Berry nice...

I wasn't kidding about seeing red. The flavor of the moment is Strawberry, here in the flat fertile Garonne River Valley. And while our own potager at Camont is growing greener by the minute, (tarbais beans are 6 inches high, leeks, kale and courgettes sprouted, tomatoes, aubergine and peppers in...) it's the fruit of someone else's labor that takes my fancy.


These oversized (and admittedly too juicy) monsters caught my eye at the Nerac Saturday Market. This was a serious flat of big berries fit for a bowl of crème fraiche, to eat like a peach or offer as a 'tip' to the cafe server. Of course, it came home to the French Kitchen.


As large as an egg and at the very peak-and-then-some of ripeness, we couldn't eat them fast enough. This morning I breakfasted on fresh goat's cheese, HALF a berry and black pepper. Then I measured enough sugar over the rest of the berries, added a swish of blood orange juice and put them on the heat as the first cafe au lait brewed.


Bring to a quick rolling boil, and then cool in the syrup and refrigerate. I'll make a fraise sherbet with creme fraiche and fresh cream, pain perdu et sirop des fraises, and add lemon verbena tea and sparkling water for an afternoon cold drink- a T-Garden soda.

Happy Spring!!!