Spring means strawberries and sunshine. I love it! I’m always looking for new ways to incorporate berries and now that we have a juicer (yay!), I’m sure I’ll make all kinds of random juice blends. More on my juicing experience later. This week is all about strawberries; balsamic strawberries to be exact.
After we returned from Charleston, I purchased some strawberries. Wait. Let me back up. While in Charleston, we stopped at a local olive oil and balsamic vinegar company. We sampled a vinegar that I just fell in love with: peach balsamic vinegar. It’s sweet but not too sweet. It’s just sweet enough to pique your interest but tangy enough for you to still enjoy it on savory items. Does that make any sense?
Anyway, I decided I wanted to do something I’d never done before: incorporate a balsamic vinegar into a dessert. I’ve read all about how olive oil and ice cream is all the rage so I figured this lightly sweetened balsamic vinegar would be too. To rejoice in my decision, I was off to the store to purchase a pint of strawberries for my very random dessert.
Desserts like this are ridiculously easy. This is the type of dessert you serve when you’re having a dinner party or a barbecue. It’s easy to assemble and require almost no time to prep. In fact, you could actually have your guests assemble them if you really want to take a break from the kitchen. You can setup a DIY dessert bar and have folks build their own sundae or parfait. It’s cute and it takes the pressure off of you.
The best part about this dessert is that you don’t have to use your oven. Now that the temps are rising, there’s nothing worst than a hot kitchen while it’s 100 degrees outside. The process is as simple as soaking the strawberries in a balsamic vinegar for a couple of hours then pouring them over ice cream. I loved topping it off with my favorite Salem Baking Company cookies.
I know that berries soaked in balsamic vinegar may sound a little sketchy but it’s really yummy. If you can find a flavored balsamic vinegar, even better. If you’re not quite ready to try balsamic strawberries, you can certainly soak them in other liquids like:
Sugar – just let them sit over night. It’s so delicious the next day over ice cream or cake.
Your favorite wine – you could try a dessert wine or something refreshing like a rosé.
St. Germain – because how delicious would that be in a champagne cocktail?
Ingredients
- Strawberries, halved
- Peach balsamic vinegar (or any flavored balsamic)
Instructions
- Place the strawberries in a bowl then pour in the vinegar. Pour in enough to cover the strawberries just slightly.
- Allow them to soak for a couple of hours then serve on top of ice cream.
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Ohhh, yum! Have you been to Olive on the North Shore? The owners are super nice, and I have picked up several olive oils and vinegars 🙂 They have some chocolate balsamic that are really good, and I've been using my cranberry walnut balsamic ALL THE TIME! I keep reading how vinegars are really good for you, so I'm trying to get a little collection going. The green apple balsamic over a fruit (watermelon) salad is also super tasty.
Can't wait to try your desert!