• Clients
  • Stock Photography
  • Portfolio
  • Copyright

Thyme

Making memories around our table

  • Home
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Contact
  • Travel
  • Videos

Strawberry Crepes…and an Early Morning at the Strawberry Patch

April 23, 2012 By Sarah 42 Comments

A Saturday.  An Early Morning.  And a quest to get to the strawberry patch.

Perhaps because we now know the kind of heat in store for us in a few months, we have learned that Houstonians flock to any Spring season tradition.  

M. and I decided to take off early, enjoy a cool morning drive, and arrive at the strawberry patch, hopefully, before the parade of strawberry pickers canvas the fields filled with tiny orbs of crimson spring deliciousness.  
Must come back with a full bucket of strawberries.  
Crepes filled with thinly sliced, fresh, juicy strawberries were at stake.  

I enjoy this particular drive out into the countryside beyond Houston.  Once we pass the sweeping rows of shops, restaurants, and more shops, the fields begin to widen, green spaces become more expansive, and scenery takes on a more rural quality.  

Wildflowers in the most cheery shade of pink line the narrow country roads leading the strawberry patch.  The cows have plenty of baby calves awkwardly stumbling about, probably getting used to the onslaught of cars making their yearly pilgrimage to Froberg’s Strawberry Farm.

Groups of cyclists were out in packs.  Fifteen or twenty bicyclists, all clustered together like a swarm of colorful fish, glided noiselessly by on the miles of country roads that are scenic but more importantly…flat!

We crunched up the gravel road to the farm.  There was the old craggy oak tree with its heavy scarred limbs resting themselves on the ground.

Strawberries, that tumbled out inbetween the petite white flowers were ripe, ruby red, and ready for our picking!

This delightful little child was just entering the patch with her family.  She had this adorable green checkered shirt on, beautiful sun kissed red hair, sparkling blue eyes, and a floppy sunflower yellow hat.  
She and her family looked so thrilled and happy to be out in the cool morning air, little wooden buckets in hand, ready to go strawberry picking.

The huge perk to Froberg’s Stawberry Farm is it’s a place for all local farmers to bring their crops for sale.  From the creaky screened door, partially open air pavilion, and country setting, shopping here is a sensory experience of delight.

The fruits and vegetables are always plentiful.  But in addition, fruit hand pies are usually coming right out of the oven and drifting their tempting warm, spiced scent over the shoppers.  We always come home with strawberry, apricot, or blueberry hand pies and  several jars of fig jam.  

We are also never known to leave Froberg’s without a bag of their tart, fruity, chewy, thick strawberry licorice.  Don’t even come home unless we have the strawberry licorice.

As if the hot homemade pies coming out of the ovens were not enough, Froberg’s has a Smokehouse right next door to the market.  Ribs, sausages, jerky, and roasts are all being smoked and sold to the market shoppers.

Families spend hours at the farm, picking strawberries in the back fields, shopping in the market, and then picnicking outside while enjoying pulled pork or beef sandwiches.

But, crepes were on order for our Sunday breakfast the next day.  After watching the train sweep by, always a delight to the children at the farm, we headed home with our goodies loaded in baskets.

Crepes and strawberries go hand in hand.  We washed them well and thought about the next day’s Sunday breakfast.  

P. whipped up a batch of whipped cream.  Not only does the combination taste delicious but it’s such a pretty breakfast treat.

The next morning, a few sausages grilled, fresh strong coffee brewed, and our Sunday morning breakfast was just as we like it…slow, relaxing, and delicious.  

It’s probably the only morning out of 7 days that we stretch out our time at the table, have a second cup of coffee, stay in our jammies until noon, and try to keep life simple.

With a full bucket of strawberries to tempt me, however, and a dinner of smoked meats ready for the early evening, I was tingling to use up the rest of that ruby red fruit.

I had been eyeing this one recipe and thought I would give it a try since we had so many strawberries on hand.  While everyone else went about their day’s plans, I had fun in the kitchen creating another use for my strawberries.

I look forward to sharing it here on “Thyme” real soon!

Enjoy every bit of spring…for if you are anywhere in the south…we all know what comes next!

Crepes with Strawberries and Homemade Whipped Cream

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:
1. Sift together flour, sugar and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs and milk together with an electric mixer. Beat in flour mixture until smooth; stir in melted butter.

2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 2 tablespoons for each crepe. Tip and rotate pan to spread batter as thinly as possible. Brown on both sides and serve hot. [Makes 10-12 crepes]


Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: breakfast, crepes, farmer's markets in Houston Texas, Froberg Farms, Spring, strawberries, strawberry patch

Mammie Moo’s Strawberry Shortcake

June 20, 2011 By Sarah 24 Comments

Note:  I’ve been nominated for Babble’s 50 Top Food Blogs!  Thank you to every single one of you that voted for me. I am overwhelmed!   If you would like to add your vote, click on the side link to the right.  Thank you!

Father’s Day has just passed.  I asked Patrick what he wanted for dessert on his special day.  I knew immediately what his first answer would be.  Boston Cream Pie.  He loves this dessert. 

I know, however, that he has been mentioning  a dessert ever since I’ve known him that brings back special memories.  He tells me about his grandmother, Mammie Moo’s Strawberry Shortcake.  His eyes get all dreamy when he attempts to describe this cake.

I met Patrick the weekend after Mammie Moo died.  I remember he was sad over her death.  He said every year she would make her special strawberry shortcake.  As children, after they arrived at her house on the lake, the children would run to the refrigerator to see if the strawberry shortcake was made.  He had such fond memories of her house and in particular that strawberry juice soaked dessert.  

How do you match that memory?  I had never met Mammie Moo, although I regret that I didn’t.  I had never seen this infamous dessert so of course, never tasted it.

As I was making my list and planning out my Father’s Day barbecue, I  thought I would make an attempt to duplicate this strawberry shortcake… 

But I planned to keep it as a surprise!

I was perusing the internet, looking at different variations of strawberry shortcakes and trying to nonchalantly have him point out the one cake that looked like Mammie Moo’s.  I came to one such cake on the Williams Sonoma website.  “That’s it” he said, looking over my shoulder.  “It looked similar to that one.”  

I reassured him that someday I would try to attempt it but for this Father’s Day, it would be Banana Bread Pudding, a dessert he had recently enjoyed at a restaurant in Louisiana.  

Yep.  Banana Bread Pudding.  But, on my list were all the ingredients for Strawberry Shortcake!

The cream for this cake is delicious.    It is made with heavy cream and crème fraiche.  Yep, if you are raising your eyebrow questioningly right now, this is no low calorie dessert.  After several finger licking samples, I was pretty excited about the quality of the rest of this dessert recipe.  This cream filling recipe sure did taste good.

There was one mistake that I made with this cake.  He specifically remembered as a child that the strawberry filling soaked into the cake making it all that more wonderful.  I spooned on the cream filling first and then the strawberry filling on top of that.  Next time, oh and there will be a next time, I will try to add the strawberry filling first so that it is directly on top of the cake.  

It was a special weekend for another reason in addition to the Father’s Day holiday.  We had some very special friends in town and they were joining us for our Father’s day barbecue dinner.  One rolled stone back, when we were living in Kansas City, we spent day after day with these friends at more ballet rehearsals and performances than we can now count.  Wonderful times with wonderful friends and we were eager to spend a day with them again.

My family asked in earnest for me to make a new recipe that I recently tried out for focaccia bread.  That recipe and photos are coming soon.  It is a delicious recipe so that was added to our dinner menu as well.

It was so much fun bringing out the Strawberry Shortcake as a surprise.  I said I was leaving the table to  get the Banana Bread Pudding but instead came out with my Mammie Moo attempt at her cake.  I knew that the strawberries didn’t soak into the cake like I had hoped so I did have some sugar-soaked strawberry slices to add to the top of each slice.

My husband and Madeleine -1994
What a wonderful day in Houston.  Great friends, great food and a happy memory to hold onto this special Father’s Day.  It is hitting us hard this year that we have one year left as a complete four-some before our daughter heads off to college.  Times like this around the table become more precious as we approach each holiday.
Happy Father’s Day to all of the great Dads out there.  

Ingredients: (this recipe is adapted from Williams Sonoma)
For the cake:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
5 eggs, separated
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
5 Tbs. boiling water
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Grated zest of 2 lemons
For the strawberry cream filling:
2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and thinly
  sliced, plus more for garnish
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
4 to 6 Tbs. granulated sugar
2 cups crème fraîche
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper.

To make the cake, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip together the egg yolks and sugar on high speed until thick; the mixture will still be grainy. Reduce the speed to medium-low and add the boiling water. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Increase the speed to high and whip again until thick. Stir in the vanilla extract and lemon zest. Reduce the speed to low and stir in the flour mixture.

In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites on medium-low speed until frothy. Increase the speed to medium-high and whip until thick and smooth; the mixture should not look dry. Fold half of the whites into the batter, then fold in the remaining whites.

Gently spread the batter in the prepared pan. (Snippet’s Notes:  I used a springform pan with the removal bottom and that worked well) Bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the inside edge of the pan and remove the ring. Invert the cake and remove the base of the pan. Carefully peel off the parchment. Transfer the cake to a wire rack and let cool completely. Using a serrated knife, cut the cake horizontally into 3 layers. (Snippet’s Notes:  It was very difficult to get 3 even layers.  Next time, I will try using a piece of dental floss.  Wrap the floss around the cake, cross the floss, and gently pull it through the body of the cake.)

To make the filling, place the 2 cups strawberries in a bowl. Stir in the lemon juice and 2 Tbs. of the granulated sugar. Taste for sweetness; depending on the berries’ ripeness, you may need to add an additional 1 to 2 Tbs. more sugar.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the crème fraîche, cream, vanilla and the remaining 2 Tbs. granulated sugar. Whip on medium-high speed until soft peaks form and the cream holds its shape. (Snippet’s Notes:  Be careful not to over whip or you will have an entire bowl of sweetened butter!)

Place 1 cake layer on a cake stand or serving plate. Arrange one-third of the strawberries and their juices over the cake. Spread one-third of the cream over the berries. Repeat the layering process with the remaining 2 cake layers, berries and cream, ending with a layer of cream.

Before serving, dust the top of the cake with confectioners’ sugar and garnish with additional berries. Cut with a serrated knife. Serves 8 to 10.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma TASTE Magazine, “Layers of Delight,” by Emily Luchetti (Spring 2002).

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: cake, family, Father's Day, holidays, strawberries, strawberry shortcake, Williams Sonoma

Subscribe

Follow

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo

Search

Copyright © 2021 Thyme & Sarah Kenney · Design by Jaime Hammack