I’m newly back in Sydney after 3 months in North America, and am enjoying slow mornings sitting on the back lawn with my cat. Breakfasts are not only slow, but easy – pot set yoghurt with fresh pear or strawberries and some syrup that I made to have with soda water, but that is just too tasty to dilute and waste in a drink.
While I was away my local cafe Cornersmith opened up a new space on Illawarra Road, offering fresh local produce and cheese making classes run by Kristen Allan. Kristen’s pot set yoghurt is for sale in the Cornersmith Picklery for $10 a jar and it was that trembly just-set tart opacity that begged me to pour homemade strawberry-basil syrup over my breakfast a few mornings ago. I’m glad I did.
Strawberry Basil Syrup (adapted from the kitchn)
2 punnets strawberries, trimmed
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup loosely packed basil leaves
1 cup sugar
Blitz strawberries with a bamix or blender wand. Press through sieve to remove seeds. Measure resulting juice into a cup, topping up with water to measure one cup if necessary. Pour juice into a small saucepan with lemon juice, basil, and sugar.
Heat mixture over medium heat until boiling. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and let cool. Remove basil leaves and pour into a clean jar.
Can be added to soda water, poured on top of yoghurt or ice cream or eaten with cake. Nom.
Girl in Landscape 