No-cook strawberry & balsamic tartlets

This could be the easiest dessert I’ve ever come up with, but it’s still interesting because it pairs strawberries with a few unusual flavours. You can make your own pastry, tartlet cases and meringues if you have time (see bbcgoodfood.com for recipes), but for ease, shop-bought make a decent shortcut.

SERVES 6 PREP 10 mins NO COOK EASY V 150ml double cream

50g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting

2 tbsp aged balsamic vinegar few pinches of cracked black pepper

6 small sweet pastry cases

480g strawberries (the best quality you can find) meringues and Thai basil leaves, to serve (optional)

1 Whisk the cream with the icing sugar until it just starts to hold its shape – be careful not to take it too far as it will stiffen as soon as you add the vinegar. Slowly drizzle in the balsamic and cracked black pepper, transfer to a container, cover and chill until needed.

2 To construct the tarts, spoon a generous portion of the cream into the tart cases. Slice the strawberries and fan them out over the top of the tarts. Dust lightly with more icing sugar and scatter with lightly crushed meringue and Thai basil leaves, if you like. Add a bit of cracked black pepper to finish, and serve.

GOOD TO KNOW 1 of 5-a-day • vit c

PER SERVING 316 kcals • fat 20g • saturates 13g • carbs 29g • sugars 19g • fibre 3g • protein 3g • salt 0.1g