Strawberries picked fresh from the garden are thing of beauty. Unfortunately, I find that commercially grown strawberries hardly ever come close. This is where a little balsamic vinegar can make all the difference.
It may sound a little weird, but it’s amazing how the balsamic intensifies the flavor of less-than-perfect strawbs. It’s critical that you use an aged balsamic (15+ years) as younger vinegar won’t have enough sweetness and will taste weird.
See the variations below if you only have supermarket balsamic available.
Strawberries with Balsamic and Mascapone
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon aged balsamic vinegar
- 250 g strawberries
- mascapone or thick cream to serve
Instructions
- Remove the tops from the strawberries and slice lengthwise.
- Toss with the vinegar. Serve with mascapone or cream.
Variations
sweeter – add a little stevia or sugar to the balsamic.
dairy-free/vegan – serve with whipped coconut cream instead of the mascapone.
different berries – raspberries would be my second choice.
more wintery – replace strawberries with prunes or other dried fruit that have been covered in boiling water and allowed to stand for 10 minutes before draining.
no aged balsamic? – if you only have access to inexpensive supermarket balsamic, halve the amount and replace with extra sugar or stevia. You really need a 15+ year aged balsamic to contribute enough sweetness on its own.
carb lovers / more substantial – serve with shortbread or other plain sweet biscuits (cookies).
paleo (grain, legume & gairy-free) – replace mascapone with coconut yoghurt.
Shelf Life / Storage
Marinated strawberries will keep for a few days in the fridge. They can be frozen but will be all mushy when defrosted.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
sugar, vinegar – pantry.
strawberries – use for another meal or freeze.
mascarpone or thick cream – generally has a shelf life of a few weeks if unopened. Can be frozen.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
I use a similar recipe adding lemon zest and black pepper
ooh love the addition of black pepper Taquenia!
we are dairy free at the moment so we skipped the mascarpone cream in favor of coconut yogurt .
It is winter here in the US right now , so the strawberries have that artificial heart house flavor if they are locally grown , while the ones being shipped in from South America are past their prime by the time they arrive .
For the first batch I simply marinated the strawberries in the balsamic vinegar. They fell apart very quickly so serving them that way require doing it justice dinner ended right before serving.
However the flavor was really intriguing, so I decided to experiment.I took the same 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar put it in a sauce pan and cooked it slowly until it got a syrup texture. Poured the syrup over whole strawberries and then topped it, sundae style, with a dollop of coconut yogurt. Fantastic!
Yum Karen!
Thx for sharing your results – love a bit of experimentation 🙂