beat in the cream cheese. Transfer the mixture to the biscuit base and use a palette knife to smooth it out so it is evenly distributed before placing back in the fridge
Blitz the strawberries in a blender until smooth and pass it through a fine sieve to make a strawberry purée
For the jelly layer, immerse the gelatine in iced water until soft. Meanwhile, add the icing sugar along with a small amount of the strawberry purée to a saucepan and heat gently. Add in the gelatine and stir until completely dissolved. Mix in the lemon juice and the remaining purée. Take off the heat and leave the jelly to cool to room temperature. Once the cheesecake has set, top with a layer of jelly and put back in the fridge
Make the strawberry gel by putting a saucepan over a medium heat and adding in the hulled strawberries and sugar. Cook them slowly until they start to break up, but make sure they do not turn to slush
Transfer the contents of the pan into a blender and blitz till smooth. Use a sieve to strain the purée to get rid of any lumps, and then add it to a saucepan with the agar agar. Put it on a low heat and gently whisk the mixture until the agar agar has dissolved. Store the mixture in a flat container in the fridge to set. Once it has set, break it down in a blender and then put it in a squeeze bottle so it is ready to serve
To make the sorbet, put the strawberries in a blender and blitz them for a minute. Put the water, glucose and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat and dissolve the sugar, then take off the heat and leave to cool
Mix the syrup with the lemon juice and strawberry purée and churn in an ice cream maker. Leave it in the freezer until needed
Lastly, mix the strawberry salad ingredients together until thoroughly combined
Assemble the dish by cutting out a slice of the cheesecake using a sharp knife that has been heated in hot water. Put it on a plate with some of the strawberry salad. Garnish with bits of meringue, a generous scoop of strawberry sorbet and a piping of strawberry gel. For an added garnish, a nut tuille or wafer can be balanced on top. Serve straight away
