saving strawberries

What to do when confronted with a slew of spotted strawberries? 

strawberry muffins
strawberry muffins

Recently the market opened with one sole customer willing to brave the morning downpour, no doubt propelled by her vegetable needs for brunch taking place in a few hours. The rain’s dampening of customers and our clothing was eventually overcome by warming temps and drying sunshine, but not before droplets doused the most fragrant crop of the day – strawberries.

market berry crop
market berry crop

When rain lands on berries – or any porous, pockety fruit for that matter – it is quickly absorbed, leading to swollen segments.  While still on the plant protection and rescue occurs, in the form of leaf umbrellas and root plumbing piping away water prior to berries bursting. But without their leafy sidekicks strawberries are no longer impervious to water, implode from water spots, and quickly decompose.

In order to avert wasted berry tragedy, one of the farmers and I made a deal that I’d take the two flats of spotted strawberries that remained after filling pints with undamaged goods.  

the goods
the goods

With the market breakdown behind me, a light lunch of spinach quiche (thanks be to bakers) in my belly, and some restful reading accomplished, I was ready to face the flats.

strawberry flats
strawberry flats

Noting the huge quantity of berries that we had acquired, my hubby even offered to chip in and divvy up the work. So we set about paring down the soft spots, removing green tops and hulls, and cutting the berries into bite-sized pieces. All of this went into a mammoth glass bowl, to be dealt with later – dinner was calling first.

Dinner done, thoughts proceeded to consideration of shortcake, pie, sorbet, and (very briefly) jam recipes for dessert. But the hour had gotten the best of us and we settled on leftover homemade vanilla ice cream as the evening’s strawberry vehicle. While delicious and easy, this did nothing to address the mountain of red sitting in our refrigerator. 

chopped berries
chopped berries

The next day, rested and refreshed, I tackled them all.. with the help of David Lebovitz’ fantastic recipe for strawberry frozen yogurt.  This was a great way to save almost all of those strawberries, and offered a nice tangy alternative to the cloying ice cream that we occasionally make. 

strawberry fro-yo
strawberry fro-yo

And it was so simple and easy to make that I had plenty of time left to use up the rest of the berries in one last preparation… a strawberry-apple galette.  I had a dough disk that had been waiting patiently in my freezer to be taken advantage of and since the last-until-fall apples in my crisper were on their last legs begging to be used – it was time to take action.  Combining the apples with the berries worked well since the starchy apples counterbalanced the juiciness of the almost-past-ripe berries, cutting their perfume and ooziness just enough to be reigned in by the flaky crust.  And who can resist a crumb topping? 

strawberry-apple galette
strawberry-apple galette

So before it’s too late – as strawberries are already waning at markets due to the ridiculous amount of rain we’ve had this year – get out there, talk to some farmers, and save some strawberries!

Strawberry-apple galette

Adapted from Ina Garten’s Back to Basics

For the pastry (makes 2)
2c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1/2 t. kosher salt
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
6 tablespoons ice water

For the filling (makes 1)
3 apples, cored, peeled & chopped into small pieces
1/2 lb. fresh ripe strawberries, cleaned, hulled & cut into chunks (quarters are fine unless your berries are small)
1 T. plus 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 T. plus 1/4 c. granulated sugar*
1/4 t. kosher salt
4 T. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, diced

For the pastry: place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade.  Pulse a few times to combine.  Add the butter and toss to coat with the flour.  Pulse 12 to 15 times, or until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. With the motor running, add the ice water all at once through the feed tube.  Keep pulsing until combined, but stop just before the dough forms into one big clump.  Turn the dough out onto a floured board, roll into a ball, cut in half, and form into 2 flat disks.  Wrap in plastic wrap & refrigerate for at least an hour; freeze one of the two disks if you only need one.  

If using the dough from the freezer (as I did), transfer it to your refrigerator overnight and then let warm at room temperature while you prepare the filling and topping.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.  Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Roll the pastry into an 11-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Transfer it to the sheet pan.

For the filling: put the cut prepared fruit (apples and strawberries) together in a bowl. Toss them with 1 tablespoon of the flour and 1 tablespoon of the sugar*. Place the mixed fruit on the dough circle, leaving a 1½ -inch border.

For the topping: combine ¼ cup flour, the ¼ cup sugar, and the salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Pour into a bowl and rub it with your fingers until it starts to hold together – this may take a bit of squeezing.  Distribute evenly over the fruit. Gently fold the border over the fruit, pleating it to make an edge.

Bake the galette for 20 to 25 minutes, until the crust is golden and the fruit is tender. Let the it cool for 5 minutes, then transfer it to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*if your berries are as ripe as mine were there is no need for the extra sugar; taste them and add some to suit your own taste.  The original recipe also had a bit of orange juice, which I omitted; if you do want a bit of citrus try a scant teaspoon of fresh lemon juice.


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