Egg Custard & Strawberry Arctic Roll

Steven Smith shares a spectacular take on a retro classic. With components like custard tart, strawberry gel and lime-marinated strawberries, this isn't your average Arctic roll recipe - so be prepared to put in a little work to get it right. For the custard tart element, you will need a 36 x 13 x 2.5cm tart tin with a removable base.

To make the strawberry gel; take a saucepan, adding the strawberries along with the sugar and water. Place on a medium heat and cook gently to break down the strawberries. They should be soft but not mushy.

Transfer the strawberries to a blender and blitz until smooth. Remove the seeds by passing through a fine strainer. Place in a clean pan with the agar agar. Whisk the contents of the pan and heat gently to help dissolve the agar. Remove from the heat and store in a flat container.

Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature before placing in the fridge to set. Once set, blitz once again until you get a gel like consistency. Store in a squeezy bottle until needed.

To assemble the artic roll; remove the ice cream from the freezer a few minutes before it’s needed to allow it to soften. Lay a sheet of cling film down and place the sponge on top. Using a palette knife, spread a thin layer of the strawberry gel all over the sponge.

Pipe the ice cream along one edge, roll the sponge around the ice cream and freeze.

Just before serving, mix the diced strawberries with the lime juice and put to one side for later.

Use a microplane to grate the nutmeg over the tart. Cut the tart into even portions and place on the plates.

Cut similar sized piece of the artic roll and place it parallel to the tart, use a small line of strawberry gel to fix it to the plate. Finish off the plate by dotting the strawberry gel and diced strawberries.

 Serves: 4
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 120 min

Ingredients

For the strawberry ice-cream

  • 1l of milk
  • 100ml of cream
  • 150g of sugar
  • 95g of egg yolks

For the sponge sheet

  • 100g of sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 120g of flour
  • 20g of butter- melted and kept warm

For the sweet pastry

  • 500g of flour
  • 250g of butter
  • 120g of sugar
  • 2 eggs, plus extra for egg wash

For the egg custard filling

  • 625ml of cream
  • 95g of sugar
  • 175g of egg yolk

For the strawberry gel

  • 400g of strawberries, hulled weight
  • 300g of water
  • 40g of sugar
  • 4.4g of agar agar

To serve

  • 80g of strawberries, diced
  • 1 dash of lime juice
  • 1 nutmeg

You'll need

  • Ice cream maker
  • Baking beads
  • Sugar thermometer
  • Squeezy bottle
  • Blender
  • Tart tin with removable base
  • Fine strainer
  • Microplane

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