Ripple Mascarpone Cheese Parfait

A parfait or semifreddo is just a frozen pudding. It is a very simple way of making a very delicious type of ice-cream but without too much stirring, leaving the cook ample time to focus on other preparations. Mascarpone cream cheese, from the north of Italy, is a very good ingredient to accompany strawberries. The crunchy Amaretti biscuits and Amaretto liqueur in the recipe add a delicious bitter almond flavour to cut through the creaminess of the pudding. All ingredients can be found in a good supermarket or delicatessen.

1. Carefully line the base and the sides of a 1 litre plastic lunch box, or plastic Tupperware container with cling film that overlaps down the side. Set aside.
2. Crush the soft Amaretti biscuits all over the base of the lunch box, and drizzle some Amaretto liqueur over them.
3. Hull the strawberries and crush them in a bowl, using a fork. Spoon half of the crushed strawberries all over the Amaretti covered base of the lunch box.
4. Using an electric whisk, beat the egg yolks with the sugar, till light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites till they form soft peaks. Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk and sugar mix, carefully retaining the air inside the mix.
5. In a roomy bowl, whip the Mascarpone cream cheese until it is softened, then fold the egg mix into the Mascarpone cheese, a little at a time, until it is fully blended.
6. Spoon half the Mascarpone mix over the crushed strawberries in the lunch box, and level the top with a spatula. Spoon the remaining half of the crushed strawberries on top of the Mascarpone cream, and then spoon the remaining half of the Mascarpone cream on top, as the final layer. Take a metal skewer, and very gently insert it into the mix, turning it around to create a “ripple” effect of red and white.
7. Bang the Tupperware box gently on the work surface, to evenly distribute the mix. Then cover the parfait mix with the overlapping cling film.
8. Freeze the parfait overnight. Just before serving place the open Tupperware box on the table, and place an upturned serving plate on top of it. Now turn the Tupperware box upside down, gently, so that the frozen parfait and the cling film slide down on the serving plate. Remove the cling film, and slice the parfait into individual portions. Serve.