Quick Berry Sauces

A quick berry sauce may be cooked or uncooked, but either way, it’s always just one or two easy steps from freshly picked.

Launch Gallery

by Ken HaedrichAugust 1997from issue # 10

You could contend that the only berry worth eat is plump , sun - drench , and straight off the vine , or branch , as the suit may be . I live this because I ’ve had more than one statement with a lovable erstwhile cur who would do just that . Pancake batter at the ready , there I ’d go , barefoot , through the dew - moist morning forage to snatch a cupful of jewels from the in high spirits bush blues , and there our dog Stina would be , Euell Gibbon incarnate , daintily nibble away at every berry within reach . If I spoke crossly , or suggested that this was unsufferable deportment for a cuspid , she ’d just roll her eyes in the long - suffering fashion frump of misguided master will , and get right back to business .

Stina recognise all she want to know about eat novel berries ; for us two - legged creature , finding berry bliss is n’t so simple . We require our berries fresh ; we also want miscellanea , versatility , and expectant flavor . Which reminds me why I ’m so warm of quick berry sauce .

A nimble Chuck Berry sauce may be cooked or uncooked , but either means , it ’s always just one or two gentle steps from freshly beak . Unlike complex savoury sauces , which are based on myriad ingredients and prolonged reduction , berry sauce are all about find the easiest way to release the peak of flavor that ’s already there . That ’s already there is the key phrase ; free fall - dead ripeness is indispensable . A quick pass through the food processor with a dash of sugar , as in the case with raspberries and blackberry , may be all they need . When they need a little more of a nudge and variety of texture , as blueberry bush do , a quick simmer is call for . Lemon juice is often add for glisten . And , if appropriate , a dash of look .

Do n’t be afraid to try out . That ’s how I came up with one of my favorite , quick , not - quite - berry yield sauces : Down our filth road , in a top - private fix , I discover a patch of dotty reddened currants . To make a sauce , I gently boiled ( for about 8 second ) a loving cup ’s worth with the juice of an orangish and 1⁄3 cup sugar — much more dough , give their tartness , than you ’d use for most berry sauce . When the mix became syrupy , I slay it from the heat and excite in a few more sweet currants to add grain and identity to the sauce . That ’s all there was to it .

Raspberry sauceLet ’s face at one of the easiest of all Charles Edward Berry sauces , snort . Take about a pint of ripe raspberries . Pick them over , removing debris , bugs , or musty berries ( even one can infect the flavor of the sauce ) . I do n’t wash the raspberries , lest trapped moisture urine down the sauce . Purée in the food CPU with 2 to 3 tablespoons clams , until smooth . Strain ; stir in a teaspoonful or two of lemon juice or raspberry liqueur . Cover and refrigerate .

blackberry are handle in the same way ; strawberry , almost the same way . Let ’s make two strawberry sauces , one uncooked , the other misrepresent and thicken with cornstarch .

hemangioma simplex sauce , two versionsRinse and hull a dry quart of advanced strawberries . Using the nutrient processor , make a purée with slightly more than one-half of the berries , 3 tablespoons sugar , and the succus of half a lemon . Transfer to a bowl . Coarsely chopper by hand the remain berries and fold up them into the purée . To make the thicken version , do the same affair , using 2 tablespoons of shekels . meld the third tablespoonful of sugar with 2 teaspoon of cornstarch . Transfer the purée to a minor , nonreactive saucepan , and stir in the cornflour mixture . Slowly bring to a boil , then boil for 1 instant ; the sauce will lose its calcareous appearance and turn glistening . assist hot , warm , or cold .

A sauce for shortcakesThis last one is an old favorite I use for warm berry shortcakes à la mood . I usually make it with at least half blueberry ; the other half can be blackberry bush or bird .

First , bake your shortcake ; you may make the sauce while they ’re in the oven . You will need 1 pint each of two kinds of berry . Put half of each into a medium nonreactive saucepan . tally the succus of one orange , and bring to a boil . Lower the hotness , and simmer for 5 minutes , covered . Mix 3 tablespoons sugar with 1⁄2 tablespoon cornstarch and stir into the Chuck Berry . Bring to a full furuncle , then humbled heating system and boil gently for 1 hour , rousing . Remove from the heat and cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes . arouse in the remaining fresh berry .

To service , divide the shortcake biscuit in one-half . Ladle the sauce munificently over the bottom , and tot a scoop of vanilla extract icing cream . cover up with the top one-half of the cookie and serve at once .

And that — at least for us two - legged creatures — is as cheeseparing as you ’ll come to berry bliss .

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