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A fool to love for Valentine’s Day or any time

Recipe: Fresh strawberry fool is light and simple

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED FEB 13, 2022

What could be better than berries and cream? Whipping them together into a light-as-air dessert.

Fresh strawberry fool is an early spring take on an English classic. This version is a variation of Nicole Routhier’s excellent fool recipe in her classic “Fruit Cookbook” (Workman Publishing, 1996).

Fools (as in this dessert) have been around for centuries. They’re a no-cook eggless mousse that can be made with a wide range of soft fruit. (Routhier’s fool recipe features super-ripe apricots.)

According to Routhier, “fool” came from the French word foulé, meaning “crushed” or “pressed.” In this recipe, the strawberries are pureed in a food processor, then the pulp is pushed through a fine sieve to remove seeds.

Only partly fold the fruit puree into the whipped cream, so the fool has stripes of color. If fully blended, the whipped cream turns all pink – still pretty, but not nearly as interesting. With its ribbons of strawberries, this creamy dessert also can be spooned into a tall, clear parfait glass – an elegant fool for special occasions.

Fresh strawberry fool

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar*

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons Cointreau (optional)

Cream in bowl — Leave stripes of color when blending in the berries.

1-3/4 cups heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

Chill beaters and bowl.

In a food processor, puree strawberries. Push strawberry puree through a fine sieve to remove seeds. Add confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice and Cointreau (optional). Set aside.

In the chilled bowl with chilled beaters, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar, whip to blend. Add vanilla. (Be careful not to overbeat or the cream will become like butter.)

With a rubber spatula, partly fold strawberry puree into the whipped cream, leaving stripes of color. Spoon cream-fruit mixture into compote dishes or parfait glasses. Cover and chill for several hours.

Fool in bowl with strawberry — Now that's a sweet Valentine's Day offering.

Garnish with strawberries if desired just before serving.

* Confectioners’ sugar contains cornstarch. May substitute with ½ cup powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon cornstarch.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

recipe recipes strawberries gardening Sacramento February backyard produce Valentine's Day farm to fork dessert

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

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