Culinaire #12.10 (April 2024)

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY NATALIE FINDLAY

Did you know that wild strawberries have been around for thousands of years? And they have been cultivated since the 1300s?

These beautiful red gems, when kissed by the warmth of the sun, are the sweetest, most decadent fruit you can imagine. It makes sense that they are part of the rose family.

The beauty of this fruit (and everything at the peak of ripeness) is not to do too much with it. Let the full flavour envelop the taste buds and enjoy perfection. Eat it straight from the plant, garden, container without much fuss. Their official season is short so eat your heart out when they are at their best.

Most other times of year you are better off buying frozen strawberries that have been picked and flash frozen closer to the peak of their ripeness. The advent of being able to flash freeze foods allows us to enjoy strawberries at all times of the year and still get as close to just picked as possible. Frozen strawberries are better than fresh outside of strawberry season. These recipes use both fresh and frozen strawberries so you can enjoy both.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie Serves 2

1½ cups frozen sliced strawberries

1 cup frozen sliced bananas

½ cup (120 mL) coconut cream

¾ cup (180 mL) water

2 tsp (10 mL) honey

Blend strawberries, bananas, coconut cream, water and honey in a blender and enjoy.

But that not all this smoothie can do:

• Add your favourite protein powder to power up your breakfast or a quick boost after your workout.

• This smoothie is great for kids when they get home from school and dinner isn’t quite ready yet.

• You can use up extra ripe bananas to make this smoothie.

You can also prep the banana and strawberries and package them for easy access so that you can whip up this smoothie in just 2 minutes. To do this, chop up the bananas and strawberries and lay them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and allow them to freeze for 3 hours. Once they are frozen then you can store them in a freezer safe container. Just measure out what you need for your smoothie. Easy!

Strawberry Mousse

Serves 4-5

3 cups frozen strawberries (or fresh)

¼ cup sugar

1 Tbs (15 mL) water

1 lemon, juiced

½ cup (120 mL) whipping cream

1 Tbs icing sugar

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp (5 mL) lemon juice

1 cup strawberry compote (from the frozen strawberries)

Mint leaves, extra strawberries, extra “jam” for garnish

1. In a small pot add strawberries, sugar, and water. Bring to a boil over medium to medium-high heat and let cook 15 - 20 minutes.

2. Add lemon juice, stir and remove from heat.

3. Puree the mixture with a hand blender or stand blender until smooth. Let cool in the fridge until cold.

4. Whip cream until thick. Add the icing sugar, lemon zest and juice, and continue to whip to combine.

5. Gently fold in the strawberry “jam”. Spoon into serving containers.

6. Top with more strawberry slices or you can swirl extra “jam” through the mousse without incorporating it completely for flair and a pop of extra strawberry flavour.

Note: You can make the mousse earlier in the day and keep in the fridge to serve after dinner.

Strawberry Salad

Serves 4-5

¼ cup (60 mL) yogurt

1 Tbs (15 mL) orange juice

1½ tsp orange zest

1 tsp (5 mL) red wine vinegar

¼ tsp chili powder

To taste sea salt

6 leaves Bibb lettuce, or greens of choice

1 Tbs green onion

5 strawberries, fresh

4 walnuts

¼ cup orange segments

½ avocado

1 cup shredded chicken

1. In a small bowl, combine yogurt, orange juice, orange zest, vinegar, chili powder and salt. Let stand as you prepare the rest of the salad.

2. Wash and dry the greens. Tear or roughly chop your greens.

3. Thinly slice the green onion. Quarter strawberries. Crush or roughly chop the walnuts.

4. Remove the segments from an orange and slice the avocado.

5. Place the greens on the plate or bowl and top with shredded chicken, green onion, strawberries, walnuts, orange segments and avocado.

6. Drizzle with the yogurt dressing. Simple, fresh and filling!

Strawberry Mascarpone Phyllo Tarts

Makes approximately 15 mini tarts

1 Tbs (15 mL) whipping cream

2 tsp (10 mL) Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur

½ cup (120 mL) mascarpone

2½ Tbs icing sugar

1 Tbs orange zest

12-15 mini phyllo tart shells (store bought or homemade)

2 Tbs (30 mL) strawberry jam (store bought or homemade from recipe above)

8 strawberries, sliced and diced to top the tarts

1. In a small bowl add the whipping cream, orange liqueur, mascarpone, and icing sugar, and beat with a hand mixer until smooth. Add more icing sugar if needed and combine.

2. Stir in the orange zest.

3. Line up the shells and fill* and decorate using the jam, mascarpone filling and fresh strawberries.

* Fill these as close to serving as possible so the filling does not soften the phyllo shells.

You could also use the strawberry mouse (from above) to fill the shells as well.

This recipe can be multiplied for larger tarts or to serve as 1 large tart.