My love of strawberries began the summer of my third year. Sneaking out of the basement apartment of my grandparents’ home, I would head down the darkened garden path, past the lilac bushes, through the back gate and into the warm, morning sun of Mrs. Nelson’s strawberry patch. There, I would swoop down with a vengeance onto the brightest red berries my chubby fingers could wrest free, brush away the dirt and leaves and quickly, quickly before my mother would wail, “Calamity Jane, are you at it again?” I would sink my teeth into one of those sweet, juicy, yet tangy red strawberries. In that moment, I could experience summertime explode in my mouth, ooze down my chin and then? And, then I could get on with the business of being three.
So it was with great joy, that I found myself many years later, the giddy participant of a Provençe cooking tour in Avignon, France at the grand hotel, La Mirande. This elegant seven-hundred-year-old renovated Cardinal’s palace, tucked deftly behind the magnificent yet austere former Palace of the Popes, was built in 1309. And our cooking group would have the distinction of learning to cook on one of their mighty 14th century, wood-fired stoves. Ah, but that was the challenge!
The menu for our lessons of cuisine began with a creamy, yet delicate Artichoke Soup, infused with Spanish ham (only acorn-eating ham, at that). This course was followed by a succulent Red Snapper stuffed with a uniquely-prepared Ratatouille (I’ll have to tell you about that another time) with a Saffron Sauce. But for me, the piece de résistance was a marvelous dessert, Wild Strawberry Soup with Herbs, Spices, Zests and a housemade Lemon-Basil Sorbet. Did I mention strawberries? Wild strawberries?
The instructor of the hour, Daniel Hebet, was a young chef of great sophistication, yet had a humble approach to his cuisine. When asked if he prepared his ratatouille the same way as his mother, he replied with a twinkle in his eye, “I am a good son. I do not contradict my mother.” He developed all of the dishes we prepared but, to me, his masterpiece was his Soupe de Fraises.
Soupe de Fraises
2 pts. Fresh strawberries
½ cup of sugar
Group 1: Fresh Herbs –2 Tablespoons each – finely chopped basil, coriander leaves, tarragon, and lemongrass
Group 2: Spices – ground vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom
Group 3: Zests (sweetened) – lemon, grapefruit, ginger, orange and lime zests – (Sweeten with 1 qt. water and 2 cups of sugar)
Lemon juice
Gaseous spring water/mineral water
Blend the strawberries in a blender with ½ cup of sugar. Set aside in the refrigerator. Mix each of the groups separately. When ready to serve, mix a small amount of lemon juice and mineral water into the strawberries. Pour the strawberry mixture into individual bowls with broad rims. Place one scoop of lemon-basil sorbet in the middle of each bowl. Then, sprinkle small portions of each one of the groups consecutively along the outside rim of the bowl.
Now, how do I eat this, you ask? Once you lift your spoon, glide it across one of each of the groups, then into the strawberry soup itself, ending in the cooling sorbet in the center. You will find that every single bite is an extraordinary explosion of flavors not to be found anywhere else—unless, perhaps, it’s in the backyard of your childhood.
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