Strawberries Romanoff

Nothing inspires me more than an early morning stroll into the kitchen garden with a cup of tea in hand. I am eager and excited to see what God’s gift is waiting for me there! So last weekend when I sauntered into the garden, I saw this marvellous treat waiting for me there! The strawberry patch had these vibrant red beauties screaming to be plucked! My first reaction was to pluck out a juicy red one and plop it into my mouth. As I was savouring it, at least a dozen ideas flooded my mind as to what I could do with the handful of strawberries that were ripe. I had to remind myself that I was at my farmhouse away from the city where I had only a limited number of ingredients and no fancy kitchen equipment. And that is when this idea of making this old classic called Strawberry Romanoff dawned on me!

You will be surprised to see how you can literally whip up a delicious dessert with so few elements! The history of this delectable dessert is interesting. French Chef Escoffier can take the credit of creating this dessert when he was with Hotel Carlton in London. He called it ‘Strawberries Americaine Style’. Michael Romanoff, Hollywood restaurateur, conman and actor, was the one who popularised it by introducing it on the menu of his restaurant called Romanoff’s. He called it Strawberries Romanoff.

Strawberries Romanoff is nothing but cut strawberries macerated in an orange liqueur like Grand Marnier or Cointreau and folded in to whipped cream served in a parfait cup or ice-cream bowl. Maceration is the process by which cut fruits, in this case strawberries, are softened and their skin is broken down due to prolonged exposure to liquid in which they are soaked. The strawberries take on the flavour of the orange liqueur and the juices remaining unabsorbed also take on a nice complex flavour. We make Strawberries with cream often. But the maceration of strawberries , takes this dessert several notches higher on the deliciousness scale!

There are some points to be noted when one is making this dessert. The berries have to be macerated for just enough time so that they take on the hint of the orange liqueur yet retain their firmness. I prefer to fold them into whipped dairy cream rather than non-dairy cream as it is richer. But either of it works. For enhanced taste, the whipped cream can be folded with softened vanilla ice-cream. The contrast of the white cream and ruby red berries is what makes the Romanoff to stand out. Strawberries are in season now and I am sure that you would have some in your pantry so make this yummy dessert today itself. Here is the recipe for the same :

Strawberries

Amul cream

Procedure

1  Hull the strawberries and cut them into halves

2  To prepare the macerating liquid, mix sugar, liqueur and orange juice together and add the cut berries. Refrigerate this for an hour

3  Whip the cream to medium peaks and fold in the sugar and the liqueur.

4 To serve, add the berries in a parfait cup, pipe the cream over the berries.

Enjoy! Look out for more strawberry dishes in this space.