Even though Spring is supposedly coming it sure is hard to believe when there is still a foot of snow on the ground outside. I have been craving fresh berries and the only ones available are California grown- but a craving is a craving so I caved and bought them. But disappointment soon followed – every one of those berries that looked so beautiful red and juicy were spongy white in the middle. What’s a girl to do with a container full of disappointment? She takes them and pops them in the oven and voila – Roasted Strawberries. What a transformation!  From tasteless to sweet and juicy in just 20 minutes. Then take it  up a notch and add vanilla ice cream and you have a wonderful dessert or midnight snack.

Now those grocery store strawberries had some help in the oven. I sprinkled them with sugar and some really good quality Balsamic vinegar. These two ingredients along with the liquid from the strawberries transform in the oven to a wonderful strawberry sauce. To ensure you don’t waste a bit of the sauce roast the berries on a layer of parchment paper so you can scoop it all up. These Roasted Strawberries aren’t just fantastic on ice cream they are wonderful in a shake or at least so I am told. My son consumed most of them in his protein shakes! I am definitely going to be making more and can’t wait to try this with actual local strawberries – the flavour should be out of this world when the berries actually have taste before they are roasted.