Almond and strawberry m'hencha recipe | Sainsbury`s Magazine (2024)

The North African m’hencha (meaning serpentine) has a real wow factor and looks spectacular. Usually made with just nuts, this version includes juicy pops of gently roasted strawberries, rose water and some fragrant Turkish delight

Ben Tish

Meet Ben Despite his British roots, Ben Tish, chef director at Cubitt House, is famed for his rustic, yet beautifully refined, Mediterranean cooking, heavily influenced by the cuisines of Italy, Spain and North Africa.

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Ingredients

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Step by step

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Toss the strawberries with 20g of the icing sugar, spread out on a lined baking tray and roast for 15-20 minutes or until slightly shrivelled and caramelised. Toast the flaked almonds in a separate baking tray for 6-7 minutes until golden. Leave both to cool.
2. To make the filling, put the soft butter and 180g sifted icing sugar into a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until combined and fluffy. Beat in the eggs then fold in all the remaining filling ingredients, with the cooked strawberries added last so as not to break them up too much.
3. Increase the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. Lay out 2 or 3 filo sheets in a row (depending on the length of your work surface), with the short edges overlapping the previous sheet by 6cm or so. Spoon around one third of the filling onto the pastry in a long sausage, about 10cm up from the bottom edge and leaving 10cm free at the left-hand end. Lightly brush the exposed pastry with melted butter, then first fold the left-hand end over onto the filling. Next, roll the pastry from the bottom up to enclose the filling as a long snake. Brush the whole thing with more butter, then, starting from the left, start to carefully roll the stuffed pastry into a coil, but leave a 10cm tail uncoiled.
4. Lay out more filo sheets, placing the tail of the coil along the first 10cm of the filo then add more of the filling, butter and roll up as before, until you’ve used 6 sheets of filo and all the filling to create one large coil. Leave the final 10cm of pastry without any filling and tuck this unfilled flap of pastry under the coil to secure it. Brush with more melted butter (this glazes the pastry but also keeps it moist and supple). Use bits off the final filo sheet to patch up any splits, placing it over the holes and buttering over the top to seal.
5. Now transfer the filled, coiled pastry (m’hencha) to a buttered 23cm diameter springform tin and gently press into the round so it sits comfortably. Cook on a baking tray (to catch any butter that leaks out) for around 30 minutes or until crisp, hot and golden brown.
6. Meanwhile, mix the mascarpone with the 30g icing sugar and rosewater to taste.
7. Remove the m’hencha from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. When ready to serve, remove from the tin, sprinkle over the extra icing sugar, rose petals (if using), Turkish delight and extra flaked almonds and serve at the table to share, with a bowl of the rose- scented mascarpone.

   *Check that your Turkish delight is vegetarian, if required.

   To store

   Leftovers keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.