Safta’s stewed strawberries

These strawberries were a staple on Safta’s breakfast table, where we’d eat them on toast with butter or cream cheese, or drizzle them onto a baguette and sprinkle feta cheese on top. (Crusty bread is the perfect vehicle for sopping up the sugary red liquid that oozes from berries.) I also liked to spoon them over vanilla ice cream for dessert, and that’s how I eat them when I make them today. They’re equally good with Greek yogurt. The beauty is that you can do whatever you want with this dish — it’s not too thick or jammy, and that lightness makes it really versatile.

Serves 6 - 8

INGREDIENTS:

500g strawberries, roughly chopped

65g sugar

Grated zest of 1 lemon

1½ tbsp lemon juice

¼ tsp salt

1 litre of your favorite vanilla ice cream

METHOD:

Combine all the ingredients except the ice cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally; the heat and sugar will pull all the juices out of the berries.

Once those juices come to a simmer, decrease the heat to low and leave the pan alone for 12 to 14 minutes, until the strawberries start to slump. You’re not looking for this to become jammy; it’ll thicken as it cools. Perfect over vanilla ice cream or on buttered toast ●Take the pan off the heat, and cool to room temperature.

Spoon the strawberries over a big bowl of ice cream — get some berries and some of their syrup.