· By Oonagh Simms
We're not at Wimbledon with Strawberries & Cream.
I don’t think that I’m that into Wimbledon and then EVERY YEAR, I kind of wish I was able to go and watch tennis and eat expensive strawberries and wear a straw hat and clap politely. Especially with all these Coco Gauff matches. She's exciting isn't she? It's just that I don’t really think about all of this in January which is when you need to think about it. Same goes for Glastonbury tickets.
So I mainly just watch tennis on the telly. And there is something lovely about that- it brings back memories of watching it after school because there was nothing else on. Or even watching it IN school, which used to happen occasionally when it was June and raining so hard you couldn’t do P.E outside but the sports hall was being used for Exams. P.E consisted of the school TV being wheeled in to a condensation filled classroom and all of us being told off for messing about. More recently, Wimbledon is absorbed horizontally from a sofa, cradling a pub garden hangover and listening to that meditative ‘clop’ of the ball. But not too loudly.
Not the most traditional sepia tinted Wimbledon memories, but they’re mine.
So to celebrate Wimbledon in my untraditional way, I have whipped up Strawberries and Cream Marshmallows. A summery treat that does not require an interest in either tennis or hangovers. This is a beautiful double-layered marshmallow, which I whip up from a strawberry pureé and a light organic vanilla cream- the perfect ratio of 70:30, we then top with a fresh strawberry slice. I go and pick my own strawberries at this time of year from Kemps farm - mainly because it’s so much cheaper than buying them elsewhere- I’m not daft. But also, how flipping lovely is it picking your own strawberries? I get up early and go before getting into the kitchen and the Strawberries and Cream making days are probably my favourite. The berries are perfectly ripe and red the whole way through. The whole kitchen enveloped in a sweet aroma that’s almost sticky with summer. We’ve been selling these to Harrods for the last couple of months but now I can pick my own and make more I have popped some together as a Limited Edition box for you to try. You could eat them whilst watching the telly, or serve them with a glass of fizz after a BBQ or picnic. They're my Ace!