Strawberry Gratin

We are lucky enough to have strawberry plants in the garden and they are doing rather well. Although they taste lovely fresh off the bush with a dusting of powder sugar, a fine sprinkling of Grand Manier and a breath of cayenne pepper, this is rather nice too.

What you need

• 400 g strawberries, halved
• 1 egg, beaten
• vanilla sugar to taste
• 100 ml cream, whipped
• 1 dash of port
• 1 dash of sloe gin or Cointreau (optional)
• powdered sugar to taste
• a sprig of lemon balm, finely chopped
• a sprig of fresh mint, finely chopped

What you do

1. Lay the strawberry halves, cut side down in one layer into an flat oven-proof dish. Dust with powder sugar and sprinkle with chopped lemon balm.
2. Beat the egg with the vanilla sugar and the port (and liqueur if using). (alternatively you can separate the egg and only do this with the yolk. Whisk the egg white until it is stiff.
3. Whip the cream.
4. Fold in the cream (and the egg white) and pour over the strawberries; sprinkle with fresh mint (alternatively you can both herbs at the end).
5. Put under the (superhot) grill and allow a light-brown crust to form (should be less than 5 min). Serve immediately.

"Sun-dried tomato" Paste

Here's a quick fix for a sandwich or a crostini topping. This may not be so terribly seasonal as the ingredients can be got anytime in the year, but I usually measure how good a summer was by the number of jars of this stuff we go through.

 What you need:
As I have pointed out elsewhere, I don't normally measure or weigh. Any variation of the list below means either a more garlicky, a more tomatoey or a spicier flavour.

• 300g sun-dried tomatoes in oil with the oil largely drained (especially if it is not extra vergine olive oil)
• 1 cayenne or chili pepper, de-pipped if you don't want it too spicy
• 5 to 7 cloves of garlic

What you do:

1. Precut the tomatoes and add a little olive oil if they are too dry.
2. Finely chop the pepper(s).
3. Peel the garlic (obvious really) and, depending on the efficacy of your blender, cut nor mash
4. Process the ingredients to a consistency of a paste or a fine tartar

Store in a jar in the fridge; this keeps for several weeks, unless, as is usually the case, it is eaten before that...