Easy Strawberry Jam

I’m a jamstress!

I made this (from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics) on a weekday morning when I should have been folding laundry instead.  It was, true to its name, easy to make.  I only made 1/3 of a batch because I’m petrified of canning (botulism, anyone?), and I didn’t want to make any more than we can eat in a few weeks.

Mixed Berry Pavlova

The tricky thing about this recipe (Barefoot Contessa at Home) is that there is no way to test that it is done cooking until it is too late.  In this case, it was supposed to cook for an hour and a half in a 180 degree oven, and then sit in the oven for another hour, without opening the oven door.  Unfortunately, mine was still a little runny at the end of the cooking process, but it was still a delicious way to eat these beautiful berries.

Tri-berry Oven Pancake(s)

I should probably title this post “Bi-berry Oven Pancake” because I forged ahead and made it without any raspberries when I couldn’t find any at the supermarket.  On certain days, I will go to any length to find a specific ingredient, and on other days, two berries arranged spectacularly on a beautiful pancake will just have to do. 

The baked pancake is an ingenious idea, especially for folks like me who can never seem to make any kind of pancake on the stove that isn’t burned on the outside and raw on the inside.  I wish I would have taken this photo just a few minutes earlier, because the pancake was even fluffier around the edges of the gratin dish.  The original recipe (Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics) calls for four individual gratin dishes.  Because I don’t own individual gratins (and Lord knows if I’m not willing to try more than one store for raspberries, I’m certainly not going to go out of my way for more dishes), I tried it in a large dish, and it worked like a charm.  The results were delicious, and definitely repeatable.  I have visions of trying it with peaches next time.