Roasted strawberries with licorice cream

Name: Roasted strawberries with licorice cream
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 6-8
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Ingredients: 1kg strawberries, stems removed; 1/4 cup (60g) castor sugar; juice of 1 lemon; 300ml pouring cream; 1 tbsp icing sugar; 3 tbsp Pernod Anise, pastis or sambuca; 1/2 cup flaked almonds, well toasted

Adam Liaw

September 20, 2016

For a complex flavour, strawberries are the dessert fruit of choice.William Meppem

easyTime:< 30 minsServes:6-8

For such a common fruit, the flavour of strawberries is anything but simple. There are aspects of pineapple, clove and caramel that combine to produce a flavour that's quite different to other berries. The aniseed compounds that give liquorice its flavour - anethole and glycyrrhizin - are incredibly sweet (13 and 40 times sweeter than sugar, respectively), and when the bitter caramel notes of the strawberry are enhanced by roasting, the sweet, spicy aniseed is a perfect combination.

Ingredients

1kg strawberries, stems removed
1/4 cup (60g) castor sugar
juice of 1 lemon
300ml pouring cream
1 tbsp icing sugar
3 tbsp Pernod Anise, pastis or sambuca
1/2 cup flaked almonds, well toasted

Method

1. Heat your oven to 200C. Toss the strawberries with the castor sugar and lemon juice. Roast in a deep baking tray for 15 minutes until the strawberries are soft, starting to caramelise and release their juices.
2. Whip the cream, icing sugar and the aniseed liqueur together to soft peaks.
3. To serve, place a few strawberries with their juice into a bowl or glass, top with the liquorice cream and scatter over the toasted almonds.