Maybe you already know this, but European freezers are the size of a shoebox. Imagine fitting all your freezer items into a sneaker shoebox (not even a winter boot shoe box!) and you can understand my pain. Three cubes of ice, a Popsicle, plus a bag of frozen peas and I practically have to force the door shut.
Enter my two year debate whether or not to buy an extra freezer. I should have done it right away except I struggled with how much space it would take up in the kitchen and I didn’t want to purchase more appliances that we couldn’t bring back to the US. It turns out that all we needed was too many corn tortillas and not enough freezer space to force us into an answer.
Now that the debate is over, it’s time to celebrate. We have a freezer! It’s nothing fancy, but it has enough room for plenty of my favorite frozen goodies. For my first celebratory act, I decided it was time to acquire a ridiculous amount of strawberries.
Some girlfriends and I went to a u-pick strawberry farm nearby and I ended up with 3 kilos of berries (6+ lbs). I’d never picked strawberries before, but I quickly gained a new appreciation for farmers. Squatting, searching, and picking strawberries in direct sunlight is not for the faint of heart. At least you get to eat as many strawberries as you so please. I highly recommend it for the workout alone.
I bought some good quality balsamic vinegar in Sicily so while I was picking away, I was dreaming of balsamic roasted strawberries. Right when I got home, I started hulling and quartering the berries and popped a few in the oven with the balsamic sauce. Needless to say, they were deee-lish.
With little effort and few ingredients, you can turn regular strawberries into real treat.
I ate mine as-is, but the serving possibilities are endless! Whipped cream, ice cream, oatmeal, yogurt, you name it.
Next time you have some extra strawberries on hand, you know what to do.


- 1 lb // 4 cups // 450g strawberries, hulled and quartered
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (high quality if you have it)
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- A few turns of fresh ground pepper
- Preheat the oven to 375F // 200C.
- Combine all the ingredients and make sure the strawberries are evenly coated. Spread out on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the strawberries are looking jammy.
- Over ice cream
- With whipped cream
- With coconut whipped cream (paleo option)
- With cashew cream (paleo option)
- On top of oatmeal
- Mixed into yogurt
- In a fruit tart
11 Responses
Balsamic and strawberries sure are a match made in heaven! I want to go strawberry picking – it looks like so much fun!
Sounds really good! Could you please tell me where you went for picking up strawberries? Close to zurich? Is it still season? Thanks! Will def. Try the recipe!
Yes you should definitely go! The link is up in the post… Its in dubendorf and you get so many berries for so cheap! I just went last week and there were plenty left 🙂
What a delicious idea! I have all of these ingredients already – I know what I am doing this weekend!
awesome! hope it turned out well!
I roast strawberries a lot but I’ve never added balsamic to them while doing it. Plus salt and pepper- I am very intrigued. I would die with that small of a freezer – I have a standard apartment refrigerator and that is stuffed to the rim!
ahh so jealous! even my extra one is smaller than a normal size american freezer 🙁
Oh my gosh, those strawberries look delicious and so, so sweet! And I would probably eat this recipe plain with just a spoon – ha!
that’s how i did it too 🙂 no shame in that!
Hurray for a freezer! I’ve thought about getting a seperate freezer too, that way I can stock up when meat and such are on sale. You’ve got me thinking about it again. So fun you go to pick these strawberries! They’re gorgeous! Love that you roasted the with balsamic. I would totally put this on ice cream. yum!
ya, you should! especially if you have room in the garage so it’s not unsightly like mine 😉