Strawberry season: recipes for desserts, simple to complex - The Keene Sentinel

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Strawberry season: recipes for desserts, simple to complex - The Keene Sentinel

Strawberry season: recipes for desserts, simple to complex - The Keene Sentinel

Posted: 27 May 2021 09:00 AM PDT

It's impossible to be sad when strawberries are in season.

Everything looks better when there can be fresh strawberries in your future. The air smells sweeter. Dogs are friendlier. The sounds of traffic are more melodious.

Strawberries make a bad day better and a good day great. They have their savory uses, but let's face it, desserts are better.

The easiest is Strawberries Dusted with Cardamom Sugar, which is only a little more complicated than the name suggests. But the complication makes a wonderfully subtle difference. Before the strawberries are rolled in a mixture of sugar and cardamom, they are first splashed with an orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier or Cointreau.

You don't quite taste it, but your taste buds know it's there.

The cardamom is also somewhat understated. Cardamom is just about the only spice that is equally at home in savory dishes as it is in sweet. When used to flavor strawberries, it presents an alluring, perfumed earthiness that brings the high-flying strawberries and sugar back down to earth.

The most difficult strawberry dessert, in contrast, is a stunningly superb strawberry tart. This is the kind of dish you could easily see at a bakery — good bakery.

It would be easier if you just used a premade tart crust, but where is the fun in that, or the flavor?

Inside the crust goes a crème pâtissière, also known as pastry cream, which is just a vanilla custard that has been thickened with cornstarch. It is the classic filling for an éclair and is frequently used in tarts such as this because it is such a rich and creamy foil for the fruit.

Whole strawberries fill the tart, and they are then coated with a lightly thinned marmalade glaze. Then all that is left is a sprinkling of toasted almond slices.

It is a lot of work, but most of the steps can be made in advance, except maybe the easy glazing of the strawberries. And the result is fairly stupendous.

Almost as impressive is a frozen strawberry soufflé. It's like a more sophisticated version of strawberry ice cream, as elegant a repast as you would want to serve.

A syrup of strawberries and sugar form the base, which is then enriched with egg yolks and sugar gently cooked with the syrup in a double boiler. Whipped cream is then folded into the mix, making it frothy and light, and giving it structure. Once frozen, it becomes smooth and rich; it shimmers on your tongue.

FROZEN STRAWBERRY SOUFFLÉ

Servings: 8 to 10

INGREDIENTS

3 cups sliced strawberries

1¼ cups plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided

3 egg yolks

2 tablespoons framboise, mirabelle, kirsch or other white spirit, optional

1½ cups heavy cream

3-4 whole and/or sliced strawberries for garnish

STEPS

1. Blend the strawberries and half cup of the sugar in a skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar and the liquid from the berries thicken, about 10 minutes. Remove and let cool thoroughly.

2. Set up a double boiler or select a 2-quart metal mixing bowl that will fit snugly inside a larger saucepan. Add about 2 inches of water to the saucepan (use less if the mixing bowl will touch the water when it sits in the saucepan). Bring water to a simmer; do not yet insert the top bowl or pan.

3. To the mixing bowl or top of the double boiler add the egg yolks and three-quarters of a cup of the sugar and beat vigorously and thoroughly with a wire whisk or portable electric mixer, making certain to scrape around the inside of the bowl with the beater.

4. Fit the mixing bowl or top part of the double boiler inside the saucepan and continue beating. Beat for a few minutes until yolks are quite thick and pale yellow. Beat in the framboise, if using. Add the berry mixture and fold in. Chill thoroughly.

5. Whip one cup of the cream until stiff and fold in two tablespoons of the sugar. Fold this into the strawberry mixture.

6. Chill a 6- to 7-cup soufflé dish in the freezer.

7. Neatly tie a "collar" made of wax paper or aluminum foil around the soufflé dish. The top of the paper or foil should extend about 2 inches above the top of the dish.

8. Pour the soufflé mixture into the dish. Place in the freezer and let stand overnight.

9. Whip the remaining half cup of the cream. Beat in the remaining one tablespoon of the sugar. If desired, outfit a pastry bag with a star tube and pipe the cream around the top in a fancy pattern. Decorate with whole and/or sliced strawberries.

Nutrition per serving: 266 calories; 10 g fat; 6 g saturated fat; 95 mg cholesterol; 2 g protein; 40 g carbohydrate; 38 g sugar; 1 g fiber; 11 mg sodium; 34 mg calcium

— Recipe from "Craig Claiborne's the New New York Times Cook Book" by Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey

STRAWBERRIES DUSTED

WITH CARDAMOM SUGAR

Servings: 6

INGREDIENTS

¼ cup orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier or Cointreau

2 (16-ounce) containers strawberries, hulled, left whole

½ cup granulated sugar

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

Fresh mint sprigs, optional

STEPS

1. Pour Grand Marnier into large bowl. Add strawberries to bowl and toss to coat. Whisk sugar and cardamom in small bowl to blend. Spread cardamom sugar on small rimmed baking sheet. Using slotted spoon and working in batches, transfer strawberries to baking sheet with cardamom sugar. Roll in sugar to coat well.

2. Divide strawberries among six wine glasses. Pour any remaining Grand Marnier from bowl over berries. Can be prepared up to 2 hours before serving; cover and chill. Garnish with mint sprigs, if desired.

Nutrition per serving: 120 calories; 1 g fat; no saturated fat; no cholesterol; 1 g protein; 30 g carbohydrate; 25 g sugar; 3 g fiber; 2 mg sodium; 25 mg calcium

— Recipe from "The Bon Appétit Cookbook" by Barbara Fairchild

STRAWBERRY TART

Servings: 8 to 10

INGREDIENTS

Dough for 10-inch tart (store-bought or your favorite recipe)

1 cup milk

¹/3 cup granulated sugar

3 egg yolks

2 tablespoons cornstarch

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

3 pints firm, fresh, red, ripe strawberries, hulled, rinsed and drained

²/3 cup orange marmalade

2 teaspoons water

¼ cup sliced almonds, toasted, see note

Note: To toast almonds, place in a skillet over medium heat. Stir and toss frequently until almond slices become a golden brown; they burn easily, so remove to a plate as soon as any of the slices becomes a dark brown, even if others are not yet golden.

STEPS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Roll out dough into a 10-inch tart pan; trim any excess. Prick all over with a fork. Place a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil inside the crust and weigh down with pie weights, dry beans or uncooked rice. Bake 20 minutes. Remove parchment or foil and pie weights, return to oven and bake 10 more minutes or until golden brown (cover rim with foil if it begins to burn). Remove to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

3. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until small bubbles form around the edge. Remove from heat and cover to keep hot.

4. Put the sugar and yolks in a mixing bowl or mixer and beat with a wire whisk or whisk attachment until the mixture is a golden yellow and forms a ribbon — when the whisk is lifted from the mixture, the excess will fall back onto the surface in what briefly resembles a ribbon. Using the whisk, stir in the cornstarch.

5. Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg-and-sugar mixture, beating constantly with the whisk. Return the mixture to the saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly with the whisk. Cook for one minute, stirring vigorously. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. If not using immediately, cover the surface with plastic wrap to keep a skin from forming.

6. Spoon the crème patissière (the egg-sugar-milk mixture) into the tart shell and smooth it over. Arrange the strawberries, bottom-side down, close together and symmetrically over the crème patissière.

7. Spoon the marmalade into a saucepan and add the water. Cook, stirring, until the marmalade is thinned. Put it through a strainer.

8. When the marmalade is cooled but still liquid, brush the berries with it. Sprinkle the almonds all over. Cut into wedges to serve.

Nutrition per serving (based on 8): 407 calories; 18 g fat; 8 g saturated fat; 95 mg cholesterol; 6 g protein; 60 g carbohydrate; 34 g sugar; 4 g fiber; 181 mg sodium; 92 mg calcium

— Adapted from "Craig Claiborne's the New New York Times Cook Book" by Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey

PERFECT TART OR PIE CRUST

Yield: 2 (10-inch) crusts

INGREDIENTS

12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) very cold unsalted butter, see note

3 cups all-purpose flour, see note

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening, see note

6 to 8 tablespoons (3 ounces to ½ cup) ice water

Note: If you have time, measure out the flour and the shortening and place them in the freezer 20 to 30 minutes before you start; dice the butter and put it in the freezer 10 minutes before beginning.

STEPS

1. Dice the butter if you haven't already and return it to the refrigerator or freezer while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse eight to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas.

2. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3. Cut the dough in half. Use immediately or wrap each ball of dough individually and freeze until use. Defrost in the refrigerator.

Nutrition per serving (based on 16): 202 calories; 13 g fat; 7 g saturated fat; 23 mg cholesterol; 3 g protein; 19 g carbohydrate; 1 g sugar; 1 g fiber; 148 mg sodium; 7 mg calcium

— Adapted from a recipe by Ina Garten, via the Food Network


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