Strawberry Sauce

A couple of years ago I bought The Best of Cooking Light and was mesmerized by the Strawberry-Almond Cream Tart on the front cover. On a Sunday afternoon I made this beauty and learned two things: 1. From start to finish this recipe was very time-consuming (albeit delicious) and 2. The strawberry topping, on the other hand, was easy to prepare and could be used in multiple ways. I haven't made this again since (see lesson #1) but this strawberry sauce shows up in my kitchen multiple times a year.

According to Publix' advertisting, strawberries are at their season's peak (as evidenced by their current 3 for $5 deal), so it's a great time to pull out your food processor and make this delectable sauce. Make sure to look for bright red berries as the dark ones aren't as fresh, and the bigger the berry the better as the small ones tend to be a little more tart. I use closer to 1/2 cup of sugar than the 2/3 the recipe calls for as I don't like the sauce to be too coyingly sweet. As I said, the preparation is very easy. The result is this beautiful bright red sauce that is perfect topped onto pancakes, stirred into oatmeal, drizzled on top of ice cream, or spread onto a piece of toast.


Strawberry Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 cups small fresh strawberries (one package)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Place strawberries in food processor; process until pureed. Combine strawberry puree, 2/3 cup sugar, and cornstarch in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring with a whisk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low; cook 1 minute. Remove from heat, and cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.


Adapted from Cooking Light