The Return of the Berries

Last week I ran into a friend who'd found the first of the season's local strawberries at the farmers market. You could smell their perfection. "How can it be that they're here so early when we've had so little sun?" I asked. "They tented the crop," he answered, offering me one with a smile on his face that let me know I was in for a surprise.

They were beautifully red. Their little spiky leaf collars were a lovely fresh green. I smelled and waited. Sure enough, a perfume that alerts you to a good strawberry. I gazed at it in appreciation. I put the whole thing in my mouth and bit. It burst with flavor. It wasn't engineered of under-ripe white stuff (like the ones from the "C" place) with an external red that makes you think of printer's ink. The fruit gave when I bit. It released juice. It was thin, as I'd expect in this weather. But it had lovely acidity, gentle and provoking in a mouth-watering way.

"They're coming. The berries are enroute!" the strawberry seemed to say. Real, local fruit are making the seasonal return. It made my day. I knew we'd have my idea of Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.

I can teach students to knock out perfect sponge cake in less than five minutes. It bakes in 18 minutes to golden perfection. I roll the cake up with orange marmalade. While the cake bakes, I slice strawberries and feed them a couple of tablespoons of honey to draw juice, as one does with sugar. Sometimes I add a little more orange marmalade to the honey; it's sugar too.

When the rolled cake had cooled, I sliced it an inch thick, the height of a biscuit, and placed it in a flat soup bowl.

After adding red wine to the berries, they leach juices for five minutes. If I don't want to add wine, I can add any other liquid, from fruit juice to sugar water, in sufficient amount to make berry juice into sauce.

I spoon strawberries and juices at the base of the cake. The cake will drink those juices, so I remember to add lots.

Then I whip cream to soft peaks. I can sweeten it or not. A generous spoonful of whipped cream blopped onto the cake, and you ask yourself: "Can we eat now?"

Genoise

6 large eggs, room temperature
¾ cup sugar
tiny pinch of salt
1 cup flour, twice sifted
Butter for the cake pan

2 pints of strawberries
2 or 3 tablespoons excellent quality honey or, 2 or 3 tablespoons sugar
1 or 2 tablespoons orange marmalade (optional)
1-1/2 to 2 cups red wine, or real fruit juice
1 cup excellent quality heavy cream, whipped to soft peak, sweetened with sugar if desired

Butter the cake pan. Place a piece of parchment in the pan, spread it flat to coat the paper with butter. Invert the paper so it's buttered on the cake side, and line the pan with the buttered side up.

Beat the whole eggs, sugar, and a pinch of salt until the eggs increase in volume two and a half times.

Sift a third of the flour on top of the egg/sugar base, and fold gently to incorporate the flour. Try to make it happen in a dozen folds so you don't over fold. Add the next third, and fold again. Add the final third of sifted flour, and fold once more. Pour the batter carefully into the cake pan, and tilt the pan to get the batter to the corners, rather than spreading with a spatula. The spatula will only flatten all the air bubbles you made by beating the eggs and sugar, and those bubbles are what makes the cake go high. The person incorporating the flour with the least number of strokes gets the highest and lightest cake. They win the church bake-off.

Bake the cake in a 350ºF oven for 18 minutes until golden. When you touch your finger to the top of the cake, it should spring back without leaving an impression of your finger. If it doesn't spring back, return the cake to the oven for a couple more minutes.

Run a knife around the edge of the cake pan. Lift a corner of the cake, grab hold of the paper. Hold the other end of the cake pan, and pull the cake onto the counter. Spread orange marmalade evenly and lightly over the entire surface of the cake. With the cake lengthwise in front of you, grab the paper under the top of the cake, tug and fold an inch of the cake over the top of the cake. Then, pulling on the paper, roll the cake into what you'd recognize as a jelly roll. Re-wrap in the paper, and set on a cake rack to cool. Take a deep breath and open the red wine. Sample if necessary, just to see if it's drinkable.

While the cake bakes, slice the strawberries. Add the honey and the orange marmalade, and stir. Let the berries sit for 30 minutes. Five minutes before serving, add the wine to the strawberries and juice. Whip the cream to soft peaks. Add sugar to the cream as desired, or sprinkle that same amount of sugar over the top of the cream once it has been dolloped onto the strawberries.

To prepare the dish, slice an inch-thick piece of cake and set it in a flat soup bowl. Spoon generous amount of strawberries and juice (there is no point in having leftovers), and top them with whipped cream. Go passed "GO." Collect pleasure.

Robert Reynolds

I made this film with my friend Robert, to try and capture the art of food - the joy of cooking and the celebration of sharing the result. You can find out more about Robert at www.robertreynoldschefstudio.com .

James Thomas