2011 Cooking Club Week 24 - Balsamic & Black Pepper Strawberries with Greek Yoghurt

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Not much in the preparation of this week's dish, but I hope it's something that people will try, even if at fist glance it seems a bit weird.

Strawberries are right in season, and so should be readily available anywhere.

Both Balsamic Vinegar and Black Pepper really work with the Strawberry flavour, and bring it out brilliantly. Other versions I've seen use Cider Vinegar.

So, gather all your ingredients together.



Chop the Strawberries, halve the smaller ones, cut the larger ones to match the size.



Sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons of Caster Sugar (normal sugar will do), this will draw out the juices.



Put in one and a half tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar



A good twist or two of Black Pepper



And stir them all together

Stick into the fridge for an hour, or more if you have the time, stir it a few times while it's resting in the fridge.



Take it out of the fridge, and you can see that the sugar, juice and balsamic have combined to form a kind of syrup. Noy really thick like honey, but kind of syrupy



Now, you can serve this with Cream, Ice Cream or Natural Yoghurt.



Enjoy!

irish_goat

Noticed that one of the serving suggestions on a bottle of balsamic creme is with strawberries, always wondered if it's any good. Since I'm a stingy student I'll wait til the weekend and try this at work.

Mellor

I'll give it a whirl tonight, intrigued

unkel

Mellor wrote: »

I'll give it a whirl tonight, intrigued

+1

I'll be trying this in the next few days

sponge_bob

just finished trying this one, must say i was pleasently surprised:D

9 thumbs up from me:D

Mellor

i don't know if i didn't leave it in the fridge too long, or if i use too much balsamic (1.5 tbsp to half a punnet) but my syrup was much more brown than red. I might of

Either way, it was deadly, they all went together really well. I have half a punnet left, might as well go again tonight

sharkman

I'll try this tonight , I usually use a spoonfull of Orange Juice to marinade strawberries .

Chilli's are also good with them , try one with some tobasco on ! Wow :eek:

Dinkie

Am suspicious, but will try this at the weekend. Might just make a mini bowl to check.

John Mason

Dinkie wrote: »

Am suspicious, but will try this at the weekend. Might just make a mini bowl to check.

a go on live dangerously

Blobby George

Wow. The standard has really been notched up with this 'recipe'. lol :rolleyes:

Faith

Blobby George infracted for that post.

unkel

Ooooh very nice! The strawberries texture turns into strawberries from a tin a bit after being in the fridge for a good 3 or 4 hours, but the taste is very much enhanced. But they don't taste at all of balsamic vinegar or pepper.

When I mentioned the black pepper and balsamic vinegar strawberries to mrs unkel (who is normally a lot less adventurous when it comes to food compared to myself), she said she had it before like that in restaurants and she liked it

And tbh, I feel 1 minute simple unusual recipes like this one very much deserve a place in the Cooking Club.

I for one am very grateful for the Cooking Club as it has given me the ideas / recipes to cook up some real good food for the people around me I know and love. And they sure told me they love it!

Malari

I tried this last night and thought it was delish! For me, it really intensified the flavour of the strawberries. I didn't have greek yoghurt so I used a well-known alternative of grating dark chocolate over the whole lot :cool:

My boyfriend tasted it too, not knowing what was in it and instantly said "there's balsamic in this!" He is to balsamic vinegar what I am to cucumber. Like sharks with a drop of blood in the ocean, we are :pac:

Little Alex

This was our dessert tonight and it was fab! I used a glass and mixed lemon yogurt with creme fraiche as the base to set it on:

unkel wrote: »

And tbh, I feel 1 minute simple unusual recipes like this one very much deserve a place in the Cooking Club.

I for one am very grateful for the Cooking Club as it has given me the ideas / recipes to cook up some real good food for the people around me I know and love. And they sure told me they love it!

Hear, hear! My cooking and presentation has really improved since taking part in the Cookery Club!

Malari wrote: »

He is to balsamic vinegar what I am to cucumber. Like sharks with a drop of blood in the ocean, we are :pac:

So, you also have the "cucumber taster gene" and recognise it for the filth that it is! :pac:

Dotcomdolly

Yummo! thanks.

didka

super easy, super tasy, refreshing - perfect summer desert!

Malari

Little Alex wrote: »

So, you also have the "cucumber taster gene" and recognise it for the filth that it is! :pac:

Yes! Puke-cumber

Your dish looks great, by the way!

CaptainPendulum

Little Alex wrote: »

This was our dessert tonight and it was fab! I used a glass and mixed lemon yogurt with creme fraiche as the base to set it on:

Hi Little Alex. That looks really nice. I have the ingredients and just wondering what proportion of yogurt to creme fraiche you used?

Thanks,
CP

Little Alex

About half and half, CP.

curlywurly26

Sounds strange but I'm def going to try this at the weekend! Love strawberries...

CaptainPendulum

Little Alex wrote: »

About half and half, CP.

Thanks a mil...all set for tonight. Cooked the salmon with leeks at the weekend and it was fab. A BIG thanks to all on this forum from a smitten NewB!
CP.

what2do

Perfect - easy peasy and tasty as can be :-)

Thanks a mill!!

CaptainPendulum

Well, this really worked out a treat I must say! I used the creme fraiche & lemon yogurt as per Little Alex and it was fab. Felt really weird putting Blasamic into the strawberries at first (wouldn't have done it if this recipe was posted on April 1st!). Thanks again.

Muirgheal

Did this last night, most gorgeous healthy-thing I've eaten all year!

Dotcomdolly

Had this again tonight, with a blob of nat youghurt. The rest of the family are having ice-cream & don't feel deprived at all

Padraig Mor

Well that was bloody nice - for the 60 seconds it lasted for anyway!
Presentation shamelessly copied from Little Alex!

Malari

Made these again last night. I know the OP has since closed his account, but just wanted to highlight how yummy they are

homemadecider

Nice one Malari, I was actually just looking through the Cooking Club in search of a really easy dessert I could do for this Friday. Balsamic strawberries it is!

Malari

It's so easy! And you can make it in advance. Strawberries always seem to be a classy desert, even if it's simple.