Summer Strawberries, Two Ways

I am loving all the berries that are available this time of the year. We have been gobbling up as many blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries as we can. I have been making strawberry cake's, jordbær grød, and some delicious rice pudding with strawberry jam mixed in.

I wanted to try making jordbærgrød because Danes love making people say the phrase "rødgrød med fløde", because it is so difficult to say. The fiance has never actually had rødgrød before so I thought it would be fun to try it. Jordbærgrød is basically a runny strawberry jam that you eat hot or cold with cream poured on top. It was a nice afternoon snack and a different way to enjoy strawberries. I was a little weirded out by just pouring heavy cream over the grød but apparently that is what you do!

Jordbærgrød med Fløde (barely adapted from Din Baghave)
I halved the recipe to make 4 portions

500g strawberries
150g raw sugar
50ml water
1 tbsp cornstarch, mixed with a little cold water
heavy cream to serve

Pour the strawberries, sugar and water into a saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. (I crushed my berries a little at this point bit but you don't have to.) Let the strawberry mixture simmer for 5 minutes.

Take the saucepan off of the heat and stir in the cornstarch mixture.

Serve the jordbærgrød slightly warm or cold. Pour some heavy cream on top of each portion to serve.

Here is another Jamie Oliver recipe for you! I am really enjoying his "Jamie at Home" cookbook because he divides the book into seasons and shares recipes based on what produce is available or best in those season. So of course, strawberries were in the summer section of his book! I love a good rice pudding and this is a great way to enjoy it in the summer. This recipe takes some time, but really, next to no effort. Just a bit of stirring! It's delicious and I'm trying really hard not to eat it all before the fiance comes home from work today!

Creamy Rice Pudding with Strawberry Jam (from Jamie Oliver)
makes 6 to 8 servings

For the jam:
2lbs strawberries, hulled, washed and drained
1/2 cup raw sugar

For the rice pudding:
5 cups whole milk
200g medium grain rice (I used grød ris, could also work with risotto rice)
2 tbsp vanilla sugar

Start with making the jam. Place the strawberries in a large bowl and sprinkle the sugar overtop. Squeeze the strawberries so that it starts to turn into pulp and starts looking like jam. Pour the crushed strawberries into a pot and bring it to a boil. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes on a medium heat and skim the foam off of the top of the jam every 5 minutes or so. Don't worry if the jam is still liquidy, it works well with the rice pudding and will thicken as it cools. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool.

While making the jam, you can also get started on the rice pudding. Place the milk, rice and vanilla sugar into a deep pot. Bring the mixture to a medium simmer on put on the lid. Cook the rice for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it is creamy, oozy and moist. If it is too thick, you can thin it out again with a little bit of milk.

To serve, spoon some of the rice pudding into a bowl and then top it off with a dollop of strawberry jam and some fresh strawberries. And then eat!

If you have leftovers, store the jam and rice pudding separately in airtight containers. The rice pudding will keep for 2 or so days in the fridge and the jam a little bit longer.

If you have other strawberry recipes to share, please do! Happy Tuesday!