Coupe Romanoff, a Strawberry Sensation

What is he doing now? Is he cooking Russian food again?

No, the Coupe Romanoff is a traditional ice cream coupe we do in Switzerland, something everybody know, even so we don't really know where the name comes from

So then lets have a little lesson in cooking history. The first time this dessert was made for the Russian Tsar Family Romanoff by the French master Chef Marie-Antoine Careme in the 19th Century. The original dessert was fresh strawberries marinated with port wine and then served with whipped cream. Over the years the dessert changed to what we know today, vanilla and strawberry ice cream with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. So no more alcohol, but lovely ice cream

Marie-Antoine Careme was the chef of the kings, he was born in France in a poor family in 1777 and then started working in kitchen at a very young age. He worked his way up and ended up cooking for Baron de Rothchild, the British king, Taillerand and then Tsar Alexander of Russia. Careme was the one who started that the chefs wear white jackets and hats, in order to stay more hygienic. He wrote many cook books, revolutionized cooking and created many dishes which are still cooked today, even so in a slightly different form.

So, but now we have the recipe

1 scoop Strawberry Ice Cream
1 scoop Vanilla Dream Ice Cream
75 G Strawberries, slices
20 G Strawberry Sauce
20 Ml Cream, whipped Mint

Balsamic Vinegar marinated Strawberries

There is another favorite of mine, the Balsamic marinated Strawberries. It is such a simple dessert, especially if you just serve it with a scoop of ice cream or some whipped cream. All you do is add some sugar to the strawberries and some balsamic vinegar, let it marinate for a couple of hours and Voila, the dessert is ready

I like to do a littl variation of the dessert, a cold Sabayon or Zabaglione in Italian. The proper English translation would be a Wine Foam Cream. But as it doesn't sound so sexy, I think we stick to Sabayon. It is basically egg yolks, sugar, white wine and often a bit Madeira wine that is combined and then beaten over heat till it thickens.....voila, again. It sounds easy, but I have to admit, it is a little tricky to do, to get the right moment to stop as otherwise the cream will be scrambled eggs or it will liquify again

So here is the recipe, you will see it is just so simple and delicious

500 G Strawberries

50 G Sugar

50 Ml Balsamic Vinegar

Clean the strawberries and marinate them with the sugar and balsamic vinegar for a couple of hours

Sabayon

50 Ml Eggyolk

50 Ml White wine

20 G Sugar

100 Ml Whipped cream

500 G Vanilla Ice cream

Whisk the eggyolk, liquid and sugar over a bain marie till light and fluffy

Cool down with an electric beater

Mix with the whipped cream

Make 10 small scoops

Plate the marinated strawberries in a long shaped plate

Drizzle the Sabayon over them

Garnish with one scoop of ice cream and some mint leaves

Reduce the left over Balsamic from the marinade till syrup

Drizzle over the berries just before serving

Strawberry and Champagne Soup

Good, we have covered the normal strawberries and I hope you enjoyed the combination of vanilla sauce, cream and strawberries. So now we can start with some different recipes. The strawberry and Champagne soup is an amazing dessert becasue I serve the soup with a Rhubarb Crumble. It gives extra texture and the rhubarbe goes perfectly well with the strawberries

The recipe looks a little long, but if you want to leave the rhubarb crumble away, you can just take some top quality vanilla ice cream with it.....or what I did last time have the soup, then the crumble and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of the crumble....that is really decadent but delicious

So here is the recipe

Soup
1 Kg Strawberries frozen or fresh
125 G Sugar
100 Ml White wine
0.5 Ea Strawberries, fresh
0.25 Ea Blueberries

Method
Boil frozen Strawberries up with sugar
Blend and cool as quick as possible
Add white wine to season

Rhubarb Crumble
500 G Rhubarb, frozen
100 G Sugar

Boil rhubarbe up together with sugar, then cool quickly

Sugar dough
125 G Butter
1 G Vanilla Essence
250 G Flour
125 G Sugar
1 Ea Eggs

Mix everything together.
Rest in the fridge for 2 hours.
Roll dough out, pre bake a bit

Almond mix
200 G Marzipan
100 G Butter
2 Ea Eggs
10 G Flour
1 Ea Lemon zestes

Mix all the ingredients well

Baste the almond mix on the sugar dough
Top with rhubarb
Top the crumbles on it
Bake in the oven till golden brown

Flour less Chocolate Cubes with Strawberry Compote

Now this is a truly indulgent recipe, the chocolate is reach and creamy, so the strawberries give a little acidity and sweetness to it. To round the whole thing off, I add some cold Sabayon. All in all you get this great dessert that is colorful and absolutely delicious. I make the chocolate cubes flour less as like this the flavor is even more intensive and apart for from that, it is a perfect dessert for a gluten free diet

Chocolate Cubes
300 g Chocolate
3 ea Eggs
1 ea Egg yolk
250 g Butter

Strawberry Compote
500 g Strawberries
100 g Sugar
0.5 ea Vanilla bean, scraped
50 ml Red Wine
15 g Corn Starch

Sabayon
2 ea Egg Yolks
50 ml Marsala
75 ml White Wine
50 g Sugar
150 ml Cream, whipped

Method

For the Chocolate Cubes, melt the butter and then add the chocolate. Over very low heat melt the chocolate, stirring constantly. Then when the chocolate is completely melted, add the beaten eggs. Stir nicely till you have a smooth batter

Pour in a square, buttered baking tin and bake at 120 C for about one hour or till cooked. Make sure the heat is not too high to avoid over cooking

For the Strawberry Compote mix Strawberries, Sugar and Vanilla and bring to the boil. Mix Corn Starch and Red Wine, add to the strawberries, stirring all the time, it will thicken nicely. The take immediately off the heat and cool to room temperature

For the Sabayon mix all ingredients except the cream in a metal bowl, big enough to whisk the eggs rapidly and to make sure it doesn't over flow when all the foam comes up during the cooking and whisking