Strawberries for Memorial Day: Signs of Summer

I feel guilty talking about summer while it has rained back East for most of this iconic holiday weekend. I know it’s been a cool and rainy spring after a famously brutal winter on the East Coast, and while I am sorry for that, it’s worked out well for me to be staying longer than usual in Tucson again this year, this time to teach an ethics module to the evening and exec MBAs.  Brilliantly sunny, hot, and dry here, of course, but also the fruit is rolling in—apricots, sweet cherries, and beautiful Yuma strawberries. I still can’t get over some of the things they manage to entice out of the desert.

Part of what makes me happy to see the strawberries is that they remind me that it won’t be long ‘til I’m back in the place for which that gorgeous word “summer” must have been created and the standard against which all other summers are measured, New England. I will be back in LC on July 1, which means, of course, a return to this now-mostly-seasonal blog.  I look forward to that, along with everything else precious that summer brings for me—the ocean and the local food, of course, but most of all, seeing my family and my friends. Happy Memorial Day weekend; let summer begin, and be beautiful and bountiful. Surely the hardy people of New England have earned that much. See you soon.

Yuma Express

For some reason I always want to pair strawberries with Campari when it’s hot, as I did with this cocktail a few years ago soon after arriving in LC. Here’s another one, served with a spoon.  Serves 1.

1 oz Gran Marnier (or ½ brandy, ½ orange liquer)

½ oz freshly squeezed lemon juice

3-4 perfect strawberries, cored and sliced

1 oz Campari

1 oz  Plymouth Gin

Macerate the strawberries in the lemon juice and Gran Marnier for 15-20 minutes. Strain the liquid into a cocktail shaker and place the strawberries into a martini glass or coupe.

Add the Campari and gin to the shaker, and shake with crushed ice until very cold. Strain into the glass and serve with a silver spoon.

                                           

Strawberry Fields—Not Forever I

Nothing lasts forever. For example, I am back in Little Compton (hurrah!) and you can bet that the time will fly and I will be headed back to dreaded Nashville well before the tomatoes hit their glorious peak in September. And the local Little Compton strawberries are here—it is June, after all—and those will soon be gone.

But fleeting pleasures are to be savored, so I am already deep into rural, coastal life and into the strawberries. I’ve made a small batch of strawberry jam, eaten a bunch of berries out of hand, used them to make the really nice Welcome to LC cocktail below, and garnished lots of stuff—cereal, salad, cake. And I’ve only been here four days. Maybe it’s just as well that strawberry fields are not forever. On to the blueberries!—next month.

 

Welcome to LC Cocktail

I adore Campari in the summer; it is remarkably refreshing on a hot day (we are in the 90’s this weekend) garnished with soda and lime, and it is a fabulous match with orange. This cocktail combines all. Serves 1.

Strawberry Syrup

1 ½ cups sliced strawberries
½ cup pure cane sugar or regular sugar
½ cup water
¼ cup Campari (optional)

Put everything together into a saucepan, bring to a boil, and boil for two or three minutes, chopping the strawberries with the edge of a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and let sit until it is clear and settled, about 5 minutes. Strain, pressing down with the back of the spoon but not so hard that you force the seeds through. Makes about 1 cup.

The Cocktail

1 ½ oz Campari
¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
3 T strawberry syrup
3 oz, approx., brut rosé champagne or club soda
1 small sliced strawberry

Stir the first three ingredients in a cocktail shaker or jar with ice until cold. Strain into an 8-oz capacity glass. Top with champagne or club soda and garnish with strawberries and a slice of lime.