How to make the most of under- or overripe strawberries – recipe
Roasting strawberries intensifies their flavour and sweetness, saving you from an unappetising bowl of over- or underripe fruit. When roasted very simply and without any additional ingredients, the strawberry flavour alone is quite remarkable. However, you can include a sweetener and some aromatics, such as cinnamon, citrus zest and vanilla, to create a more nuanced depth of flavour. Serve warm or cold with ice-cream, porridge or pancakes, or get inventive and serve the fruit in a savoury dish, tossed with balsamic, basil, burrata and black pepper – a wicked flavour combination.
To save energy, consider roasting the strawberries when the oven is already hot, or alongside other ingredients that won’t impart an undesirable flavour, such as a dessert or vegetables (other than alliums, of course).
Roast strawberries
Simply roasting them well spaced on a baking tray for 20-30 minutes creates a magical transformation, intensifying their flavour to new heights. Serve hot or cold with your favourite dessert, on top of bircher muesli, or use to adorn an incredible pavlova (one of my go-to dinner party desserts). Alternatively, for one of my favourite savoury dishes, toss them with burrata, basil, balsamic and black pepper to taste (as in the image here).
300g or more strawberries
Optional other ingredients per punnet of strawberries:
2 tbsp sweetener (such as maple syrup, honey or unrefined sugar)
¼ tsp warm spices (cinnamon, allspice or vanilla)
3 pieces of citrus zest (lemon, lime or orange), peeled from the fruit without the bitter white pith
3 sprigs herbs (basil, thyme or sage)
3cm piece vanilla pod, scored open with the beans scraped from the pod (include both the beans and empty pod), or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Give the strawberries a rinse under the tap and leave them to dry. Carefully remove the green stalks without discarding the hard top (this will sweeten through the roasting process), then cut the strawberries in half lengthwise and put them on a baking tray. Add any optional ingredients. Turn everything together, then spread out the strawberries so they have a little space around them to roast evenly.
Roast at 210C (190C fan)/410F/gas 6½ for 20-30 minutes, or until the strawberries have begun to shrivel and caramelise. Serve warm or leave to cool and refrigerate for up to five days.
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