Recipes: Strawberry Sauce, Whipped Cream, Strawberry Fool

A Summer Trio:
Strawberry Sauce, Whipped Cream, Strawberry Fool

For a couple months now strawberries have been in the supermarket, all big and brazenly red. But they were crunchy, not a quality I like in strawberries. Farmer's market berries are not like that. At least not usually. This is a simple trio of recipes for the few weeks when their luscious redness deliver the sweet and juicy goods. The sauce alone is great over ice cream. Of course, whipped cream is great anytime. And strawberry fool, a combination of the two, is what strawberry ice cream should taste like.

Strawberry Sauce:
1 pint basket strawberries
2 to 3 T. sugar

Hull and halve the berries. (Hull means to remove both the green leaf and the core.) Purée them with sugar to taste. A touch of Grand Marnier or triple sec isn't bad either.

Whipped Cream:
2 c. heavy cream
8 T. sugar
1 t. vanilla

Chill the mixing bowl. Then whip the cream, adding the sugar gradually. When the cream is stiff, stir in the vanilla.

Strawberry Fool:
Whipped cream (recipe above)
1 c. strawberry sauce, chilled

Gently stir strawberry sauce into the cream. You may not use the full cup of sauce since it's hard to predict how watery it will be. You'll need to use your judgement as to how much sauce to fold in before you get a runny fool.

Note: You can make this in advance and it'll thicken slightly in the refrigerator. But after several hours it will sort of separate. Not to worry, you can thicken it up with a few strokes of a whisk.