Her mother's from Brazil, she grew up in Italy and her grandfather lived in Mexico – Ottolenghi protégé Ixta Belfrage fuses her background into her food in her cookbook Mezcla: Recipes to Excite, which celebrates everyday eating with built-in wow factor. Like this scrumptious dessert.
"The lime-roasted strawberries and peanut fudge sauce are essentially a refined combination of peanut butter and jelly, and boy do they sing together!" she says. "Here I serve them with a simple whipped yoghurt, but you could serve with plain yoghurt or shop-bought ice cream."
Ingredients
Roasted strawberries
| 300g | frozen strawberries, defrosted |
| 50g | caster sugar |
| ½ | lime |
| 2 | cinnamon sticks, roughly broken |
Whipped yoghurt
| 150g | mascarpone, fridge-cold |
| 200g | yoghurt, fridge-cold |
| ½ tsp | vanilla bean paste |
| 1 Tbsp | maple syrup |
Peanut fudge sauce
| 50g | smooth peanut butter |
| 1½ Tbsp | cocoa powder |
| 75g | maple syrup |
| 1 tsp | soy sauce (or tamari) |
| 1½ Tbsp | water |
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C fan/220°C.
- For the roasted strawberries: Place all the ingredients in an ovenproof dish just big enough to fit the strawberries in a single layer. They should be snug, but not piled on top of each other. Bake for 20 minutes, stirring halfway. Set aside to cool.
- For the whipped yoghurt: Place the mascarpone, yoghurt, vanilla paste and maple syrup in a large bowl and whisk together until completely smooth. Keep the bowl in the fridge until ready to serve.
- For the peanut fudge sauce: Whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl until smooth. You may need to add more water or maple syrup, depending on the thickness of your peanut butter. You're looking for a smooth, thick but pourable consistency.
- In individual glasses, layer the chilled yoghurt with the warm strawberries and the fudge sauce and serve.
Make ahead The fudge sauce and strawberries will keep for 3 days refrigerated.
Edited extract from Mezcla by Ixta Belfrage. Published by Ebury Press. RRP $65
