Strawberry Sauce Topping with Homemade Greek Yogurt
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving size: About 1/2 cup yogurt and 1/2 cup sauce | |
| Calories | 117 |
| Calories from Fat | 0 |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Fat 0 g | |
| Saturated fat 0 g | |
| Unsaturated fat 0 g | |
| Carbohydrates 22 g | 7% |
| Sugar 17 g | |
| Fiber 2 g | 8% |
| Protein 7 g | 14% |
| Cholesterol 3 mg | 1% |
| * The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA. | |
This strawberry sauce will brighten your day with the freshness of oranges.
It can be served warm or chilled, poured over something cool and creamy like yogurt or ice cream, strained into a delicious coulis-style sauce, or left chunky to be spooned over cake or a truly decadent waffle or pancakes. For something truly unusual, blend with milk and ice into a smoothie the likes of which you have never before enjoyed.
Once your friends taste this sauce, they will always request that you bring it to potluck get-togethers… and lots of it!
Cook Time
Cook time: 15 min
Ready in: 15 min
Yields: 7 servings, about 1/2 cup apiece
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. frozen strawberries
- 1/4 cup Splenda (or your favorite no-calorie sweetener)
- Zest and juice of one Valencia orange (or another type of orange)
- A pinch of salt
- 32 oz. plain yogurt (or, save yourself a step and some time and buy already strained Greek yogurt.)
How to Make Strawberry Sauce
- Add the strawberries, sweetener, and salt to a medium saucepan and turn on the heat to medium.
- Zest the orange directly into the pot. Squeeze the orange juice directly over the berries, and if a little orange flesh falls into the mix, so much the tastier. Don’t worry about the berries being frozen – they will not burn. After about three minutes, the berries will begin breaking down.
- Cook another 10 to 15 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally and tasting to check the sweetness. If you prefer, add a little more sweetener… but the tanginess of the orange will come through delightfully without adding anything else.
- For a smoother sauce, press the berries against the side of the pot with your spoon. If you prefer them larger, then simply let them be.
- Let cool and decant into a serving container or plastic ware. If you’re not serving it immediately, put it in the refrigerator to cool. It will look somewhat thin and loose, but will thicken considerably after chilling.
- Enjoy! My favorite way to eat this is chilled over Greek-style yogurt. For the “recipe” for Greek-style yogurt, read on.
Zesting an Orange
Tips about Making Strawberry Sauce
- Choose frozen strawberries instead of fresh as the frozen ones are readily available and quite economical (not to mention already hulled). Use fresh fruit if you have an excess of berries, but who really has that many strawberries just laying around?
- Use a micro-plane or the smallest shred on your grater to zest the orange. If your tools have gone missing, use a vegetable peeler to scrape the skin of the orange, but be sure to mince the zest before adding it to the pot. You don’t want a gigantic piece of orange skin to get caught in your choppers!
- Too orangey for your taste? The berries do need a little citrus burst to make their flavor really pop, so just add two tablespoons of the juice and leave out the zest. Or, add some extra sweetener. Personally, I enjoy the bright, surprising, mouth-puckering tang of the fresh orange, but it may be an acquired taste.
- If you prefer to cook the berries longer to let them fall apart even more, that's great too. A few extra minutes on the burner will not harm them in the least.
- Try this recipe with raspberries or blackberries if you prefer those. I have made it with raspberries on request and my friends were simply swooning. For an especially fancy dessert, prepare two flavors and let your guests choose which to spoon over their sponge cake (both, please!) However, if you do use small berries, I would suggest straining after cooking to remove the seeds, which can taste bitter and easily stick in diners’ teeth.
Making Greek Yogurt at Home
Recipe for Greek-style Yogurt
This is not really a recipe, but more of a tutorial.
- Buy a quart of plain yogurt.
- Lay cheesecloth or a double thickness of paper towels on a strainer. In a pinch, a steamer tray will work just fine.
- Scoop the yogurt into the strainer.
- Strain for one to two days for an extremely thick yogurt, or at least overnight to get rid of most of the liquid. If you’ve used paper toweling, gently renew the towels several times daily.
- The yogurt will reduce by approximately half.
Tip
- Avoid stirring the yogurt once strained; stirring it up will release whatever liquid remains and make the yogurt loose again. The wonderful texture of the thickened yogurt will then be lost.
