Strawberry Love - Strawberry compote and Strawberry shortcake with icecream

About a month ago, when strawberry season was still on; we went to a local farm for strawberry picking. We finally managed to make a trip to the farm before the end of the season after postponing a few times. I am so glad we went there because all of us had such a fun time. There was a sand box, riding toys, balls and other fun activities for kids. We had strawberry slushie there. It was so refreshing and sweet and had great strawberry flavor. A good indication that the strawberries would be great too. We also tasted funnel cake for the first time. It was light and airy and had just the right sweetness.

The strawberries were so sweet and juicy unlike anything we had seen before. I am afraid we will not be able to enjoy supermarket berries now. That just makes you think how much the food has been through before it got on your table from the supermarket and the forgotten way of eating fruit fresh off the trees.
After eating a lot of berries right away. I managed to keep some aside to make a few desserts.

Basic strawberry compote

The strawberries barely needed any help. I just cooked them down a bit. We absolutely loved it with some vanilla ice cream and almonds. We were just addicted to it while it lasted.

This is hardly a recipe. Just a guideline. Adjust the ingredients depending on how sweet or unsweet the strawberries are.

• Hull and cut the strawberries into big chunks.
• Add the juice of half a lemon and some sugar depending on the sweetness of the berries.
• Cook the mixture until the juices are released and strawberries have softened but still hold their shape well.
• You might need to add a couple of tablespoons of water if the strawberries are not very juicy.
• Use it warm or cold to top icecreams, pancakes or just eat it with a spoon.

Strawberry shortcake

The other dessert I always wanted to make was strawberry shortcake. It is always represented as this great dessert. I think it is special because this celebrates strawberries so well and strawberries indicate warm days are coming.
I based my recipe on this recipe from The Little Epicurean. It uses ice cream instead of whipped cream because seriously what is better than whipped cream? Ice cream, of course.

I followed the same recipe for the biscuits. I just halved it and used a few substitutions to use what I had on hand.

• Kosher salt instead of sea salt. The coarse grained salt adds that welcome salty pop between all the sweetness.
• I did not sprinkle sugar on top of the biscuits.
• Buttermilk powder instead of real buttermilk. This stuff works so well in baked goods and pancakes.
• I treated the strawberries a little differently. I tossed them with some balsamic vinegar and honey instead of just sugar as mentioned in the recipe.
• I added strawberries on top of the biscuit instead of on top of the ice cream so that the biscuit soaks up the strawberry juices.

I didn't have any strawberries left over for making strawberry jam. The farm had already closed for the season by then. So I got a big tub of strawberries from Costco. I made strawberry balsamic jam and strawberry chocolate jam. I also made strawberry salsa to go with chips with the rest of the berries. Recipes for these will be in the coming posts.