Strawberry sauce. Drizzled on pancakes or waffles for breakfast, atop strawberry ice cream for dessert, or, used to flavor a strawberry milkshake, it's hard to find a person that doesn't love this sweet condiment. I'm not here to tell you it's hard or time-consuming to make strawberry topping from scratch -- it's not. That said, it can be made even easier without any compromise to the end result. As we all know, sometimes there simply aren't even enough minutes in the day to make everything completely from scratch. I am here to tell you, if you've got store-bought or homemade strawberry preserves on hand, you're only one or two ingredients away from strawberry sauce: fresh or frozen strawberries, and, some optional strawberry extract.
For my puréed strawberry sauce (yields 2 cups):
1- 1 1/4 pounds hulled and 1/4"-thick sliced fresh strawberries (1-1 1/4 pounds after hulling)
1/2 cup strawberry preserves, homemade or high-quality store-bought
1 tablespoon pure strawberry extract
~Step 1. Slice (& weigh) the strawberries as directed, placing them in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the preserves and extract to the work bowl. Using a series of 10-12 rapid on-off pulses, chop the berries and incorporate the preserves.
~Step 2. Transfer the mixture to a 3-quart saucier or a 4-quart saucepan. Over medium heat, bring to a steady simmer. Continue to cook, stirring almost constantly, until mixture slightly-reduced and slightly-thickened, 8-9 minutes. Remove from heat. Transfer to a 2-cup food storage container, cover, and chill for several hours. Keep stored in the refrigerator until it's gone.
Serve at room temperature or warmed in microwave:
Seriously Simple & Scrumptious Strawberry Sauce:
Simply-Scrumptious 3-Ingredient Strawberry Sauce: Recipe yields 2 cups.
Special Equipment List: cutting board; 3-quart saucier or 4-quart saucepan; 2-cup measuring container w/tight-fitting lid
Cook's Note: Happiness comes in many forms, and, for the better part of my life, it never occurred to me that strawberry shortcake, being the straightforward dessert that it is, has too many options. I was wrong. This delicate, moist, almost-creamy cake, when used as the base for strawberry shortcake, ~ Luscious Lemony Strawberry Almond Coffeecake ~, is, quite possibly the best rendition of classic strawberry shortcake you'll ever eat.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2018)
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