Strawberries | Saveur

Rossini

SAVEUR Editors — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:29:23 +0000

Photo: Murray Hall • Food Styling: Pearl Jones. Photo: Murray Hall • Food Styling: Pearl Jones

A luscious take on the bellini, the Rossini swaps in strawberries for the latter drink’s white peaches, and prosecco for champagne. Serve this versatile cocktail in place of mimosas at brunch, as an aperitif, or with dessert.

Featured in the October 2012 issue.

Yield: Makes 4–6 cocktails

Time: 10 minutes

½ lb. fresh strawberries
One 750-ml bottle prosecco, chilled

Instructions

Set aside a few strawberries for garnish, then hull the rest. Transfer the hulled strawberries to a blender and process until smooth. (You should have about 1 cup of purée.)
To serve, add 2 tablespoons of the strawberry purée to a chilled champagne or coupe class. Top with the prosecco, stir to combine if desired, and garnish with a reserved strawberry. Repeat with the remaining purée, prosecco, and strawberries.

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The Best Strawberry Lemonade

Taffy Elrod — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 18:48:20 +0000

Photo: Murray Hall • Food Styling: Jessie YuChen. Photo: Murray Hall • Food Styling: Jessie YuChen

Red-colored foods are commonly served on Juneteenth. “While people have different thoughts about how this tradition started, some people say red foods represent our ancestors’ bloodshed during the slave trade and in the fight for freedom,” writes Alliah L. Agostini in The Juneteenth Cookbook. Others connect it to the red in the Pan-African flag or to the kola nut, which turns red when boiled and is used in some West African ceremonial traditions. This simple strawberry lemonade is chef and co-author Taffy Elrod’s take on pink lemonade, tinted appropriately for the official color of Juneteenth.

Adapted from The Juneteenth Cookbook by Alliah L. Agostini, Taffy Elrod, and Sawyer Cloud. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, becker&mayer kids!, an imprint of The Quarto Group, New York, NY.

Featured in “This Cookbook Is an Open Invitation to the Juneteenth Cookout” by Jessica Carbone.

Yield: 6 cups

Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

For the simple syrup:

1 cup sugar

For the lemonade:

1 lb. fresh strawberries
1 cup fresh lemon juice (from 4–5 large lemons)
½ lemon, thinly sliced, for garnish

Instructions

Make the simple syrup: In a small pot over medium heat, bring the sugar and 1 cup of water to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar has fully dissolved, 2–4 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool to room temperature. Use the syrup immediately or transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 1 month.
Make the lemonade: Set aside a few strawberries for garnish, then hull the rest. Transfer the hulled strawberries to a blender and process until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large pitcher or 2-quart measuring cup, using a silicone spatula to push the purée through the strainer.
Add the lemon juice and 2 cups of water to the strawberry purée in the pitcher. Stir in 1 cup of the simple syrup and taste. If necessary, add up to another 1 cup of water.
Serve over ice. Garnish with the lemon slices and reserved whole strawberries.

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Chilled Tomato-Strawberry Soup

Michał Korkosz — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 14:42:10 +0000

Michał Korkosz. Michał Korkosz

I once read that food scientists say tomatoes and strawberries are made of the same flavor components, so they can be used interchangeably in cooking. I respectfully disagree; however, these two fruits do go together perfectly. My modern take—combining strawberries with garlic and dill—may seem unusual, but the strawberries make a subtle complement to the tomato flavor. You can also replace the strawberries with watermelon, raspberries, cherries, apricots, or melon.

Adapted from Polish’d: Modern Vegetarian Cooking from Global Poland © Michał Korkosz, 2023. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, The Experiment.

Featured in “Moving Past Pierogi: The New Face of Polish Cuisine” by Olga Mecking.

Yield: 4

Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients

For the soup:

1½ lb. tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 cup halved hulled strawberries
½ cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 garlic clove
1 small red onion, quartered
1 thick sourdough or baguette slice, torn
Fine salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
Dill flowers, for garnish (optional)

For the crispy garlic oil:

¼ cup olive oil
1 Tbsp. sesame seeds
½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Pinch fine salt

Instructions

Make the soup: In a large bowl, toss together the chopped tomatoes, strawberries, sour cream, vinegar, garlic, onion, bread, 1 teaspoon of salt, and black pepper to taste. Refrigerate until the bread is soft, about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the garlic oil: To a small skillet over low heat, add the oil, sesame seeds, red pepper flakes, and garlic. Cook until the garlic is soft and beginning to brown, about 8 minutes. Pour into a heatproof measuring cup and set aside. When cool enough to taste, season with salt.
Transfer the tomato mixture to a food processor and blend until very smooth. With the food processor running on low, add the oil in a slow, steady stream until the soup is thick and velvety. Refrigerate until cold, 1–2 hours.
To serve, divide the soup among four bowls. Top evenly with the cherry tomatoes, garlic oil, and dill flowers if desired.

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Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Joyce Skena — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 21:20:21 +0000

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LINDA XIAO; FOOD STYLING BY JASON SCHREIBER; PROP STYLING BY SUMMER MOORE

Strawberry pretzel salad is a time-honored relic of the 1970s, when Jell-O salads were all the rage. The dish, a picnic favorite with kids and adults alike, is low-effort but needs several hours to set up in the fridge. Those without a food processor can crush the pretzels in a resealable bag with a rolling pin. It’s important to spread each layer to the edge of the pan to prevent seepage. Using frozen strawberries speeds up the cooling of the gelatin; if you prefer fresh berries, cool the gelatin mixture to room temperature before adding the fruit.

Featured in “This Dolly Parton-Approved “Salad” Is About To Be Your Picnic Mainstay” by Rossilynne Skena Culgan.

Yield: Makes twelve 2-inch bars

Time: 12 hours

Ingredients

For the crust:

12 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing
8 oz. pretzels
2 Tbsp. sugar

For the middle layer:

8 oz. softened cream cheese
One 8-oz. tub Cool Whip, thawed, plus more for garnish (optional)
1 cup sugar

For the top layer:

Two 0.3-oz. strawberry gelatin boxes
20 oz. frozen sliced strawberries (see headnote), plus more for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400ºF. Butter a 9-by-13-inch pan.
Make the crust: In a food processor, pulverize the pretzels to coarse crumbs, about seven 1-second pulses. Add the sugar and butter and blend until incorporated, about three pulses more. Scrape into the pan and use the bottom of a glass to press into an even layer all the way to the edges. Bake until beginning to brown, about 7 minutes, then remove from the oven and cool thoroughly, at least 1 hour.
Make the middle layer: Using a stand or handheld electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, Cool Whip, and sugar. Use a silicone spatula to spread evenly over the crust to the edges of the pan, then cover and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
Make the top layer: In a bowl, whisk 2 cups of boiling water into the gelatin until dissolved. Add the strawberries and stir until the berries are thawed and the liquid is room temperature and beginning to thicken. Pour over the cream layer, cover, and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
To serve, cut into 2-inch squares in the pan, wiping the knife as you go to ensure the layers remain visible. Top each square with additional Cool Whip and strawberries if desired.

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Strawberry-Brown Butter Snacking Cake

Fatima Khawaja — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 13:12:56 +0000

Photography by Linda Xiao; Food Styling by Jason Schreiber; Prop Styling by Summer Moore

Welcome to SAVEUR’s column on how to cook local produce according to our contributing editor Fatima Khawaja. This is where you’ll find creative, unfussy meal ideas plus plenty of cooking advice—like what to do with that bumper crop of zucchini or how to store delicate heirloom tomatoes. Every other week, Fatima hits the farmers market and chooses a peak-season ingredient to explore in depth. Follow along, and you’ll learn how to turn the season’s bounty into easy plant-based meals that’ll be on the table in under an hour.

How do you feel about supermarket strawberries? Because they consistently let me down. Strawberry season is in full swing, yet the packaged ones at my neighborhood grocery are somehow bitter, mealy, and white inside. Those aren’t the bright red jewels I’ve been buying by the truckload at the farmers market. I always grab an extra pint at my favorite stall to share with my daughter on the way home, the berries’ crimson juices dripping down her arms and shirt.

Make this cake with those market-fresh berries, or—as I like to do—with the mushy ones forgotten in the back of the fridge, so they don’t go to waste. You can use stone fruit instead of strawberries, or a mix of both. Revived with a quick maceration, the berries bake into a simple but delicate cake fragrant with brown butter, lemon, and vanilla.

When shopping for berries of any type, give the container a light shake to make sure the fruit on the bottom moves (that way you know it’s firm and not crushed). And enjoy them quickly: Farmers market berries last only a day or two before they start to turn. For longer-term storage, I destem and freeze berries in a freezer bag or turn them into preserves and jam. By the way, if it’s too darn hot to turn on the oven, bookmark this cake for cooler weather—it’s equally delectable made with frozen berries—and check out our collection of strawberry recipes for additional ideas.

Yield: 6

Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
8 oz. strawberries, hulled and cut into ½-in. pieces (1 cup)
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar, divided
½ cup milk
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 large egg
1 Tbsp. finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1½ cups all-purpose flour

Instructions

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment.
In a small pot over medium heat, melt the butter until it smells nutty and is light brown, 6–8 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
Meanwhile, to a small bowl, add the strawberries and 2 tablespoons of sugar, then coarsely mash with a fork. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and lemon juice. Add the cooled brown butter, egg, lemon zest, baking powder, salt, vanilla, and the remaining sugar. Using a silicone spatula, fold in the flour until no white streaks remain.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, then top evenly with the strawberries and their juices and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the heat to 325°F and continue baking until the cake is golden brown and the edges begin to pull away from the pan, about 45 minutes more. Allow to cool completely before inverting onto a serving plate.

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