Monday, May 04, 2009

Roasted Strawberry Season

Strawberries are in season so much earlier in South Carolina than they were where I grew up in Oregon. I have actually missed it before, but not this year. This has been a great year for local berries, and I have been experimenting with new ideas and recipes.

Since I created a Twitter account just for baking, I have had a window into the daily lives of other bakers with Twitter accounts. When @glamah of Coco Cooks posted that she was roasting strawberries, I eagerly asked for the method, which she gracefully shared.

It is a simple method, but I just hadn't ever thought of roasting strawberries. She hulls them, sprinkles with sugar, drizzles with balsamic, tosses the berries and cooks until soft and carmelized. Balsamic and strawberries, if you haven't ever tried it, has this amazing result of not tasting vinegary but bringing out the flavor of the strawberry even more. Of the various toppings I'd prepared for crepes, this was by far the best.

Lemon Ginger Pound Cake with Awesomesauce
I liked the flavor so much that when I made Nick Malgieri's Lemon Ginger Pound Cake (from The Modern Baker), I knew it deserved an awesome sauce. My youngest sister is always adding the word sauce at the end of various words, so as a tribute to her, the roasted strawberries mashed up became known as Awesomesauce. The cake by itself was flavorful, and the strawberry was a lovely pairing with the lemon and ginger. I brought it in for my student workers and anyone else passing through the music library, because it is finals week and sugar is essential.

Categories: Cake, Crepes, Ginger, Lemon, Strawberry

9 comments:

Wolf said...

Hey, I had those plates! LOL tHe green and black ones I mean.}:P

We had those before I got the taupe and black set I have now.}:P

I loved those plates.}:P And your strawberry photos made me hungry.}:P

Unknown said...

Mmmm... this looks so incredibly good!! And so simple! I'll be trying this soon.

Barbara Bakes said...

I haven't tried roasted strawberries, but your pictures look so yummy I'll have to give it a try!

Anonymous said...

YUM! hooray for strawberry season. :-) I've never had roasted strawberries, but I'm just guessing that they'd be awesome.

The combination of strawberries and balsamic has been a favorite of mine for a LONG time - it's a key part of a salad I'll be posting soon on my blog!

hellokitty138 said...

That looks phenomenal. Good thing for you I don't live next door!

Bread and Jam said...

Oh, goodness! My mouth is watering from this post. I love, love pound cake! And congratulations on a successful Daring Bakers theme! It was only my 2nd challenge and I really enjoyed it. Thank you for your coordination!

Anonymous said...

This sounds wonderful!

Zita said...

I just adore strawberries, and thank you for commenting on my cheesecake, I wish all of the hosts were as gracious as you :)

Jude said...

Nice method for strawberries. And I'm totally with you on the balsamic thing. I don't know why but that pairing just plain works.