Frutti di Bosco with Basil, Roses & Creme de Cassis
Little trays of raspberries, blueberries, cranberries & blackberries are carefully lined up inside the box of frutti di bosco that I took from the fruit section. When I was maneuvering my way towards our cart, my five year-old's eyes almost popped out. Then when I went back with yet another big box of strawberries, I got scared that his eyes were really going to pop out. I see that I struck a good chord. He can easily dethrone Cookie Monster with his remarkable appetite of frutti di bosco. In fact, at barely 2 years old, he was already able to pick his own wild strawberries & blackberries in the mountains.
Since my son proclaims ownership of 90% of the frutti di bosco, and generously gives us 10% of the remainder, I just add some white sugar according to his liking. This time, I bought more than his usual capacity (or so I hoped) so I added a dash of liqueur. Creme de Cassis (blackcurrant) went amazingly well with the berries. The basil was a first for me in mixing with a sweet dish and it surprisingly vivified the flavors.
After this frutti di bosco salad, I added another plant to my
growing basil population of 5 plants. They cannot keep up with my daily
snipping so they remain dwarfed. As opposed to my balding basil
plants, I have an abundance of roses staring at me around the house that
I had to to include them in this berry salad. It gave a pleasant
subtle floral hint.
Frutti di Bosco with Basil, Roses & Creme de Cassis
Ingredients:Serves 4
- 500 g. frutti di bosco
- 100 g. strawberries, quartered or halved
- 2 tablespoons Creme de cassis
- 2 - 3 tablespoons white sugar
- handful of basil, chopped finely
- 2 roses, petals only
- Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
- Refrigerate for at least half an hour before serving.