What to do with bunches of Strawberries?

My father brought me 3 gallons of strawberries. The kiddos have already eaten about 1 gallon. My question is, besides strawberry shortcakes, what is your best strawberry recipe?

I'm with you Annemarie.

Trisha, you can also freeze the strawberries to use at a later date. http://www.strawberry-recipes.com/freeze_strawberries.html Like the author of this website, I prefer to freeze them whole and unsugared.

THanks guys. I do both of those. I have a couple of gallons coming next week to do freezer jam with. I also froze some.
I'm just really wanting a yummy new recipe NOW. lol

Okay, Trisha, I get the picture.

One of my favorite salads to make this time of year is a spinach, strawberry, red grapefruit salad. I make a vinaigrette with olive oil, grapefruit juice, a touch of sugar and a pinch of dry mustard. I can't lay my hands on the original recipe this evening, probably because I haven't looked at the recipe itself in many a moons! But I Googled around and these to sites may give you a feel for the basics. However, do note that I do not use any bottle dressing in my preparation.

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/spinach-strawberry-grapefruit-toss-60158.aspx
http://www.stxorganics.com/Recipes/Salads?recipe=Rio-Spinach-Salad
http://www.eatertainment.com/lifestyle/recipes/recipe.aspx?RecipeID=219

The proportions of the spinach, strawberries and grapefruit in the first web site sound right. However, do note that I do not use any bottle dressing in my preparation. Nor do I use almonds, but I might try that next time.

There is too much sugar in the vinaigrette recipe at the second web site. Like I said I use olive oil and grapefruit juice. I think it sounds to heavy on the the grapefruit juice. I only use one grapefruit and most of its juice.

The third web site's vinaigrette recipe sounds to heavy on the oil to me. I much prefer olive oil to canola in my salad dressings and it's missing the touch of sugar and dry mustard.

Hope this helps.

Have you thought of homemade strawberry ice cream or sherbet? When I lived in Danville and had a large strawberry patch, I also made chilled strawberry soup, strawberry nut bread and I made a raw strawberry pie making my "gel" from a pint of purchased blueberries as I never felt the strawberries made a proper gel and my strawberries and blueberries never ripened at the same time. I posted the recipe for my raw blueberry pie a while back,
http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/hotbytes/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3804&p=36393&hilit=blueberry+pie#p36393
During strawberry season, I omitted all spices except for a dash of nutmeg and used strawberries in place of the last 4 cups of blueberries.

My mother often made zabaglione to serve over fresh strawberries.

Today at the farmers market I bought fresh strawberries and fresh rhubarb. I plan on cooking the rhubarb to make what we called "sauce" in North Dakota and adding a mess of strawberries to it.

And how could I forget? There are always strawberry margaritas!

I like making strawberry soup or a grilled salmon with a strawberry balsamic reduction sauce. I also use Coconut Milk (unsweetened) and strawberries for a yummy smoothie.

Dehydrate and save to throw on cereal or in oatmeal or simply eat as sweet little chips.

This is one of my all time favorites recipes. Only use just picked strawberries/ farmer's market strawberries- Driscoll's are just not the same.

Enjoy!
Deb

Strawberries with Lemon Sugar and Lavender Syrup
Bon Appétit | April 2005

You can make the lavender syrup and slice the berries ahead of time, but toss them together at the last minute. Any remaining lemon sugar can be used to top muffins, etc...

Ingredients
1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons dried lavender blossoms*


3 1-pound containers strawberries, hulled, sliced
Crème fraîche or sour cream

PreparationMash 1/3 cup sugar and lemon peel in small bowl to blend well. (Lemon sugar can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and store at room temperature.)

Bring 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, honey, and lavender to boil in heavy small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until lavender flavor is pronounced, about 3 minutes. Strain syrup into small bowl. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature. Rewarm syrup before continuing.)

Place berries in large bowl. Pour warm syrup over berries; stir to coat. Divide berries and syrup among 8 bowls. Spoon crème fraîche over berries, sprinkle with lemon sugar, and serve immediately.

*Available at natural foods stores and some farmers' markets.

My father brought me 3 gallons of strawberries. The kiddos have already eaten about 1 gallon. My question is, besides strawberry shortcakes, what is your best strawberry recipe?

* 2 pints ripe strawberries
* 4 ripe limes, juiced, plus
* 1 lime, wedged for rimming and garnish
* 8 tablespoons sugar
* 1/2 cup orange juice
* ice cubes (2 trays)
* 12 fluid ounces good quality tequila (8 shots)...or more
* coarse salt, to rim glasses

...and away we go.

Love it, Steve!

Will I be seeing you and Becky at the throwdown this evening?

Deb - I love that recipe! Used it for a brunch last summer that I held at DCE. I have lavender oil that I used for making the simple syrup.

We picked 20 lbs of berries at Hubers today (then hit the open house at Capriole). the berries are delicious. I just finished making 4 pies using the Joy of Cooking recipe, basically a hot mixture of strawberry puree, corn starch and sugar poured over fresh uncooked berries. I used leftovers of the warm mixture for homemade Monte Cristos paired with an Avery Out of Bounds Stout. Yum. Tommorrow we're making scones and spinach salad and freezing the rest.