strawberry Archives - Retro Food For Modern Times

13
Apr
2014

Feeling Fruity – Strawberry Habanero Sauce

categories: Chilli, Habanero, Sauce, Strawberries

It’s that time of year where there seems to be a glut of strawberries on the market. I believe it’s also called super delicious happy yum time – or is that just me? Whatever you want to call it, my greengrocer was selling five punnets of strawberries for $5 so after doing a little dance of joy (which looks scarily like this):

Snoopy’s Happy Dance

I loaded up my cart. So, get out your maraccas and pile some fruit high on your head, today we are channelling our inner Carmen Miranda’s and getting a little bit fruity!

Speaking of whom, I had always just thought of her as the lady with the fruit on her head.

But wow!!!!! Who knew she was so amazingly, stunningly gorgeous?

So…how about you all keep channelling the inner. And I give the outer a shot?

But first, I’ve been obsessed, not only with real fruit but things that look like fruit for some months now.

First came my little Daiso fruit dishes:

Then the Mozi Measuring Cups:

I am so not using these for measuring!!! Imagine serving a dip in the Big Pineapple? Awesome!!!!

I’m easily amused aren’t I?

But it does pretty good loaded up with stuff does it not?

Put ’em together and what have you got?

Unfortunately we were all out of bibbidi-bobbidi-boo’s

But I did manage to make an absolutely knock your socks off Strawberry Habenero Sauce.

Ok, Mum, I know you read this and I know, in your world, a fairy dies every time I swear…

You might want to skip the next few paragraphs. Come back at the next photo, we’ll be good by then.

Ok – she’s gone now hasn’t she?

For the rest of us. When I say this sauce is the motherfucking bomb, I honestly mean that you could probably use it to detonate explosives.

This won’t just knock your socks off, it could possibly take your ankles with it. And having said all that, it’s also sweet and herby and so, so, good you’ll be wanting more even whilst you are calling for a fire extinguisher for your taste buds,

It may well be the most fucking hot thing I have ever eaten. In my life. And let’s bear in mind my Sri Lankan background. I’m not alien to hot and spicy.

But, seeing as she’ll be dying to come back…here’s that next photo:

The original recipe called for 12 habaneros and a cup of strawberries. As you can see, I had 5 habeneros and thought I might have to top it up with a few little scud chillies (totally unnecessary). I also ended up using nearly 4 punnets of strawberries – that would be 4 times the cup required in the original recipe.

I also had some rosemary, which as you will see, was not at it’s prime. So I threw a couple of springs of that in too. Waste not, want not right?

After about an hour it looked like this:

Then I threw in a couple of sprigs of tarragon, took it off the heat and let it sit until it cooled.

You can choose to puree this as you see fit. I put half in the blender and left the other half chunky.

The resulting sauce is capital A awesome even if I do say so myself. One of the best things is that it actually has a visible three step taste process.

The first taste is the strawberry sweet which is accompanied by a sound of “I thought you said this was..?”

This is followed by a “Mmmm” as the herby notes of the rosemary and tarragon kick in.

The final is a gasp for air and a kind of popping of the eyes as the chili kick hits.

This is when you can act like an absolute arse and say “Oh…you began to say something earlier…..?”

Or just pass the person a glass of water.

Your choice.

I’m going to be spending my week working on special Easter treats for all of you. Stay tuned….these are going to be…I don’t even know the word…retro awesome /possibly revolting

Time will tell.

Hope your week is fabulous.

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Strawberry Habanero Sauce

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

5–12 Habanero Chillies (I used 5, the original recipe called for 12)
4 x 250 punnets strawberries
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1 Lemon (juice only)
2 Shallots
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1/8 cup sugar
2 sprigs of rosemary
2 sprigs of tarragon

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Combine all ingredients except tarragon in a pan and cook for or 1 hour.
Add tarragon and turn heat off. Leave on hob for 1 hour.
Puree in a blender.

First up,

10
Jan
2013

Strawberry Fields Forever Part 2 aka Strawberries Gangland Style

categories: Desserts, Salad, SemiFreddo, Strawberries, Tarragon

I have some weird little strips of paper in my “recipes to be made” folder. They are not so much recipes as hints, maybe even whispers of things to make. I have no idea where they came from – they are numbered and printed so I presume from a list of some sort. Anyway, each of these is an absolute gem, if a little vague.

Take for instance, strip #58.

“Hull and quarter some strawberries; at the last minute, combine with a little chopped tarragon, black pepper and balsamic vinegar. Goat’s cheese is good too”

That’s all folks.

I had strawberries galore (huh, sounds a bit like the name of a Bond girl), I had tarragon, black pepper and balsamic…

Ingredients for Strawberry Tarragon Salad

I know it’s only just over a week into the year but I strongly believe this salad will be one of my top ten finds of the year.

This was soooooo good. The sweet strawberries, the aniseedy tarragon, the sticky sweet sour balsamic and the warming zing of pepper are…mindblowingly awesome!

I neither hulled nor quartered my strawberries…who can be bothered following so many steps in a recipe…

Strawberry, Tarragon, Black Pepper, Balsamic Salad

The recipe suggests that goat’s cheese would not go astray here. I didn’t have any (why would I? I didn’t have sugar. Why on earth would I have goat’s cheese?) but I mixed up some sour cream and mascarpone and dobbed that on and it was delicious. Goat’s cheese would be amazing. I also would like to try blue cheese.

The vinegar that the strawberries soaked in went all thick and syrupy and took on a pinkish tinge from the strawberry juice. I siphoned this back into a small bottle for later use as it seemed too good to throw out.

And speaking of awesome, my White Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake Semifreddo for Mark’s birthday? Amazing!!! Another good contender for top ten for the year. I hope I haven’t peaked early!

I used this recipe from a Delicious Magazine:

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/6801/strawberry+cheesecake+semifreddo

with the addition of White Chocolate into both the base and the filling.

Why white chocolate?

I was leafing through one of my favourite food books, Niki Sengit’s Flavour Thesaurus to see if she had anything to say about strawberries and tarragon (she doesn’t, although there is a section on strawberries and anise). This book is a must have for any serious foodie and even the not so serious ones as some of the entires are hilarious!

Niki has the following to say about strawberries and white chocolate:

“In fancy chocolate shops, I sometimes see slabs of white chocolate spattered with clots of freeze dried strawberry, like stucco after a shoot out. White chocolate makes for a better combination with strawberry than milk or dark because, like strawberry and gangland comparisons, it’s a little cheesy”

I couldn’t resist. So I bought a family block of white chocolate and melted half into the biscuit base and half into the filling. It was sensational. And just right for a birthday celebration on a hot night. We had dinner at our favourite Thai restaurant then came home for some bubbly and the semifreddo. It was a delightful way to end a lovely day!

And in honour of Niki, and with a slight nod to the K-pops, but mostly because White Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake Semifreddo is too much of a mouthful, from now on, in this house at least, it will be known as Semifreddo Gangland Style.

08
Jan
2013

Retro Food for Modern Times – Strawberry Fields Forever, Part 1

categories: Mango, Strawberries, Tarragon, Vodka

Let me take you down ‘cos I’m going to...

…my local green grocer where they are currently selling trays of strawberries for $6. My sincere apologies to John Lennon for that absolute travesty but just in case you are not utterly awestruck by this, let me reiterate. A tray of strawberries for $6. That’s 16 punnets. For $6 dollars. The world may have not ended on December 21^st but it has surely gone mad!

How do farmers make any money when the (literal) fruit of their labour is being sold off at about 40 cents a punnet?

Maybe because the week before Christmas punnets of strawberries were selling for $4 each!

I know, it’s not the farmers, it’s the wholesalers and the grocery shop owners and all the people in between who add their mark up. The farmers probably got paid the same for the $4 strawberries as they did for the 40 cent strawberries.

My joy at my bargain buy lasted until I had to carry, not only all of my regular fruit and veggies, but an additional four kilos of strawberries, from the shop to my car. By the time I reached the car (it was a hot day and I had parked some distance away from the shop to get a spot in the shade), I’d stopped thinking “I’m the best shopper in the world! ” and “I’m in berry heaven” to “What on earth am I going to do with four kilos of strawberries?” and “How can four kilos of strawberries actually weigh a ton?”.

My first task, on getting home, was to sort the strawberries – a few in each punnet were overripe and were starting to get a bit manky. The perfect ones went into a colander and the fridge for eating. We have been feasting on these all week.

The almost perfect berries went into a bag and into the freezer whole. I puréed the somewhat bruised berries and placed them in 6 containers in the freezer where they will be great for smoothies, muffins, etc later in the year. Finally, my kitchen helpers, Oscar and Lulu, were on hand to dispose of the fourth group being the few badly bruised berries that were left.

We have been eating strawberries all week – by the handful whenever we feel a bit peckish; for dessert with cream (Mark) and ice cream (me) and for breakfast with mango and vanilla yogurt:

Strawberry, Mango and Vanilla Yogurt Breakfast

I have started making a strawberry liqueur based on the link below with some tweaks inspired by other recipes, most notably, I am putting the sugar in from the start.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/06/homemade-strawberry-liqueur-recipe.html

I searched high and low for tarragon yesterday; I went to three greengrocers and I could not find it for love or money. I decided to use basil instead.

I was so excited about making the liqueur and trying to track down the tarragon, that I completely forgot to check the other ingredients. I knew I had strawberries, I had vodka. I was searching for tarragon. And who particularly someone who bakes regularly, doesn’t have caster sugar? Me apparently. Grrr… Such a newbie mistake!!!

So today, I ducked into the supermarket to pick up the caster sugar and found piles of tarragon. As I had another recipe for tarragon and strawberries I was aching to try, I bought a bunch and pulled the basil out of my would be liqueur and popped in the tarragon and sugar. All the sugar sank to the bottom and when I tipped it upside down to mix it in, it made these drippy pale pink stalactite type things that looked awesome! The mixture is also already a fabulous pink colour. And it’s only Day 2. Imagine Day 30.

It’s Mark’s birthday tomorrow and the temperature is set to soar. Baking in my tiny kitchen when it’s anything above 30 degrees outside is not something I relish. So, I’ve decided that he will get a White Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake Semifreddo in lieu of a traditional birthday cake. I’m aiming for quirky but cool. We’ll see how that works out. I also need to get busy making it. Which means that my strawberry and tarragon salad recipe will have to wait until the next post.

On a more sombre note, and speaking of temperatures soaring, many parts of Australia are currently experiencing devastating bushfires and my heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones, homes and belongings in this tragedy and to the brave people, many of whom are volunteers, who are so valiantly fighting the fires. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

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01
Dec
2012

Retro Food For Modern Times: Three Sweet Treats inspired by a Luscious Liqueur

categories: Caramel, Chocolate, Desserts, Italy, Liqueur, Mango, Meringue, Raspberry, Strawberries, Zabaglione

I was recently strolling around my local purveyor of fine alcoholic beverages (or as we like to call it, our second home) when a retro looking bottle caught my eye. A very glamorous Elke Sommer looking woman is being draped in a fur coat by a man who looks like a 1970’s tennis player or a porn star (possibly both). The label promised “an experience of elegance and lingering pleasure” which only further reinforced the boom chicka wah wah soundtrack that was going through my head. The name: Kellermeister Sable. According to the back of the bottle, Sable is a

“base of ruby tawny into which we have steeped dark German Chocolate, special spices and three year old brandy”

You know those moments when Homer Simpson goes into the donut fugue state? I think I lapsed into something very similar. Standing there mumbling to myself “Ruby Tawny…dark chocolate….special spices….brandy…ruby tawny…..” Ruby Tawny may well become the name of my first-born child. I hope it’s a girl.

The bottle, in all it’s gorgeous retroness did give me pause though. I honestly wasn’t sure if it was meant to be retro chic. Or it just came from South Australia. If anyone from South Australia wants to dispute the implication of this statement I suggest they first go and count the people with mullets walking down Rundle Mall. They can lodge their complaints when they have a number less than ten.

Ok, we may have lost South Australia forever so the rest of us might as well get on with it. Sable is meant to be retro chic and forms part of the Kellermeister Retro Range which includes this and two Moscatos which I am very keen to try. One is called Pink Minx. This may become the name of my second born child. Again, a girl would be good.

The Sable is great on it’s own as a little tipple – rich, silky, porty, chocolatey loveliness in a glass. If I was prone to swooning I would. However, as I do not live in a Jane Austen novel I will remain upright and advise that this is utterly delicious and is likely to become a staple on my drinks trolley for some time to come! This will be my go to product for those days when you just want a little something sweet and lovely after dinner! Or mid afternoon….or…you know…whenever….

The loveliness of the Sable does not stop with drinking though. It is equally good in food.

I’ve now made three recipes with it and they were all gorgeous (even if I do say so myself). If you cannot get Sable, your liqueur of choice can be substituted in all of these.

First up was a Raspberry Meringue Roulade which I adapted from a Bill Granger recipe.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Raspberry Roulade and a glass of Sable – a lovely afternoon tea tipple

I then made a Strawberry and Mango Zagablione where I used the Sable instead of marsala. This tasted divine! The zabaglione was also lovely swirled into some plain yoghurt the following day.

Finally, I used some Sable in my version of the Australian Gourmet Traveller Chocolate and Caramel Tart. I adapted the original recipe as I am not that good with pastry and I used a bought caramel. This is a truly decadent recipe and tastes like heaven! My only word of caution is give yourself plenty of time to make this. I started mid afternoon. I added the final layer at midnight. This takes a LONG time to make as you have to let each layer chill before adding the next one. It is worth it though as this is absolutely delicious!

I love the ombre effect of the four layers!

I

Enjoy!

Tag: strawberry

Strawberry Habanero Sauce

Ingredients

Instructions