Active time:10 minutes
Total time:10 minutes, plus 4 hours of refrigeration
Servings:6 (makes about 3 1/2 cups)
To be honest, I had no idea that starting a holiday meal with a refreshing bite of orange and grapefruit segments wasn’t the norm until I started hosting my own dinner parties at age adult and find a sea of faces staring at me in complete bewilderment. small bowls of fruit on their plates. “What is this?” came the chorus of voices, as they delicately pricked the citrus fruits with their forks, as if I had presented them with bowls full of wriggling worms.
“It’s a fruit salad,” I explained. “We always had it at Thanksgiving dinner when I was growing up – didn’t you?”
Apparently not. After a few years, I just gave up. Why waste perfectly good citrus fruits when everyone just wanted to head for mashed potatoes, green beans and stuffing? Yet the need for that light fruity taste at the start of a meal nagged me for years until a bag of frozen strawberries and the mission to bring soup to a friend’s Christmas dinner m encourage me to make a brilliant strawberry and champagne soup – an elegant but easy starter that has quickly become a tradition while allowing me to honor the memory of my grandmother’s gatherings.
It was a relief to learn that recipe creator Chadwick Boyd’s great-grandmother also served fruit salad — or what she called a “fruit bowl” — at the start of holiday meals. A cut-glass serving bowl filled with a combination of canned fruit cocktail augmented with bananas and fresh oranges always graced the table to begin the meal, Boyd said. The special dish represented the few items that weren’t grown on-site at the family’s Pennsylvania farm.
The fruit salad concept is a throwback to grandmas like mine and Boyd’s who grew up in the early 20th century when canning companies like Del Monte had perfected the art of preserving chunks of peaches, pears, of grapes and cherries in a thick syrup to be enjoyed all year round. For anyone who lived in the frozen North, canned fruit was a fancy treat, offering a taste of pineapples and tangerines, representing “exotic” locales from Florida to Hawaii to Mexico.
The idea seems strange to us in the 21st century, when virtually any fresh fruit can be found almost any time of the year, from mangoes to watermelon, but this combination of sweet and tangy flavors is always a way tasty way to start a winter meal loaded with root vegetables and roast meat.
For Boyd, it was a side dish that came with sandwiches at a favorite Atlanta lunch spot that brought him back to fruit salads, inspiring his own update on his great-grandmother’s tradition.
“Their fruit salad was filled with typical fruits,” Boyd said, “like kiwi, grape, orange and apple. The difference was the preparation, as it was what they called a ‘fruit salad. confetti fruit” with all the pieces cut into 1/4 inch dice, so you get a taste of each fruit in every bite. With the large fruit salads, you can choose around grapes or pineapple, but the confetti salad means you get all the flavors.
Boyd likes to play with different texture and flavor combinations, from kumquats and star fruit in the winter to berries and melons in the summer.
When starting a meal with fruit, whether in soup or salad form, focus on flavors that aren’t too sweet, like pairing tart Granny Smith apples with sweeter Bosc pears, then amp it up. fruit with acid, herbs and spices. Boyd mixes up a honey and vinegar dressing for his fruit salad, while my strawberry soup is topped with a few drops of balsamic vinegar, fresh basil and a fresh black peppercorn grind.
The result is a festive starter that wakes up the palate and brightens up the dullest winter’s day – but, of course, our grannies already knew that.
Strawberry and champagne soup
Because the soup uses frozen strawberries, it can be served year-round. Serve it in small bowls, large teacups or goblets.
Get ahead: The strawberry base should be refrigerated for at least 4 hours and up to 2 days before serving.
Storage: Refrigerate Strawberry Base for up to 2 days.
Do you want to save this recipe? Click the bookmark icon under the serving size at the top of this page, then navigate to Stories saved in My Message.
Evolve this recipe and get a printable desktop version here.
- 1 pound frozen strawberries, thawed
- 1/4 cup light honey, preferably orange blossom, plus more as needed
- Finely grated zest and juice of 1 large orange, plus more juice if needed
- 1 cup dry champagne or sparkling wine, such as prosecco or cava
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, for serving
- Balsamic vinegar, for serving
- Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, for serving
- Freshly ground black pepper, for serving
In a blender, combine strawberries, honey, orange zest and juice in a blender and puree on high speed until well incorporated, adding more juice, 1 tbsp at a time, as needed to achieve a thick, pourable consistency. Transfer to a lidded container and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 2 days.
Just before serving, stir champagne or sparkling wine into strawberry mixture to combine well, then divide among four small bowls.
Garnish each with a few basil leaves, a few drops of balsamic vinegar, a pinch of flaked salt and a grind of pepper. Serve cold.
Per serving (generous 1/2 cup), based on 6
Calories: 104; Total fat: 0 g; Saturated fat: 0g; Cholesterol: 0mg; sodium: 2mg; Carbohydrates: 20g; Dietary fiber: 2g; Sugar: 15g; Protein: 0g
This analysis is an estimate based on the available ingredients and this preparation. It should not replace the advice of a dietitian or nutritionist.
From food writer Kristen Hartke.
Tested by Olga Massov; questions by e-mail to [email protected].
Evolve this recipe and get a printable desktop version here.
Browse our recipe finder for over 9,900 post-tested recipes.
Did you make this recipe? Take a picture and tag us on Instagram with #eatingvoraciously.
