That's right! It's all about the layers dahling! A verrine, hailing from France, is a series of layers (sweet or savoury) held in a glass. My inspiration for this recipe, was from Béa over at La Tartine Gourmande. She uses pistachios, which adds a lovely fleck of green to the dessert. Sadly, I couldn't find any, so replaced them with crushed hazelnuts.
Summer Dessert: Strawberry Verrine
Timing:Preparation: 10 minutes
*Additional time is required for refrigeration of strawberries with sugar and for setting the verrine*
Cooking: 12 minutes
Portion Control:
Serves 2
Ingredients:
200g of strawberries, with each strawberry cut into 1/2 inch pieces1 tbsp of granulated white sugar1.5 tbsp of crushed hazelnuts6 sponge fingers, with each finger cut into 3 partsFor the Custard (Crème Anglaise)1.25 cups of whole (full-fat) milk2 egg yolks1 tbsp of cornflour1 tbsp of granulated white sugar1 vanilla bean (split open with seeds scraped out/removed)Directions:
- In a large bowl, combine the strawberries with 1tbsp of hazelnuts and the sugar. Mix together gently. Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours.This will produce a wonderful strawberry syrup.
- To make the custard, put the milk in a saucepan with the vanilla seeds and bean. Heat gently until it just reaches boiling point. While the milk is heating, put the egg yolks, cornflour and sugar in a bowl and whisk until well combined. Pour the hot milk in a thin stream over the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Give the saucepan a quick rinse out then pour the egg and milk mixture back into the saucepan. Cook very gently over a low heat, stirring or whisking constantly, until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Take the pan off the heat and transfer to a clean bowl. Let the custard cool completely, stirring occasionally to prevent a skin from forming.
- Prepare two cup size glasses. In each glass, arrange a layer of sponge fingers (3 fingers per glass) and a layer of strawberries (reserve some strawberries for the last layer). Add a layer of custard and finish with the remaining fruit. Cover each verrine with cellophane. Refrigerate for several hours, or even, overnight.
- Before serving, garnish each verrine with the remaining 0.5 tbsp of hazelnuts.
Garnish with crushed hazelnuts before serving
This is a good choice for Summer dinner parties as you can prepare everything in advance without neglecting your guests! Raspberries and blueberries can also be used.