Strawberries and Raspberries with Sweet Syrup (9-06-2014)

This recipe is one of the first things I learned while attending cooking classes at L'atelier de Chefs.  click here to see the recipe in full. The French name translates to Soup of Strawberries and Raspberries a la Cardamon.  Basically it is fresh berries with an awesome sweet sauce. You may read through this and think "That's a lot of work just to put a sweet sauce on my strawberries" - but trust me - try it and and you'll be so glad you did. I've made it four times already.

Go to the store
and buy a scale
Just do it!

The web site states it takes 10 minutes to prepare - I would say 20.  Ingredient amounts are listed in metric. You can convert them if you want but I strongly advise you get a kitchen scale. I didn't think I would like using it but I do. Very precise and you don't have to have specific measuring cups. Just grab whatever container is handy and place it on the scale before turning it on. Then measure the desired amount.

You don't want
crushed cardamom

You will need:
500 grams of Strawberries
125 grams of Red Raspberries
25 cl water
2 cl white balsamic vinegar
4 Cardamom capsules (I had some trouble finding these)
75 grams white granulated sugar (in French this is called "sucre en poudre" i.e. "powdered" - but it is NOT powdered - it is regular sugar
6 pieces Speculoos cookies or biscuits
100 grams honey
1 lemon


I measure all of my ingredients out first. Then wash your berries and lemon. Leave the raspberries whole, but cut the top off the strawberries and cut them in half or quarters if they are large. Put them in a bowl together.

Don't zest too deep.
Just until the white starts to show

Zest the lemon. You will only use the zest. Save the lemon for a nice glass of lemonade.

Get out two sauce pans. In one put the sugar, water and two of the cardamom capsules. In the other put the honey, lemon zest and the other two cardamom capsules. Bring both pots to a boil. Remove from heat and combine and stir the contents of both together.

Allow this to cool.

Don't include the zest or cardamom

Once cooled add the vinegar. Pass all of the syrup through a fine strainer to remove the zest and cardamom pieces. Pour the filtered syrup over the berries and gently stir to coat. You should have quite a bit of liquid in the bowl with the berries.

Spiced cookie
Kind of like gingerbread cookie

Put the berries with the syrup in the fridge to cool completely. Let them set for at least 45 minutes. When ready to serve, separate the berries into small serving containers. Take the Speculoos biscuits and put them in a bag and crush them (I use a rolling pin). Sprinkle the crushed biscuits over the berries. Make sure to include some of the soupy syrup.

Enjoy!!

Comments are welcome. Please let me know if you try this recipe and what you think of it.