Blue Cayenne

Did you know that if all the strawberries produced in California in one year were laid berry to berry, they would go around the world 15 times?  I didn’t think so.

Did you know that ninety-four percent of households in the United States consume strawberries?  (Personally, I want to know what in the world is wrong with that other six percent of Americans?!)

Did you know that strawberries are a member of the rose family or that there is a strawberry museum in Belgium or that an average strawberry has 200 seeds or that the average American consumes 4.85 pounds of fresh and frozen strawberries each year or….?  (OK. OK. I’ll stop.)

Obviously, our subject today is strawberries. We are, after all, on the cusp of the strawberry season!  How absolutely wonderful is that?

We all know that ripe strawberries are delicious, but some may not realize quite how healthy a food choice they are as well. For example, a cup of strawberries has only 55 calories.  One serving of eight strawberries contains more vitamin C than a whole orange (163% of our daily requirement). They’re packed with fiber and they are fat free and cholesterol free.

Looking back through history, strawberries have long captured the imagination and have, for the most part, been held in high regard. The Romans consumed strawberries to cure fevers, fainting and inflammation. They also used strawberries as a tooth whitener. The French long thought that strawberries were an aphrodisiac. The dour English, however, had different ideas about strawberries–at least when it came to trash talking about Anne Boleyn. Sixteenth Century court gossip had it that Boleyn hid a strawberry-shaped birthmark under that famous golden B necklace–a sure sign that she was a witch. As you may remember, things didn’t end well for Anne.  

Today, the reputation of strawberries has enjoyed a resurgence with scientific studies proving that strawberry consumption positively influences many areas of our health. We can thank strawberries for stronger hearts, lower cholesterol levels, healthy teeth, lower blood glucose levels and lower blood pressure. 

So, where to start?  You could  eat them right out of the basket as you drive home from the market as I often do. Or, you could make a strawberry pie. Or, you could make this  wonderful strawberry sorbet. It is absolutely delicious and its intense red color will capture the admiring gaze of everyone at your table.

Here is a link to the original recipe which appeared under Amanda Hesser’s byline in the New York Times Food Section: NY Times Strawberry Sorbet Recipe .

Yields 1 1/2 quarts

Strawberry Sorbet

15 minTotal Time

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Ingredients

• 1 whole lemon (seeded and roughly chopped)
• 2 C. sugar
• 2 pounds ripe strawberries (hulled)
• Juice of 1 to 2 lemons

Instructions

1. Process chopped lemon and sugar in your food processor until it is well-combined and the lemon chunks are very small. Set aside.
2. Puree the strawberries in your food processor bowl. Add lemon and sugar mixture and lemon juice to taste.
3. Pour the strawberry/lemon mixture into an ice cream maker and process until frozen.
4. Serve and enjoy. Freeze any leftovers.

Notes

The original recipe calls for two cups of sugar. Several of the people who commented on the recipe online recommended cutting the sugar to one and a half cups or less to your taste. I like to live dangerously and used the whole two cups of sugar but you may want to reduce the sugar to satisfy your taste and your concience.

Nutrition

Calories

28 cal

Carbs

6 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

7.8.1.2

51

https://bluecayenne.com/strawberry-sorbet

Do the words five ingredients and gourmet dessert go together? Throw in the word fast and you have this gorgeous strawberry tart.

Your guests will rave (in a good way).

You may be unfamiliar with mascarpone cheese, the main ingredient in this tart. Mascarpone is a mild-flavored soft double or triple cream cheese that originated in the Lombardy region of Italy. It is similar to cream cheese or a thick French creme fraiche. You may need to sit down before reading the next line, though. Mascarpone has a fat content that ranges from sixty to seventy-five percent. There are six grams of fat in a single tablespoon of the cheese. Fortunately a small slice of this tart is very satisfying!

Typically, mascarpone is a dessert ingredient. It is a chief ingredient in Italy’s decadent tiramisu dessert, for example, but it also is used in savory dishes like pastas. You can buy mascarpone in the dairy section of markets like Trader Joe’s.

There are links at the bottom of this post to the original recipe from the How Sweet Eats blog, to a tutorial for carving the roses (it’s a cinch!), and to a do-it-yourself recipe for making mascarpone at home if you want to give that a try.

Strawberry Mascarpone Tart

1 hrPrep Time

1 hrTotal Time

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 C. cookie or graham cracker crumbs
• 5 T. unsalted butter (melted)
• 12 ounces mascarpone cheese (at room temperature)
• 1/4 C. powdered sugar
• 2 pints fresh strawberries
• Optional ingredients/garnishes
• juice of 1/2 lemon (or vanilla extract)
• fresh mint for garnish
• honey for drizzling

Instructions

1. Pulverize cookie crumbs in a food processor. (I used graham cracker crumbs.)
2. Melt butter and add it to the cookie crumbs. (Add more butter if necessary to get the crust to hold together. I did.) Press the crumb/butter mixture firmly into a 4 x 14 inch tart pan (or an 8 inch round pan) with your fingers. (Your pan should have a removable bottom. The crust is tender, so a pan with a removable bottom will make it easier to remove the tart from the pan at the time of serving.)
3. Mix mascarpone and powdered sugar in a bowl. Add the optional lemon juice or vanilla extract. (I used fresh lemon juice.) You will want to mix the cheese filling until it loosens up a bit. Gently spread the mixture with a spatula onto your tart shell. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. (The butter in the crumb crust will harden and firm up the crumbly crust. It is still a tender crust, though. Be careful handling it. If it does break, just sprinkle the crumbs over the tart slice and enjoy. It will still look beautiful.)
4. Meanwhile, prepare your strawberry roses. When you are ready to serve the tart, place the strawberry roses decoratively on top of the tart. The original recipe covered the tart with roses. It was beautiful. I used a single line of roses because I thought it was attractive to expose some of the filling.
5. A link to a tutorial that shows you how to carve the roses appears at the end of this post. It was easy!

Notes

When I first made this, I was worried that the small amount of powdered sugar the recipe called for would be enough to adequately sweeten the tart. Once I tasted the finished product, though, the subtle sweetness was just perfect for me. Depending upon your sweet tooth, you may want to adjust the amount of sugar in the mascarpone filling.

Nutrition

Calories

387 cal

Fat

39 g

Carbs

1 g

Protein

6 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

7.8.1.2

47

https://bluecayenne.com/strawberry-mascarpone-tart

Here is a link to a tutorial on carving the strawberry roses: Carving Strawberry Roses

Here is the link to the original recipe on the How Sweet Eats blog: Five Ingredient Strawberry Tart

Here is a link to a recipe to make your own mascarpone that appears on the Epicurious site: Do-it-yourself mascarpone from Epicurious

Certain things in American life are understood. You don’t mess with Old Glory, for example, or Texas. You don’t cut off a phalanx of Hells Angels on PCH. You don’t open wrapped candy during a performance at The South Coast Repertory Theatre. You argue with an English grammarian at your own peril. And, as it turns out, you don’t ever mess with the recipe for guacamole.

The New York Times found that out the hard way when they published a recipe for guacamole with peas on Twitter back in 2015.

You read that right. Guacamole. With. Peas.

No, really.

People from around the world waded in on that one. Even President Obama got involved. In the end, the editor of the NY Times Food Page, Sam Sifton, survived the pea guacamole brouhaha and continues to defend the recipe to this day. Sifton posted this entertaining reply to his tormentors:

Sam Sifton Replies to “Guacamolegate”

So, here is my personal contribution to the guacamole challenge. This week’s recipe is for a traditional guacamole, one that was made famous by Chef Josefina Howard at the Rosa Mexicano Restaurant in Manhattan. The recipe was published in a New York Times review of Howard’s cookbook, Rosa Mexicano. (Times food writer Florence Fabricant also reviewed Diana Kennedy’s My Mexico cookbook in the same article.)

To my taste, Howard’s guacamole is everything a guacamole should be–bright clean flavors, chunks of just-ripe avocado, the bite of fresh chile pepper and red onion pounded into paste in your authentic molcajete (or just in a boring old bowl).

Stay tuned, though. Next week, I’ll give the pea guacamole a try and post the results (and recipe) here. I’ll tell you what I think and you can give the two recipes your own taste test.

As I see it, either way, I’m a big winner. Two weeks. Two big bowls of guacamole. Life is good.

Yields 2 Servings

Guacamole: Give Peas A Chance?

15 minPrep Time

15 minTotal Time

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Ingredients

• 3 T. chopped red onion
• 1/2 t. minced Serrano chili (or more, to taste)
• 1 1/2 t. finely chopped cilantro leaves
• 1/2 t. salt (or more, to taste)
• 1 small ripe tomato
• 1 ripe Hass avocado
• Juice of 1/2 a lime
• Tortilla chips for serving

Instructions

1. Mash 1 T. onion, fresh chile, 1/2 t. cilantro and salt in a bowl or Mexican lava stone molcajete.
2. Squeeze the juice out of a tomato that has been cut into two halves and remove seeds. Chop the pulp. Add to the bowl with the onion mixture.
3. Cut the ripe avocado in half. Use a sharp knife to slice the avocado of both halves lengthwise, then crosswise, cutting down to the skin, to form a grid. Scoop the avocado into the bowl with the other ingredients.
4. Add the remaining onion and cilantro to the bowl along with the juice of 1/2 a lime and gently mix.
5. Season with more chili and salt to taste. Garnish with extra tomato, cilantro and thinly-sliced red onion.
6. Serve at once with tortilla chips

Notes

I used a jalapeño chile in my guacamole rather than a Serrano chile.

Nutrition

Calories

62 cal

Carbs

14 g

Protein

2 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

7.8.1.2

44

https://bluecayenne.com/guacamole-give-peas-chance

Here is the link to the NY Times guacamole recipe used in this post:

Rosa Mexicano Restaurant Recipe for Guacamole

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