Herb-Infused Strawberry Bellini — for Breakfast!
This seasonal twist on a classic bellini combines fresh strawberries and Prosecco. Image by Leah Koenig
When I was last in Israel a few years ago, I remember being struck by the scores of fresh juice and smoothie kiosks around Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Some were small and humble — little more than an old-fashioned citrus press and a blender. Others were more elaborate. But they were everywhere, dotting open-air markets and streets, often adorned with a perfectly glistening pomegranate or pomelo sliced in half sitting a top a pile of fruit, beckoning like a mirage.
Related
Ricotta-Fruit Toast for Shavuot Breakfast
Lured in one sunny afternoon, I ordered a fresh strawberry juice. I am certain there were other fruits and perhaps vegetables in the drink too. But all I can remember is how vividly and utterly strawberry-like it tasted. This elixir both captured and elevated the fruit’s essence. It was the inside of a strawberry pie, a bite into a fresh strawberry, still warm and straight from the field.
I came back to Brooklyn swearing that I would buy a juicer so I could recreate the experience at home. I did. But after one look at the hulking piece of machinery sitting on my tiny Brooklyn countertop, I ran directly back to the store for an exchange. (I also came home swearing I would start eating chopped tomatoes and cucumbers with labnheh for breakfast on the regular, but that dream fizzled too.)
I may not have become an avid juicer, but I have been thinking of ways to take advantage of the bounty of berries currently available at the market and turn them into a beverage. In a boozy homage to that amazing strawberry juice, I came up with a breakfast-friendly strawberry bellini. I swapped out a bellini’s typical peach puree for a ruby mash of fresh in-season strawberries, and added in an ample drizzle of rosemary and thyme-infused simple syrup. Topped with a bubbly splash of Prosecco (or seltzer if you’re serving kids or a non-drinking crowd), it tastes like summer in a glass.
Herb-Infused Strawberry Bellini
Serves 6
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
4 sprigs fresh rosemary, plus more for garnish
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 thick strip lemon zest
2 cups quartered strawberries, plus more sliced strawberries for garnish
Chilled Prosecco or seltzer, for topping
1) Add the sugar and water to a small saucepan. Lightly crush/bruise the rosemary and thyme with your fingers and add to the saucepan along with the lemon zest. Over medium-high heat, let the mixture come to a boil; boil for 1 minute then remove from stove and let sit for at least 30 minutes. Strain syrup through a fine mesh sieve set over a bowl, discarding the herbs and zest. Set aside.
2) Place the strawberries in a deep bowl and use an immersion blender to puree until smooth (or keep a few chunks, if desired).
3) Divide the strawberry puree between 6 champagne flutes. Add 1 ounce of the simple syrup to each flute and stir to combine. Top each glass with Prosecco and garnish with a rosemary sprig and sliced strawberries.
Leah Koenig is a contributing editor at the Forward and author of “Modern Jewish Cooking: Recipes & Customs for Today’s Kitchen,” Chronicle Books (2015).
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
