First published Canberra Times 2 November2011
A sure sign that summer is
on its way is the arrival of the berry sellers at the Capital Region Farmer’s
Markets. Although you can buy
strawberries in Canberra all year round from supermarkets, they are generally not
from our local area and surrounds.
I prefer the smaller, more
compact, sweet strawberries, to the large misshapen and watery ones. Call me
suspicious, but it looks as if they’ve been force-fed with growth hormones. The
other thing I love is buying them in a brown paper bag, rather than a plastic
punnet, because the strawberry smell leaks through the bag.
On
my last trip to France, I discovered the name of the amazingly perfumed little
berries that are so prolific over there. They are called Gariguettes, and famously hail from the southwest of France. The
first taste is a revelation. The beautiful thing about French strawberries is
that you will smell them before you see them, so just follow your nose. It’s a
complete sensory experience.
In France, strawberries are
mostly grown on slopes and hand picked. It takes three years to train a picker
to cut the fruit at the right place and at the peak of its ripeness. Interestingly,
women do the bulk of the picking. Perhaps, as a female neighbor in Chatenois suggested,
it’s because it’s a work of patience and rigor?
The work-day begins at 7:00am
with an obligatory café-au-lait and stops for lunch at midday. The berry gathering
ends around 4:00pm to get the fruit to the market as quickly as possible.
During my cooking classes
in Beaune earlier this year, we made mountains of Gariguette strawberry jam.
The strawberries were bought from the berry seller’s market stall earlier that
morning, right outside the door. We made jam all day, using the traditional
French method. I left there smelling of sweet, sticky, strawberry jam that was
still lingered in my clothes and hair well into the night.
The classic French way to
eat a bowl of these gorgeous globes is in salade de fraises - just a bowl of these luscious Gariguettes with sugar and a little
lemon juice. Nothing else is needed, although, maybe sitting in a little café
on the streets of Paris wouldn’t go astray.
One of my all time
favourite summer desserts is Strawberry Mousse. It’s an easy family classic
from the 1980’s and comes from my sister Sue Barben, who often served it at
summertime dinner parties. I’m not sure where she sourced this recipe from, but
it’s worked its way into my favourites’ list.
There’s no cooking required
here, so it’s a no fuss dessert for summer or Christmas time. Because this
recipe is prepared in advance and set in individual ramekins, it’s ready to go
when you need it. All you will need is a blender or food processor. The
individual mousses will keep covered in the fridge for 4 to 5 days. One regular punnet of strawberries will make a
quantity to serve 4 to 5 people.
I’ve given this recipe a
re-vamp and added a rhubarb vino cotto compote with just a hint of cracked
pepper, to serve with the mousse. This does need cooking, but, like the mousse,
can also be prepared in advance. Any left over compote goes beautifully with
Greek yoghurt, honey and roasted almonds for brekky.
If you don’t feel like
cooking the compote, serve the mousse with a dollop of honey-sweetened
mascarpone or yoghurt.
1 punnet ripe strawberries
½ cup castor sugar
1 ¼ cups fresh cream
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup boiling water
2 tspn powdered gelatin
2 egg whites
1 vanilla bean, scraped or
¼ tspn vanilla paste
Strawberry mousse
Wash and hull the
strawberries. Place the strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, vanilla paste and
cream into a blender or food processor.
Place the boiling water
into a small bowl, add the gelatine, stirring until dissolved.
Add the gelatine to the
blender, and mix on medium speed until combined. This should only take a few
seconds.
Whisk the egg whites in a
separate and clean bowl until peaks form. Fold the strawberry mixture gently
into the whites until combined.
Pour into 4 to 5 ramkeins
and chill until set. This should take a 3 hours or so.
Rhubarb compote
6 stalks of rhubarb, washed
and chopped (no leaves)
3 tbsp icing sugar
2 tbsp of vino cotto, (you
could use 1 ½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
instead, just increase the sugar content)
¼ cup boiling water
cracked black pepper
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper. Spread the rhubarb in one layer
on the tray and dust with 2 tbsp of icing sugar. Roast in the oven for 20
minutes.
Remove the rhubarb from the
oven and place in a small saucepan. Add the remaining icing sugar, boiling
water and vino cotto (or balsamic vinegar and extra sugar) and a good pinch of
cracked black pepper. Taste for sweetness, you may need to add a little more
sugar.
Heat on medium heat,
uncovered for a few minutes until the mixture turns syrupy.
The flavour balance should
be piquant, but slightly sweet. Serve the compote on top of
the strawberry mousse.
Photos by Steve Shanahan
No comments:
Post a Comment