This simple 2-ingredient dip is a delicious way to eat fresh strawberries. It's the best way to bring out the berry's fantastic flavor. (Skip to recipe.)
I am so excited - we're heading off on a European adventure! Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, and Switzerland. How lucky are we?
We're leaving this weekend and gone for four weeks, renting a car and seeing where the adventure takes us. We plan to visit some of the sites where Raymond's dad spent a lot of time as a Canadian soldier in World War II, and also visit the places my mom spent her childhood in Germany after being displaced from her homeland of Bessarabia (currently Moldova). We plan to see the canals in Holland, and eat chocolate in Belgium. I'm taking a market and cooking class in Paris, we are meandering through the D-Day beaches in France and the wineries of Provence. We'll take a boat trip on the lake by Lucerne in Switzerland and another one on the Rhein. It is all so exciting.
And best of all, we will pick up our errant teenager who has been on a 3-month-long student exchange in Germany. I'll be glad to have all our offspring back on home ground again. My mom will be travelling with us, and my sister and nephew are joining us for the first two weeks.
I won't be posting much while we are gone, but hope to post regular pictures of our trip on Instagram - or at least some of the great food we encounter there. If you wish to follow me and keep up with our trip: here is the link to my Instagram account. I'd love to share a few photos with you.
I was thinking of a quick and simple recipe I could leave you with, since I'm in my usual last mad dash of packing, planning and procrastinating. I told myself a zillion times I should get more things crossed off my list earlier, but then where would the fun be in that last frantic week before we leave? And the sheer joy of leaving all the unfinished stuff behind wouldn't be quite so sheer and joyful, would it?
I almost didn't use this recipe (well, it's not even a recipe, really), because I thought it so simple that the whole world probably knows about it. But just in case you are one of the few people who were out sniffing daisies or doing Big Important Things and missed this when it was floating around everywhere a few decades ago, here is my family's favourite way to eat strawberries.
I've served it to guests many times as a brunch side dish, or as a light dessert after a big, can't-eat-another-bite dinner, the kids have rustled it up as after-school, or mid-morning or late-night snacks, and we've enjoyed dip-dabbing bowls of fresh, sweet, juicy strawberries while sitting around having drinks on the deck with friends on warm summer evenings.
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Kitchen Frau Notes: You can serve this two ways - either set out communal bowls of sour cream and brown sugar for everyone to happily, messily share, or let every person take a blob of sour cream and little mound of brown sugar onto their own plate to dip their strawberries into.
Use dark brown sugar (but not demerara) if you can find it, but the golden brown is fine if you can't. Make sure the sugar is soft (keep it overnight in a closed container with a few orange or apple peels to soften it if it's gotten hard).
I use full-fat regular sour cream and can't imagine using anything lighter. You need the cream here, in my opinion. Something about simple ingredients at their best.
Dip & Dab Strawberries
- sour cream
- brown sugar
- sweet juicy strawberries
Wash the strawberries and let them dry as much as possible. Dab with paper towels to help speed it along if you don't have time to let them drip dry.
Stir the sour cream to make it smooth and creamy. Set out bowls of sour cream and brown sugar. Guests can put a spoonful of each onto a small plate, or dip communally (works better if the berries are small and there's no need to double-dip).
Holding on to the green cap or hull, dip each strawberry into the sour cream and then dab it in the brown sugar. Bite off. Repeat.
You could be more elegant and call these 'Snow and Sand Strawberries'.
Serves as many as you want it to.
Guten Appetit! and Aufwiedersehen!
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Judith Annand
Have a great time on your adventure !!!
Margaret
We will! Once we get organized enough to actually get away. I am looking so forward to it all. I can't wait to have an adventure!
Kay Golden
It sounds like a fabulous holiday plan! Enjoy! & have a cafe latte & croissant in Paris for me! I love reading your posts! Au revoir!
Margaret
Bien sur! I am already drooling thinking about it. I'll hold my latte up high and toast the Eiffel Tower for you! Can't wait to snoop through all the markets, too.
Darlene K
oh my! have a wonderful time, Is your garden planted already?
Margaret
Thanks, Darlene, we will. As for the garden - that is part of the panic happening in these last few days! My plan is to get it done before we leave, but we have to get it worked up first. Things can always get done right up til the last few hours, so that is what I'm hoping for! If not, I'll have to plant when we get back - we actually planted almost that late last year and everything still caught up. C'est la vie! Once I'm on that plane, I won't think about it anymore.
Nancy Jay
Have a safe and memorable trip to Europe Margaret and Raymond. Enjoy the food, family, and the exciting sights and smells. We will try and check out the Instragrams.
Thinking of you, Nancy.
Margaret
Thanks, Nancy! There will be so much to see, and do, and eat! I think it will be a pretty special trip - wish you were coming, too! Can't wait to catch up when we get back - maybe even at the lake! Have a great end of the school year.
Marianne
This recipe brings back good memories for Randy and I. Both the yummy strawberries and the good family time that occurred while sharing them. Have a wonderful time in Europe. Hard to believe 3months has gone by since your boy left. Looking forward to hearing all about your trip
Margaret
I smile, too, with fondness when I think back to all the meals we shared, and the occasional glasses of wine while the kids played around us. Such good times. Can't wait for the next time! Strawberries are in season in Germany - I'll eat some for you! Looking forward to catching up when we get back.
Elsa
Have a wonderful fun trip, I can't wait to hear from your adventures and I'm sure their will be a few good recipes when you get back.
Greetings to Gisela and family in Germany .
Have a great time!!!1
Margaret
Thanks so much, Elsa. I am so looking forward to all the new things we'll see - and eat (that's the best part for me!) I will say hi to Switerland for you, and wave at the mountains. I can't wait to try some of that yummy Swiss cheese right in the fresh mountain air. It will be so wonderful.
Tammy
Have one awesome vacation! I hope you will enjoy and relax a little too. One day we will have to plan to be in Europe at the same time :0)
Amelia is really, really looking forward to Paris. We were at the beach on Monday and I asked her if she was building a sandcastle and she said "no, the Notre Dame!" LOL.
Margaret
Oh, I would love to see how big her eyes get when she sees the real thing! It will be so wonderful to see it all through her eyes - you will have a whole different view of Paris through her. Wishing you a wonderful trip, too! It will be fun comparing notes. We promise not to eat all the macarons and chocolate croissants in Paris so there are a few left for you!
Gisela
Wow, your trip sounds amazing! I hope you have the best time ever! (By the way, I guess I must be one of the few people in the world who has never heard of eating strawberries with sour cream and brown sugar -- I'm going to have to rectify that right away, I think!)
Margaret
Thank you so much, Gisela. I am sure our time in Europe will be wonderful - I am in an excited fever to get the last things done (garden's planted!) and then I can thoroughly relax and enjoy every minute of it. I hope you enjoy the strawberries as much as we do!
dina
this does sound great! i love strawberries and the sour/sweet combo would be nice!
Margaret
I am quite addicted to eating my strawberries this way - so simple, too. Have a lovely week!