Roasted Strawberries w/ White Chocolate
White chocolate, melted down and whipped through mascarpone cheese, is quite an intensely hedonistic pleasure. And of course, it’s made even better when served with a big dollop of oven- roasted strawberries and golden toasted almonds on top! If you’re serving it at a dinner party and want to look extra fancy, spoon the white chocolate mascarpone and strawberries into stemless wine glasses in alternating layers, before topping with the toasted almonds and a sprig of rosemary.
Roasted Strawberries w/ White Chocolate
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
For the roasted strawberries
650g strawberries, hulled
Juice and rind of 1 lemon
1⁄3 cup water
2 Tbsp brown sugar
For the white chocolate mascarpone
200g white chocolate
1⁄2 cup pouring cream
250g mascarpone cheese (at room temperature)
2 tsp vanilla essence
A pinch of salt
1⁄2 cup slivered almonds (to serve)
A sprig of rosemary, or mint (to serve)
Method
Preheat your oven to 220 ̊C conventional (200 ̊C fan forced).
Put all the ingredients for the roasted strawberries in a small bowl and toss to combine, then tip the whole thing onto an oven tray (including all the juice and liquids). Roast for 30 minutes, until the strawberries have collapsed into sweet, soft pillows and the juices they’ve been cooking in have started to turn syrupy.
Put the white chocolate and cream in a heatproof jug and place in the microwave, heating for only 15 seconds at a time, then stirring before returning it to the microwave. Stop microwaving as soon as the chocolate has melted and been fully incorporated into the cream (avoid overheating the chocolate as it can turn suddenly grainy and solid if cooked for too long). Once the cream and chocolate are smooth, fold in the mascarpone cheese along with the vanilla essence and a pinch of salt.
Spread the slivered almonds onto a baking tray and place under the grill very briefly. If you have a hot grill they may only need a minute or less. Keep a close eye on them and remove them once they have begun to turn a light golden brown.
To serve, spread a scoop of the white chocolate mascarpone onto a plate (or into a stemless wine glass), followed by a few spoonfuls of the strawberries (and the strawberry syrup from the roasting tray) then top with the almonds and a sprig of rosemary.
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