Spring Supper Part 3, in which dessert is improvised…
Alright, I think I’ve stretched this series about as far as I (and the season of Spring) can go. So I’ll wrap up with a short and sweet post.
Strawberries are in peak season in the northeast and should be widely available in the rest of the country as well. Served up plain with their tops cut off, strawberries make a surprisingly enticing dessert.
There’s a connection here to last week’s tomato post as well. I had long ago dismissed strawberries because the ones I had were so frequently inedibly sour. Why is this?
Because those strawberries at the grocery store are not grown and picked for flavor and ripeness. They’re grown to withstand shipping over long distances and storage in the supermarket produce section. That’s why they are white and bitter.
So go to your farmstand an give them another try. I think a lot of people have been turned off of fruit by the average poor quality of what’s available at the grocery store. But summertime is here, and a bounty of fruit is available at the farmer’s market. So go check it out.
Ok. Now I promise to get off my locavore high horse for a while and get back to providing some actual tips.
Right after I finish these strawberries.
I know some folks have a difficult time wrapping their head around the idea of “just” fruit for dessert, so as an added suggestion, I’d like to revive a morsel from my childhood. Dip the strawberries in yogurt or sour cream, then roll them in a bit of brown sugar. Voila.
A surprising but absolutely delicious strawberry desert:
cut your strawberries in half add some balsamic vinegar (a couple of tablespoons will do), a couple tablespoons of brown sugar and a once over with some freshly ground black pepper. Sounds odd but it’s the best way to eat strawberries. No joke.
Serve over a shortcake if you want or just eat them plain, totally delish.