Strawberry Cheescake Ice Cream

Ingredients
2 Cups Double Cream
1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
125g Cream Cheese
3 Eggs (yolks only)
2/3 Cup Sugar
25g Frozen Strawberries

Equipment
1 Sauce Pan
1 Mixing Bowl
1 Balloon Whisk
1 Wooden Spoon
1 Large Pan (1/2 filled with simmering water)
1 Sieve
1 Airtight Container

The Good Bit

1. Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium high heat just to the point where it begins to foam up then remove from heat, meanwhile, in your mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy (about two minutes)
2. Slowly pour the heated cream into the mixture, be sure to continue whisking constantly so that the eggs do not curdle, strain out any lumps before the next step. Place the bowl over your pan of simmering water and stir constantly, cook until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon
3. Remove from the heat and stir to cool so it does not overcook, add in the vanilla extract and strawberries then cover and allow to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate several hours before freezing.
   
4. Check every so often and scrape ice from the sides of your freezer container, keep giving the mixture a good whip to help stop ice crystals forming in your ice cream
   

Strawberry Sorbet

Ingredients

2 Cups Water
2 Cups Sugar
2 1/2Kg Strawberries (hulled)
4 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
4 Tablespoons Grand Mariner (optional)

Equipment

1 Blender
1 Large Pan
1 Airtight Container
1 Metal Fork
1 Tablespoon

The Good Bit

1. Start by bring your sugar and water to the boil, you want to get to the point where the syrup is clear, then simmer for 5 minutes, then allow to cool (i usually hold my pan in a bowl of cold water at this point to speed things up, then i place it in the fridge)
2. Whilst you are waiting for your syrup to cool, pass your strawberries through the blender until you have a smooth paste, then add them to the syrup along with the lemon juice and grand mariner (if using) and give a good stir the pour in your container and place in the freezer.
3. You may have to check every 30 minutes or so to make sure ice is forming, when it does begin, scrape/stir the sorbet so that it doesn't just form one big block of ice. enjoy out in the sun!!! (why not try 1 scoop of 3 different sorbets!!)

Chilled Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients
125g Dark Chocolate (plus extra for decoration)
125g Caster Sugar
4 Eggs (separated)
300ml Double Cream (plus extra for topping)
2 Strawberries (halved)

Equipment
1 Electric Whisk
1 Small Bowl (large enough to sit in a small pan of water without touching the bottom)
At Least 2 Large Mixing Bowls
1 Small Pan

The Good Bit

1. Start by half filling your pan with water, you then want to place the bowl inside it that will sit in the water and rest against the sides without touching the bottom (we don't want to burn the chocolate) under a low heat, simmer the water and add the chocolate to the bowl and melt slowly and carefully.
2. In 1 of your mixing bowl add the egg yolks and sugar and whisk with the electric whisk until it is light but firm, Remove the chocolate from the heat once it is well melted and allow to cool for about a minute before adding to the egg mixture, whisk this well too.
3. In another bowl, whisk the double cream until it is thick, then whisk this into the chocolate mixture. now finally in another bowl whisk the 4 egg whites until they hold firm peaks, gently fold 1 tablespoon of the egg white into your chocolate mixture then fold in half of the rest until it is well mixed in the lightly fold in the rest. Place into serving dishes and chill
   
4. To serve i whisked up a little more cream and spooned it on top, i then grated a little chocolate over the top of the cream then topped off with a strawberry half, but you can be inventive here and top how you like.
   

Serves 8

Melon And Strawberry Salad

Ingredients
3 Melons (try to pick 3 different ones like, honeydew, watermelon, galia and 3 the same size otherwise use half a large watermelon)
225g Strawberries
1 Lemon (juiced)
Honey
Fresh Mint For Decoration

Equipment
1 Melon Baller
1 SHARP Knife
1 Chopping Board
1 Large Fruit Bowl
1 Spoon

The Good Bit

1. Cut your melons in half and take out the seeds, get to work with the melon baller, placing all your bowls in a large fruit bowl.
2. Wash and take the green stems off the strawberries and cut them in half then mix in gently with the melon.
3. Mix A tablespoon of lemon juice with a tablespoon of water and 1 tablespoon of honey then drizzle this over the fruit, then finally chop some mint up and sprinkle over.

Serves 4

Meringue Magic

Ingredients
1 Box Meringue nest (usually come in sixes, some poor sod is gonna have to have two!! Chefs Bonus)
1 250g Tub Mascarpone Cheese
150ml Single Cream
1 Tablespoon Icing Sugar
Fruit of Your Choice (hardish fruit is better for cutting, strawberries work well as do peaches, it's up to you, as little or as much as you like, less makes it easier to decorate, say 2 strawberries each)
1 Bottle Toffee Sauce (or chocolate)
1 Bag Chopped Mixed Nuts (check nobody has a nut allergy, smack em if they have!!)

Equipment
1 Mixing Bowl
1 Fork
1 Spoon
1 Knife
1 Chopping Board
Imagination.

The Good Bit

1. This takes seconds but looks amazing!! mix the mascarpone with cream and icing sugar in a bowl, that's the hard bit done!
2. Slice the fruit however you like (strawberries 1/2 or 1/4 them, peaches cut into slices so 1 peach could do all four), fill 4 of the meringue nests with a good scoop of the cream, decorate however you like with the fruit.
3. Sprinkle over some of the chopped mixed nuts, then do something arty with the toffee sauce, serve and enjoy, if you are the chef there are 2 nests left over, a sneaky one for you and 1 for someone special!

Serves 4