Happy Strawberry Season! At this time of year I always think of the dedication in Eve’s Hollywood where Eve Babitz writes “And to STRAWBERRIES and ASPARAGUS, the season is upon us.” A sign that summer is almost here (and summer cooking!) It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Here are a few ways I like to enjoy strawberries, other than just straight into the mouth. As Elizabeth David says in Summer Cooking, “when strawberries are good there seems to me to be no necessity to dress them up in any way.”
Strawberry Conserves
One of my favourite things to do at the start of strawberry season is make conserves. I use the recipe from Canal House Cooks Everyday (one of my most used cookbooks) to make this simple whole fruit jam. The recipe calls for just strawberries, sugar and the peel of one lemon (including the white pith) for a natural pectin which doesn’t result in a “gloopy” jam. I like to use them on toast, for classic peanut butter and jam sandwiches and also as a sundae topping. Canal House suggests to pair them with jamón serrano on little toasts which I have yet to try, but plan to this season. Plus the fragrance of strawberry preserves in the kitchen is heavenly.
A classic PB&J on white pullman’s loaf with peanut butter, strawberry conserves and a sprinkle of Maldon (important!). I like having the 1.4kg tub of Maldon in my cupboard (this also makes a great hostess gift).
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The conserves are also a delicious sundae topping - or to eat with cakes - or both. Below I have some leftover olive oil cake (my favourite recipe for this is from Mina Stone’s Lemon, Love & Olive Oil) and ice cream.
Of course with plain vanilla ice cream it is perfect. Enjoyed below in a sundae for two in Alessi’s Big Love sundae bowl.
Strawberry Spelt Cake
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Every year I make Smitten Kitchen’s Strawberry Summer Cake (usually more than once) and the past couple years I’ve swapped the majority of the AP flour in the recipe for spelt (Deb also suggests barley flour which I have yet to try - but after rereading the glowing report she gives it, I am going do it this summer).
Strawberry Purse
In honour of the season here are a few outfits with the strawberry bag I bought in Mexico City.
First, a vintage 80s red t-shirt dress (label says Sweethearts) that I got a few years ago from Shoppu. I wore this over red, white and green striped Puglia capris by Maryam Nassir Zadeh, purchased in 2020 from 100% Silk Shop and navy suede pumps.
Next, a cream t shirt dress, belted with an emerald green braided Charvet belt (one of my favourite accessories and also the colour of a strawberry top), sheer Max Mara coat that I’ve been wearing before it gets too warm, red MNZ carnation scrunchie and black Mary Janes.
And here, the bag with my standard summer uniform of an oversized men’s shirt, bike shorts and pumps. This eggplant striped shirt I bought on my recent trip to Buffalo at O’Connell’s (an out-of-time menswear store, which I previously wrote about in my Butter Lamb blog). They have a beautiful selection of made in house oxford and dress shirts - in some ways it’s Buffalo’s answer to Charvet ;)
Breakfast Milkshake
I love Gabrielle Hamilton’s recipe for Strawberry Milk from the Prune Cookbook. You macerate ripe strawberries in sugar for about an hour, blend and then steep overnight in three cups of milk + one cup of buttermilk. The full recipe can also be found online here, at Smitten Kitchen, where Deb insists it can be passed off as breakfast. While I was writing this post my friend Lee sent me this Japanese recipe for strawberry milk which features a special spoon designed to mash the strawberries before adding them to milk.
Strawberry Pop Rocks
I love everything that SOMA Chocolate does (especially their affogatos, a Toronto summer highlight). This Wild Berry Pop chocolate bar promises the feeling of ‘stuffing your face with smooshy handfuls of perfectly ripe wild berries’. It’s a mash-up of raspberries, cherries, blueberries and strawberries, mixed with cream and POP ROCKS - a sensational combination. I love to give this bar as a gift (it’s a great size to mail).
Additional References:
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Thank you for reading <3
I didn’t recognize Isabelle Huppert, my style icon! I wonder: if it is warm enough to wear white linen shorts, how is it also cold enough to wear white tights?
omg you had me at breakfast milkshake <3