Strawberry Fields Forever.........

In preparation for this Tuesday's CSA shares, we picked 100 quarts of strawberries. This was partly because there were so many hands around to pick--Ginette, the oldest Friesen daughter, was in town with her husband Chad Swanson and his brother Reid. The three summer interns at Sunny Slope (Miriam and Rachel Friesen, and Kim Schmidt) were also available for picking, the first activity that the entire Friesen/Sunny Slope Farm crew did together for the summer.

100 quarts was much more than we could put in the shares, of course, and we have since been swimming in ripe strawberries and pulling out every strawberry recipe we can think of. In case you have some extra strawberries (or want to come take some strawberries off our hands...) here are a few of our favorites:

Strawberry Vinaigrette Salad Dressing (Simply in Season)
1 C Strawberries
4 t. rice vinegar
4 t. lemon juice
1 T. sugar
1 1/2 t honey
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. each garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil leaves, dried parsley flakes, pepper
1/4 c. olive oil
Puree strawberries in blender. Add remaining ingredients except oil. Blend, then gradually add oil while blending on low speed.

Strawberry Bread (Simply in Season)
1 c flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 1/4 c strawberries (mashed)
3/4 c sugar
2/3 c oil
2 eggs
2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda.
Mix together, stirring until just combined. Pour into greased 8-in loaf pan and bake in preheated oven at 350F/180C until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (1 hour).

Chilled Strawberry Soup (Simply in Season)
1 c apple juice (actually, we tried it with orange juice, which was still good!)
3/4 c water
2/3 c sugar
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves
Combine in saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat (or microwave in glass bowl until boiling. Remove from heat; cool.

3 c. strawberries
1/4 c water
Puree until smooth. Pour into a large bowl.

2 c plain yogurt
1 t vanilla
Add to pureed strawberries with juice mixture. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled. Garnish with additional strawberry halves. The soup freezes well and is especially good with small ice crystals left in.

Strawberry Pie (Simply in Season)
1 c sugar
3 T cornstarch
Blend in a saucepan

1 c strawberries (mashed)
1/2 c orange juice or water
Add and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat.

2 T lemon juice.
Stir in and cool

4-6 c whole strawberries
9-inch baked pastry shell/crust
When cooked fruit is cool, gently fold in additional strawberries and pour into crust. Chill for 3 hours.

Mabrooshee (Note from Miriam: This is a recipe I brought back from Nazareth. My friend Laura worked in a hostel and part of her job was to prepare "cake" for the guests, and this was it. I would call this a bar cookie, not a cake, but whatever it is, it is pretty delicious)
3 eggs
3 T. baking powder
1 T. vanilla
2 c sugar
1 c oil/butter/shortening
Mix together; add flour until not sticky.
Set aside about 1/3 of the dough, press the rest of the dough into a 9x13 pan. Spread a thin layer of strawberry jelly or jam on top followed by a layer of fresh sliced strawberries (actually this can be done with any jam or fruit filling, but it's strawberry season so we're calling it a strawberry recipe). Use a cheese grater to grate reserved dough over the top. Bake at 300F until golden (about 45 min)

Last but not least:
Strawberry Daiquiris (Cooking Light)
1 c. halved strawberries
1/2 c. Simple Syrup (Combine 1 1/4 c sugar and 1 c. water in small saucepan; bring to a boil; cook 1 1/2 min or until sugar dissolves stirring occasionally. Yields 1 1/2 c, enough for three batches of daiquiris)
1 T lemon juice
3 c. crushed ice
1/2 c. rum
3 T lime juice
Combine first three ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Strain mixture through a sieve into a bowl, discard solids. Combine strawberry mixture, 3 c. crushed ice, rum and lime juice in blender; process until smooth. Yields 6 servings.

We'd love to hear your strawberry recipes too! We've still got a lot of strawberries to get through...