Infused Cream by Amy Claridge
Cream is perfect with strawberries, but if you want to add some variety or surprise your guests, you can add a little extra flavour into your cream. Best with fresh strawberries served at room temperature or strawberries that have been sprinkled with sugar in a dish, which is then covered with a lid or cling film and left in the fridge for a few hours at least. This is a very easy recipe and could be fun for children to help with.
Method
Put the cream into a dish. Add the herbs. Poke them with a fork until they are all just about submerged. Cover the dish with a lid or cling film, and put in the fridge, ideally overnight. When you are ready, empty the dish into a fine mesh sieve over a large bowl, and press until you have virtually all of the cream in the dish. Whip with an electric hand whisk until soft peaks have formed. Serve immediately, or chill until you are ready.
Ingredients
One carton of organic double cream - 284 mls is fine and enough for four
One handful of fresh herbs - lemon-balm, mint or a few sprigs of rosemary - rinsed under the tap and shaken dry.
Variations: Anything that will hold its own form and won’t go mushy when soaked will work for this dish. You need things with a fabulous fragrance if infusing is to work. If the suggestion of rosemary sounds odd, then try with poached plums or a plum tart - lovely. But you could also try loose jasmine tea (add a little lime to your strawberries when macerating with sugar); any other scented tea such as a herbal teabag; crushed cardamom; crushed star anise; vanilla pod of course, just split it and scrap the seeds in as well. Things I haven’t tried but I think will work so have a practice first in case they don’t: fresh basil, fresh root ginger peelings, a chopped up red chilli! I imagine chill infused cream might be nice with a rich chocolate mousse....but I could be wrong!)
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