Strawberries in Their Own Syrup with Barely-Sweetened Cream

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

The whole point here is the syrup: you mash a small handful of the ripest berries with sugar, a pinch of salt and a strip of orange zest, then let the rest of the fruit sit in that garnet liquid until it turns glossy and almost jammy at the edges while staying crisp in the middle. It gets spooned over cream that's barely whipped and barely sweet — loose enough to pool, tangy enough to keep the fruit from tasting like candy. A few drops of aged balsamic and a grind of black pepper are the restaurant move that makes people ask what's in it.

Ingredients

• 2 lb ripe strawberries, divided
• 5 tbsp superfine (caster) sugar, divided
• 1 pinch fine sea salt
• 2 strips orange zest, peeled with a vegetable peeler
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp aged balsamic vinegar (optional)
• freshly cracked black pepper, to finish

• 1 cup heavy cream, very cold
• 1/4 cup full-fat sour cream, cold
• 1 tbsp powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pinch fine sea salt

• 8 leaves fresh mint or basil, torn
• 2 tbsp sliced almonds, toasted (optional)

Instructions

1. Rinse the strawberries under cool water, then dry them thoroughly on a towel — wet berries dilute the syrup. Hull all of them. Sort out about 6 ounces of the softest, reddest, most fragrant berries (bruised spots are fine here) and set the rest aside.
2. Put those 6 ounces of soft berries in a medium bowl with 3 tablespoons of the superfine sugar, the pinch of salt, the two strips of orange zest and the lemon juice. Mash hard with a fork or potato masher until you have a rough, seedy purée. Let it sit 10 minutes at room temperature, stirring twice, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is loose and syrupy.
3. Meanwhile, cut the remaining 1 pound 10 ounces of strawberries: halve the small ones, quarter the medium ones, and cut large berries into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Keep the pieces chunky so they hold their bite.
4. Add the cut berries to the mashed syrup along with the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Fold gently with a rubber spatula, cover, and macerate at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes, folding once at the halfway point. The berries should look lacquered and be sitting in a good 1/2 inch of ruby liquid. Do not go past 90 minutes or they turn limp.
5. While the fruit sits, make the cream. Combine the cold heavy cream, sour cream, powdered sugar, vanilla and pinch of salt in a chilled bowl. Whisk by hand (or with a mixer on medium-low) for 60 to 90 seconds, just to soft peaks that slump immediately when the whisk is lifted — you want it pourable, not stiff. Refrigerate until serving.
6. Just before serving, fish out and discard the orange zest strips. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, if using, and taste the syrup: it should be bright and slightly tart. Add another squeeze of lemon if the berries were very sweet, or a teaspoon more sugar if they were underripe.
7. Spoon the cream into four shallow bowls or wide glasses and swirl it out so it pools. Pile the strawberries on top and pour every bit of the syrup over them. Finish each bowl with a small grind of black pepper, the torn mint or basil, and the toasted almonds if you like. Serve within 10 minutes, while the cream is still cold and the syrup is still bleeding into it.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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