Strawberry Pavlova Roulade

A Swiss roll tin is an incredibly useful little baking tin. The last thing I use it for is making Swiss roll but the name immediately conjures up its shape, size and depth (approximately 30 x 20 x 2cm deep). I have several, of various grades of aluminium and quality of non-stick coating. My favourite is made of anodized aluminium without a non-stick coating and that is ageing the best. As I tend to line it with foil whenever I’m roasting vegetables and with parchment if I'm baking, the non-stick aspect is irrelevant. I like the fact that it is so strong there is no risk of buckling even at very high temperatures. Here's an impressively delicious way of serving strawberries and cream rolled up in soft, springy meringue. Making it is great fun, a tad messy but quite magical. The meringue billows like a goose-down pillow during its brief high-temperature baking but quickly deflates as it cools, ending up like a pale, puffy bath mat.

Once cooled, the meringue is spread with whipped cream stirred with chopped strawberries and then the fun begins. To make the rolling easier, the meringue is turned out on to a tea towel, avoiding the need to touch the squishy plump roll. It doesn’t matter how messy the result is because it can be tidied up by pushing extra strawberries into the ends. It's served with a thick, smooth cooked strawberry sauce to swirl over the slices. This sort of meringue is silky soft and vaguely creamy, so quite different in taste and texture to crisp meringue nests or chewy pavlova. For the perfect summer meal, use the leftover yolks to make hollandaise sauce to serve with poached salmon and asparagus.