Notes and curiosities about strawberries
Strawberries are a delicious fruit. They contain over 90% water, few calories and lots of vitamin C. However, it is better not to abuse them because the seeds can cause intestinal disorders or laxative effects. Sometimes they can cause allergic hives in sensitive people. Large strawberries or wild strawberries have the same nutritional values, but the latter have a greater number of seeds.
Cultivated strawberries are of two types: those produced on an industrial scale that have more pulp than perfume and those of very delicate and fragrant gardens.
Strawberries are always a welcome and elegant end to a meal. You can season them with sugar to taste and leave them to macerate for at least twenty minutes to release their delicious juice. Even if left to macerate with wine, they are excellent, we recommend a dry or sweet white wine; refined also with the Port. Also perfect with ice cream.
Unsurpassed with custard and liqueurs such as Kirsch or Cointreau.
If you like strawberries you can indulge yourself in delicious pies, in spoon desserts such as charlotte, mousses, Bavarians, sauces and creams to accompany hot and cold desserts.
You can make delicious jams and jellies to give to relatives and friends. Also in ice cream parlors they give their contribution in semifreddo, in the classic sorbet and strawberry ice cream.
They are also proposed in the savory version in mixed salads or combined with yogurt, ricotta or a creamy cheese like philadelphia or a more full-bodied cheese like Greek feta.
Prepare the strawberry meringue
As a first step to prepare the strawberry meringue we line a plate with baking paper and on the latter we draw a circle with a 22 cm thick cardboard.
We then beat the egg whites with whips; when they are frothy, sprinkle them with cornstarch and put the white vinegar, granulated sugar and icing sugar in order (all these steps must be done while continuing to mix).
Once the egg whites have been whipped, put the mixture in a poché bag with a smooth nozzle with a diameter of half a centimeter.
Starting from the center of the disc we begin to cover it with the meringue forming concentric circles. Before finishing all the mixture, change the nozzle with a star with a diameter of one centimeter and make lots of tufts on the edge of the disc.
If there is some dough left, we form small meringues in the empty spaces of the plate.
We then cook the strawberry meringue in a preheated oven at 100 ° C for an hour and a half; turn off the oven and open it a little to let the air pass; then let the meringue rest for another hour.
Gently detach the meringue disc with the help of a spatula and place it on a serving dish that must be totally flat. At this point, wash the strawberries, remove the stalk and keep 5-6 aside for the garnish; cut the others and season them with a little lemon juice and sugar.
Finally, we cover the center of the meringue with cream and to complete it we alternate strawberries and cream. We decorate the meringue with small meringues and with whole strawberries. Our strawberry meringue is now ready to be served and enjoyed.
Other tasty recipes with strawberries
Recipes with strawberries
We offer you a simple recipe, salad with strawberries to be prepared with 250 g of strawberries, 100 g of feta, 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, shelled almonds, walnuts, 50 g of black olives, 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Let’s start mashing a third of the strawberries with a fork, putting the resulting juice together with the vinegar and sugar.
Then cut the remaining strawberries in half if they are large, put them in a bowl and season them with the juice prepared previously.
Let everything rest for half an hour and add the diced cheese, almonds, walnuts and olives. Finally, we divide the salad into individual cups.
They are also offered in strawberry risotto where, after having blended the toasted rice in butter and onion with a little white wine, it is continued with the addition of broth as in a classic risotto.
Halfway through cooking, add the sliced strawberries in the amount of 250 of strawberries for 320 of rice (recipe for 4 people).
Before serving this particular risotto, add a little cream and pepper instead of grated cheese.
