Wimbledon is just a few short weeks away, which means strawberry season will soon be upon us. Managing director of Beales Gourmet at The Italian Villa, Tony Beales, shares his idea for the best use of these treasures

New Forest Strawberry Pavlova

Serves 6

Prep time 15 mins

Cooking time: 1hr

For the meringue:

  • 4 egg whites
  • 110g caster sugar
  • 110g icing sugar
  • 20g cornflour

For the Chantilly cream:

  • 300ml double cream
  • 2 tbs icing sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla seeds

To decorate:

  • 1 punnet of New Forest strawberries, hulled & halved
  • 50g pistachio praline
  • 50g dehydrated strawberry pieces
  • 150ml strawberry coulis
  • 4 strawberry coulis bombs

Preheat oven to 110° C. Prepare an oven tray with baking parchment. Ensure you have a grease-free clean mixing bowl. Whisk the whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks are formed, gradually add caster sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until thick and glossy.

Spoon whites onto the baking tray to form round craters with the sides slightly higher than the middle (which makes your pavlova base). Bake for 1 hour, turn off the heat and allow to cool in the oven. Half whip the double cream with the icing sugar and vanilla seeds.

To serve, spoon the cream onto the pavlova bases and arrange the prepared strawberries equally. With a spoon, drag the coulis across your plates. Place your pavlova onto the plate and finish with a sprinkling of pistachio praline, dehydrated strawberries and a strawberry bomb in the middle.