I love Alberta Strawberries! I love to pick them at a u-pick. It’s like a treasure hunt walking or
crawling along the row and finding the gorgeous red jewels of flavour. Shiny red, tiny green seeds, topped with a green leafy cap- so
beautiful. I buy them at the Farmers’
market from my friend Mr. Hiebert. Last week he was sheepish because the
strawberries were dirty from the rain splashing the soil on the fruit. All it took was to soak them in the sink for
a few minutes in cold water until the soil sank to the bottom and then eat
them.
Usually
a basket of his strawberries last about one hour after they are in the
house. Later in the season I buy them by
the 4L pail and get a chance to freeze some.
If they are dirty wash and dry
completely before freezing. I just cut
the stem off and put them in zip lock bags and then they can be made into jam
during the winter when I have time, or can be thawed for desserts. I pulled a bag out of the freezer this
spring to make a dessert for the launch of dee Hobsbawn-Smith’s new book
Foodshed. The dessert was a huge hit
and no wonder- it has whipped cream as a major ingredient!
It’s called Eton
Mess and is super easy to make. Make or
buy meringues and crunch them into pieces.
Intersperse the pieces of meringues with dollops of whipped cream and
then fruit- fresh or frozen. Add layers
until you run out of stuff. If you have parfait glasses you can make individual messes that look so pretty. Making
your own meringues is easy too, but you need some sort of electric beater.
Meringues
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Preheat the oven to 250F. In a clean glass or stainless
steel bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer on high speed until
foamy and small peaks barely form; gradually beat in the sugar, a spoonful at a
time, until all the sugar is incorporated and the mixture holds stiff peaks. It
should have the consistency of whipped cream or shaving cream.
Spread onto a foil or parchment-lined baking sheet and bake
for 1 hour, until dry. Cool, then crumble to use in Eton mess.
The other must do summer dessert is Strawberry
Shortcake. It can be as simple as
scones or cupcakes cut in half- a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream,
sliced strawberries, add the top and garnish with more whipped cream or ice
cream and more strawberries. Super
yummy!
One of my favourite food writers and bloggers is Julie VanRosendaal. She has a passion for local, fresh, cook from scratch food. Her blog is called Dinner With Julie and a great resource and fabulous inspiration.
This is the link to another way to use strawberry and rhubarb - strawberry-rhubarb slab scones- I haven't tried it yet, but I have big plans for Sunday breakfast. Let me know if you like it. http://dinnerwithjulie.com/2012/06/09/strawberry-rhubarb-slab-scones/
One of my best memories of strawberries was on a canoe trip
in Northern Ontario where we had been out a long time and hadn’t had fresh food
for a few weeks. I was carrying a canoe across a portage that was
about 1 km long and kept seeing little wild strawberries (about ¼ inch across)
peeking out at me from their homes next to the trail. A person can’t just stop when she has a
canoe on her shoulders so I half walked, half ran to the end, dropped the canoe
and ate my way back to the beginning one little red jewel at a time. Not many things can possibly taste that
good.
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