Fresh Strawberry Sauce

My summer ice cream sundae fun continues with this easy strawberry topping.  Super fresh, it's delicious over fruit sorbets or vegan ice cream. If strawberries aren't your preference, check out my posts for Warm Chocolate Sauce or Easy Fruit Compote for more sundae topping ideas.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ripe strawberries
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup vegan sugar
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 2 cups finely chopped strawberries

1. Mash 1 cup ripe strawberries with a potato masher. Make sure they are ripe (i.e. bright red). Yellow or green spots indicate under-ripe strawberries, and they won't mash as well with the potato masher.

2. Combine the mashed strawberries in a small saucepan with the water; bring to a boil. Continue to cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

3. Press the mixture through a sieve over a bowl, reserving 1/2 cup of the liquid (if you can't quite obtain a full 1/2 cup, add enough water to equal that amount as needed - I used an additional 2 tablespoons or so).  Discard the pulp.

4. Combine the sugar and cornstarch in the saucepan, and add the strawberry liquid, stirring with a whisk. Bring to a boil, and continue to cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat and cook for a final 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice.

Note: lemon juice adds a beautiful, bright flavor to this sauce. If you want a mellow, earthier choice, try the same amount of balsamic vinegar.

5. Let cool slightly before stirring in the chopped strawberries.

Here are just two delicious ideas for this sauce.  Make an "Extreme Strawberry" sundae, by serving over strawberry sorbet:

Or, spoon over raspberry sorbet with additional fresh raspberries sprinkled on top, for a "Berry Good" sundae:

Nutrition Info:
16 servings (2 tablespoons), Calories 25 

Tasting Notes:
Only lightly sweet, with bright, fresh flavor. I loved the double-dose of strawberries, between the fresh chunks and the strained strawberry in the syrup. Next time, though, I would reverse the ratios, as this was mainly chunks of strawberry in a light coating of sauce, but I would have preferred a thick syrup with occasional fresh pieces of strawberry. I recommend decreasing the chopped strawberries by half, therefore, or doubling the syrup - whichever you prefer.

Rating:
3