Agar sets to a firmer texture than animal-based gelatine, but that means you have to serve this strawberry jelly with a warm fruit sauce. St-Germain elderflower liqueur is available only at Harvey Nichols, but you can use Grand Marnier instead.

Serves 6

For the jelly
2kg strawberries, hulled and sliced
3 tbsp lemon juice
350g caster sugar
3 tsp Texturas agar

For the sauce
3 tbsp St-Germain elderflower liqueur, or Grand Marnier
225g small strawberries, hulled and halved
150g redcurrants, stripped from their stems, or blueberries
150g raspberries
Extra caster sugar to sweeten (optional)

To make the jelly, place the strawberries in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir in the lemon juice and sugar, and add 100ml water. Cover and set over a low heat. Simmer until the strawberries are swimming in juice. Cook for 20 minutes, then leave to cool.

Tip the strawberries and liquid into a large, fine-meshed sieve and leave to drip for an hour. Measure out 800ml juice and transfer to a clean saucepan. Cover the remaining juice and chill – it will be used in the sauce. Discard the strawberry flesh.

Set the pan containing the 800ml juice over a high heat and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and whisk in the Texturas agar until it has dissolved. Strain the liquid into a 16cm x 20cm nonstick tray or Tupperware and leave to cool. Once cold, cover and chill for 2 hours or until set firm.

Preheat the oven to 55C/130F/Gas Mark and place six bowls inside to warm. Using a 6cm-diameter scone-cutter, stamp out six jellies and place on a nonstick baking tray. Place in the oven and warm through for 20 minutes or until hot – the jellies will melt if the temperature exceeds 80C.

To make the sauce, pour the remaining strawberry juice and the liqueur into a saucepan. Bring to the boil, add all the fruit (keeping a few for garnish if you wish) and remove from the heat. If using redcurrants, you may need to add a little sugar to sweeten.

Using a palette knife, carefully transfer each jelly to a warm bowl. Spoon the warm sauce around the jelly. Garnish with a few berries and serve immediately.

This recipe uses Texturas gelatines, available from www.infusions4chefs.co.uk

Times Recommends

• Top Ten most searched for recipes
• Chalet Chef 2010: the winning menus
• Gin and pomegranate jellies