The Blog of Offensive Cooking: Strawberry (Decay) Flambé

In some parts of the country, strawberry season is just beginning. Here in New Orleans, we are at the tail end. They have been officially removed from the CSA box this week, and the only ones left were a heap of juicy ones on the decay table. As in, they are already juicing, everywhere.

Juicing, everywhere.

I was fortunate enough to find some that were relatively mold free. However, these would not be good strawberries for chomping. Instead, I thought I'd make strawberries flambé. If you have never purposefully set your food aflame, I highly recommend it. It's easy, cheap, and quite fun. Plus, it makes you feel wealthy (hence me hearing Lucille Bluth's voice in my head while I eat them). I had half of an orange dying in the fridge so I thought I'd use that too.

Strawberries Flambé
-berries (I used sliced stawberries)
-1/2 orange, juiced (optional)
- 1 shot high-proof booze (~60 or above, I mixed triple sec with vodka, aka a poor mans grand marnier)
-you base (I used oatmeal with greek yogurt)
- 1/2 Tbl butter

1. Heat the butter in a sausepan (note: I avoid using non-stick pans for this. it might be ok, but I just play it safe and use stainless steel. Also, DON'T use wooden utensils when the berries are on fire)
2. when butter starts to brown, add berried and cook for a bit, stirring.
3. Add orange juice and stir, let cook for a few minutes until it gets a litle more syrupy.
4. Make sure the heat is on about a medium and the stove vent is on. Add the liquor and light. You can shake the pot to get bigger flames, but watch out, you can melt your stove. If the flames get too big you can turn down the heat or lift the pot off the stove, or if they get really bad just throw a lid on it and they will be put out. They will burn for a while and then go out on their own.
5. Cook until reduced, it should be almost syrupy. Drizzle over your base. I used oatmeal with greek yogurt, this would also be great on ice cream.

While I have flambéd many times before, this was my first time using strawberries. It turned out really well, the strawberries were the main player with a hint of orange. This can be easily modified for any berry, just start with a fat (usually butter), add your fruit, add a sweetener (I used juice but you can use white or brown sugar), then booze. I like to do butter+blueberries+brown sugar+rum, or you can do blackberries with brandy.