Making the most of strawberry season

Tag : strawberry

THE Queensland strawberry season has been going since May but, likeclockwork, the peak for flavour and price is September and October.Prices have already dipped below $2 a punnet and soon there'll beso many strawberries that they will sell at cost price.
With so much fruit to use, it's time to dust off those berryrecipes. Particularly useful are the preserves, jams and compotesthat store fruit for leaner times.
Strawberry and rhubarb make a particularly good compote that isamazingly versatile. It can be used on toast, scones and tea cakesor as an accompaniment to ice-cream or yoghurt and even as afilling for pancakes. Compote can be kept like jam in preservingjars, as long as the jars are sealed properly according to themanufacturer's instructions.
Prepare it by gently simmering 12 rhubarb stalks, cut into pieces,with 300g of sugar and a split vanilla pod in a pot for five to sixminutes. Once the rhubarb pieces have softened, add 3kg ofstrawberries (hulled and halved) with four cloves and two pieces ofcinnamon. Simmer for another 10 minutes, remove from the heat andallow the mixture to cool.
For a slightly different flavour, add a cup of perfumed rose petalswith the strawberries. Make sure the roses have not been sprayedwith pesticides and are well washed. Alternatively, add a couple oftablespoons of rosewater to the compote once cooled.
smanfredi@smh.com.au Baked strawberry custard tart
For the pastry
350g plain flour
70g caster sugar
Pinch salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
Grated zest of a lemon
170g unsalted butter, cut into 1cm cubes and kept cold
1 65g egg
1 egg yolk
60ml double cream
For the filling and baking
4 65g egg yolks
80g caster sugar
2 level tsp cornflour
Pinch salt
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
250ml thickened cream
500g strawberries, washed and dried, husks removed
20g caster sugar for sprinkling
To make pastry, place flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and lemonzest in a food processor. Pulse until ingredients have combinedwell. Add cold butter cubes and pulse repeatedly until mixture islike sand. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, yolk and cream.Add to the food processor ingredients and pulse until the mixtureforms a ball. Remove from processor and flatten dough into a disc.Refrigerate for 3-4 hours. Once set, roll pastry out to fit a 24cmtart tin and rest in refrigerator while preparing the filling. Thepastry does not have to be baked first (blind baked).
To make filling, whisk together egg yolks, 80g of sugar, cornflour,salt and vanilla. Whisk in cream. Arrange strawberries in tartshell and pour mixture in carefully so it comes almost to top ofshell. Sprinkle the 20g of sugar on top and bake on a tray in apreheated 160C oven for 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool toroom temperature before removing from tin and serving.
Serves 8 Strawberries with balsamic vinegar
Use the best balsamic vinegar you can afford for this simpledessert.
600g strawberries
4 tsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp caster sugar
Wash strawberries well and pat dry. Cut into quarters, top tobottom, and place in a ceramic bowl. Add balsamic vinegar, mixgently and leave for 15 minutes. Add sugar, mix well and leave foranother 15 minutes. Serve with vanilla gelato or a plain vanillapannacotta.
Serves 4