Sweet Eve Strawberry and Vanilla Brown Sugar Toasted Brioche Sandwich

If you are after a really sumptuous breakfast or brunch treat, then look no further.

The rich buttery flavour of brioche is used to sandwich ripe strawberries and vanilla infused sugar.

The perfect morning sandwich and so much prettier than bacon and eggs!

Serves 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Toasting time: 6 minutes

8 slices of brioche bread

400g ripe Sweet Eve strawberries

Unsalted butter for spreading

100g soft brown cane sugar

1 heaped tsp of vanilla bean paste

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Cover a roasting tray with aluminium foil, and place the eight slices of toast on the tray. Toast till golden brown, roughly 3 minutes each side.

The brioche bread will go crispy. Set aside for a few minutes to cool down slightly.

Hull the strawberries with a teaspoon, and then slice them in quarters. Place in a bowl, add the vanilla bean paste and the sugar, and then mix well.

Take four slices of toasted brioche, spread each thinly with butter, then spoon some of the strawberry mixture on top of each. Top each with another slice of toasted brioche, to form a sandwich.

Serve each toasted brioche sandwich on individual serving plates, with a spoonful or two of extra strawberries on the side.

Sweet Eve Strawberries with Pink Lady Apple Sorbet

On a hot summer’s day, this is the perfect dessert recipe. The sweet tanginess of Pink Lady apples makes a wonderful sorbet flavour, and the strawberries bring fragrance and softness to the icy texture. If you want to add a splash of pinkness to the sorbet grenadine is the perfect cordial and can be found in any good supermarket or delicatessen.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Freezing time: 1 hour

500g Sweet Eve strawberries

6 Pink Lady® apples

Zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon

4 tbsp of grenadine cordial

50ml elderflower cordial

100g caster sugar

4 sprigs of mint for decoration

Hull the Sweet Eve strawberries and slice them into small pieces. Set half aside in a cling filmed bowl for decoration.

Peel, core and thinly slice the Pink Lady® apples, and place them in a blender with the rest of the strawberries lemon zest and juice, Grenadine cordial, Elderflower cordial and sugar. Puree till the mixture is completely smooth.

Place the strawberry and apple puree in a clean Tupperware container, smooth it with a fork till it is completely level and then close with a plastic lid.

Freeze the puree for half an hour. Then whisk it through with a fork, and re-level it. Freeze again till quite solid, but of spooning consistency.

Place a generous spoonful of strawberry and apple sorbet in a serving dish, and top it with the chopped strawberries.

Sweet Eve Strawberry Ripple Mascarpone Cheese Parfait

A parfait or semifreddo is just a frozen pudding. It is a very simple way of making a very delicious type of ice-cream but without too much stirring, leaving the cook ample time to focus on other preparations. Mascarpone cream cheese, from the north of Italy, is a very good ingredient to accompany strawberries. The crunchy Amaretti biscuits and Amaretto liqueur in the recipe add a delicious bitter almond flavour to cut through the creaminess of the pudding. All ingredients can be found in a good supermarket or delicatessen.

Serves 6

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Freezing time: 12 hours (or overnight)

100g soft Amaretti biscuits

Splash of Amaretto liqueur

400g Sweet Eve strawberries

4 fresh free range eggs, separated

100g caster sugar

250g Mascarpone cream cheese

Carefully line the base and the sides of a 1 litre plastic lunch box, or plastic Tupperware container with cling film that overlaps down the side. Set aside.

Crush the soft Amaretti biscuits all over the base of the lunch box, and drizzle some Amaretto liqueur over them.

Hull the strawberries and crush them in a bowl, using a fork. Spoon half of the crushed strawberries all over the Amaretti covered base of the lunch box.

Using an electric whisk, beat the egg yolks with the sugar, till light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites till they form soft peaks. Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk and sugar mix, carefully retaining the air inside the mix.

In a roomy bowl, whip the Mascarpone cream cheese until it is softened, then fold the egg mix into the Mascarpone cheese, a little at a time, until it is fully blended.

Sweet Eve Strawberry Tapas

This is such a simple and easy way of serving fresh, ripe seasonal strawberries at the end of a relaxed supper party. Everyone can get stuck into their preferred flavour combinations, and can taste each accompaniment. Ricotta is an Italian whey cheese and can be found in most supermarkets.

Let the sweet and fragrant taste of Sweet Eve strawberries speak for itself, or enhance it by dipping in this wonderful array of spices and flavours.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

500g fresh Sweet Eve strawberries

100g black pepper corns

100g red pepper corns

250g Ricotta cheese

½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon

100ml of aged traditional, balsamic vinegar from Modena

Zest of 1 unwaxed lemon

100g unrefined soft brown cane sugar

Hull and clean the strawberries, removing the green stem with a teaspoon. Slice the strawberries in half, and place them in a serving bowl on a tray. Prepare 5 more small bowls, serve all on the same tray.

Using a pestle and mortar, lightly crush the black pepper corns, and then place them in a small bowl, on the same tray as the strawberries.

Lightly crush the red pepper corns, as above, and place them in a separate bowl, again on the tray. Mix the ricotta in another bowl with the ground cinnamon Pour the balsamic vinegar in a small bowl. Place the lemon zest in another bowl, and mix in the sugar.

Serve the prepared tray to your guests, and they can dip each strawberry into the flavours alternatively.

Spoon half the Mascarpone mix over the crushed strawberries in the lunch box, and level the top with a spatula. Spoon the remaining half of the crushed strawberries on top of the Mascarpone cream, and then spoon the remaining half of the Mascarpone cream on top, as the final layer. Take a metal skewer, and very gently insert it into the mix, turning it around to create a “ripple” effect of red and white.

Bang the Tupperware box gently on the work surface, to evenly distribute the mix. Then cover the parfait mix with the overlapping cling film.

Freeze the parfait overnight. Just before serving place the open Tupperware box on the table, and place an upturned serving plate on top of it. Now turn the Tupperware box upside down, gently, so that the frozen parfait and the cling film slide down on the serving plate. Remove the cling film, and slice the parfait into individual portions. Serve.

Sweet Eve Strawberries macerated with Apple Juice, Honey and Mint

Macerating just means leaving the fruit to marinate, and the flavours used here, apple, mint and honey, complement the sweet and tangy flavours of Sweet Eve strawberries perfectly. If you leave the strawberries marinating for a good hour, the tanginess of the apple, the sweetness of the honey and the minty fragrance will create a mouth-watering combination.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Macerating time: 1 hour

500g of ripe Sweet Eve strawberries

250ml of cloudy apple juice

75ml of runny honey

A handful of fresh mint leaves, from the garden

Hull the strawberries using a teaspoon, then slice them in half lengthways and place them in a roomy bowl.

In a small jug, pour the apple juice and the runny honey and mix well. Tear the mint leaves into small pieces, and mix them into the liquid.

Pour the marinade over the strawberries and mix well but gently, making sure that you do not damage them. Clingfilm the bowl and set aside somewhere cool, but not the fridge, for one hour.

After an hour, remove the cling film, and give the strawberries another mix, to ensure they are all covered with the marinade. Serve into individual bowls.