Recipes and images by Kathy Paterson
It’s very tempting to eat beautifully ripe strawberries straight out of your hand but you can also enjoy them cooked. Take the time to try some of these simple cooking techniques for strawberries.
Semolina with Roasted Strawberries
Milk puddings are my absolute comfort food and there is something very soothing indeed about this one.
Make the pudding and serve straight away when it is smooth and creamy and doesn’t begin to set too quickly.
You might prefer to serve this as a pudding—add a scoop of ice cream to each bowl as well.
Serves 4
Roasted strawberries
2 x 250g punnet strawberries, hulled and cut in half
3 tbsp icing sugar
finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2–3 sprigs mint
Semolina
600ml full cream milk
2 tbsp caster sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon or lime
100g (¾ cup) fine white semolina
Heat the oven to 220°C or 200°C fan bake.
In a bowl combine the strawberries, icing sugar, lemon zest and juice and mint along with 5 tablespoons of water. Transfer to an ovenproof dish large enough so the strawberries are mostly in a single layer. Put in the oven and roast for 20 minutes, gently tossing after 10 minutes, until roasted and bubbling. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool to room temperature.
To make the semolina pudding, put the milk, sugar and lemon or lime zest in a heavy-based saucepan over medium-high heat and bring just up to the boil. Whisk in the semolina and continue to whisk until it thickens; this will only take a few minutes. Divide between 4 serving bowls and top with some of the roasted strawberries and their syrup. Store extra strawberries and their syrup in a covered container in the fridge for 1–2 days.
Or you could, make a strawberry compote.
2 x 250g punnet strawberries, hulled and cut in half
3 tbsp honey
finely grated zest and juice of 2 limes or 1 lemon
Put all the ingredients in a heavy-based saucepan and put over medium-high heat. Bring just up to the boil then lower the heat and simmer until the strawberries begin to soften. Remove from the heat and serve with the semolina.
