I YUM New York

This recipe comes from a good friend of ours down south.  Since it’s definitely strawberry season (and lets face it, strawberries are always awesome to have year-round), why not let this amazing berry do all the talking?

The conserve (a tweak of a Bon Appetit recipe):

4 cups strawberries (hulled and quartered…or halved depending on the size)
3/4 cups superfine sugar
peel (with pith) of a lemon (i might be inclined to add more if you want it thicker…or for a more preserve like consistency, you can buy and add pectin)

– combine ingredients in pot and cover and let it sit overnight so that juices begin to ooze out of the strawberries and dissolve the sugar (stir every once in a while)
– boil for 5 minutes
– let it sit for a few hours
– bring mixture to simmer until it starts to thicken more (about 5-10 minutes)
– remove lemon peels and place strawberries into a mason jar
– simmer remaining liquid for about 5 minutes or until it gets somewhat syrupy (it won’t entirely thicken given the lack of pectin, but it should get thicker)
– spoon liquid into mason jar with strawberries
– cool to room temp and refrigerate (should last about a month or longer if you actually can it)

It’s a great way to take advantage of summer strawberries (adds Frank!)

Here’s how it should look:

I need to start using up the strawberries I have and make some of this!  I’m also making fresh ricotta this weekend.  I bought some raw milk from my CSA (which is awesome cause it’s very hard to find raw milk in these parts) and decided to try my hand at some basic cheese making.  This was inspired by mine and Dr. Awesome’s visit to Blue Hill at Stone Barns last week.  What’s funny is that they have a dairy farm in Great Barrington, MA.  That’s where the milk for our ricotta dish they served us came from (and butter!) They used a few different milks which was awesome and definitely had just made it before they served it to us cause it was nice and warm.  It was THE best dining experience we’ve ever had (even better than Daniel).  I think we’re going to try going again in the fall to see what the menu is like since it’s all seasonal and everything is grown and raised right there (or locally sourced).  We wrote down everything we ate, so I’ll be posting that another time.

Tomorrow, Dr. Awesome and I are going to a four-course dinner at a random apartment in Williamsburg.  It’s called Apt 4.  There’s going to be eight of us in total.  It reminded me of this show on Cooking Channel called The Four Coursemen, so I decided to sign up and see what this was all about!  The Coursemen are located down south, so this was the next best thing.  Should be an interesting (and delicious) experience!

Posted in Friends, home cooking
Tags: Apt. 4, Bill Hill at Stone Barns, raw milk ricotta, Sixth Street CSA, strawberry conserve