November 7, 2025 • 5 mins
I love strawberries but this early in the season they can lack flavour. My advice is to warm them up! Roast or grill or in a pan with some sugar and lemon juice and you’ll find them a different berry altogether – jammy, sweet, and full of flavour.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups strawberries, hulled and large ones halved or quartered
- 1 tablespoon brown or white sugar
- Juice from one orange
- 1 vanilla pod, halved and seeds scraped
- Yoghurt or cream to serve
- Handful of hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
Method:
- Gently heat strawberries in a pan on the stove top or in the oven, with sugar, orange juice, and vanilla until they slump a little.
- Serve with yoghurt or cream and sprinkled with hazelnuts.
Serving suggestions:
Spooned over brioche toast or toasted croissant topped with fresh ricotta.
In a bowl with quality vanilla ice cream, a lick of balsamic vinegar or grind of black pepper and crushed hazelnuts.
Make or buy some crepes and fill them with roasted and cooled strawberries with chopped pistachios folded through Greek yoghurt or whipped cream.
Spooned on top of a homemade Basque Cheesecake or a bought sponge cake, for a glorious ruby red crown.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
That'd be our cook. Nicky Wex is here with us
this morning. I'm sure she's got some thoughts on Michelin
starred restaurants. Good morning Nikki.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Good morning Jack. Yes, big week, big week for our
hospitality sector. I'd say, I mean it's a great thing.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, I can saw our brown made some interesting comed
It's just about the kind of pressure that can put
on on on chefs and restaurants, and I can I
can appreciate that. I can see how that would you know,
how that might influence you and kind of, you know,
wigh on you and hang over you. I remember talking
to Matt Lamb but about that, the kind of pressure
that comes with the expectations sometimes. But yeah, at the
same time, if it means that, you know, it gives
(00:48):
a bit of a boost to our hospital scene, I
think there's probably probably good.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
And I have sat for so long that we have
such incredible dining in this country, you know, up and
down the length of the country, and our food really
does stand up there in terms of any of the
wonderful meals and I've had overseas and I feel as
though it's great to have an international standard. Whether or
not that's the standard we want, I don't know, but
(01:14):
I think it'd be great. And I also think that
if our chiefs can get their head around it, they
can control that sort of pressure themselves too, you know,
I think it's a good thing. I did love what
you said about us being pretty casual. So yes, I
have dined in a couple of Michelin Star restaurants, one
in Lyon and one in San Sebastian, and both were
very stuffy and you know, very sort of fine dining in.
(01:34):
The food was extraordinary. But I'm really looking forward to
the fact that these judges will see that New Zealand
can bring that sort of level of cuisine but in
perhaps a more relaxed which doesn't mean as slack or
you know, bad service kind of environments. So yeah, I'm
looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Right. So I've been jiggling my strawberries very very thoughtfully,
because we need a bit of term for that. Anyone's
got no ideas about that, you know what I mean though, right?
And when you move your storbies just a little bit
so they don't you do so, which means they are
and they are just right now, like I reckon this afternoon,
I'm probably gonna have my first strawberries of the season.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I love it. Have you got them covered so the
birds don't get it?
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Certainly?
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Oh, I love it.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
God. Well, look, you know, I mean, I love strawberries,
but I think unfortunately they do appear on our shelves
too early to be really great. So I actually think
that strawberries have got a struggle on their hands for
popularity because there's so many other great berries these days.
And really, strawberries get really good end of November December
purely in the shops. Until then, they can be a
(02:35):
little bit white on the inside. They can be a
little bit chewy, a little bit, I don't know. It's
a little bit lacking in flavors. So at this time
of the year, I am buying punnets of them, and
I like to rather than jiggle them, I pop them
in a pan and roast them. Yeah, because that way, Oh,
it really brings the sunshine into them. It's great. So look,
you can you can either roast them or do them
(02:56):
on the stovetop. But the thing is, when you're cooking strawberries,
is you want to cook them until they just slump
a little. You don't want to cook them to oblivion
because they sort of swim up and go very mushy.
So roasting is probably the safest option here. I don't know,
oven on one hundred and eighty something like that. In
a pan, I've used a tablespoon of brown and white
sugar juice from an orange in there. You could use
(03:17):
a lemon as well, and then plenty of vanilla. I've
got some old old vanilla pods that I brought back
years ago from Vietnam I think declared them. Have them,
scrape the seeds out and put that in the pan
with them as well, and oh, it just really intensifies
the flavor of them. I've given you lots of different
serving suggestions for these. I love them spooned over breosh toast,
(03:40):
or on a toasted croissant that's also been swiped with
a nice big heap of fresh ricotta in a bowl,
of course, with some ice cream that makes sense. But
a lick of balsamic vinegar, believe it or not, or
a grind of black pepper and some crushed taizelnuts is amazing.
Those two flavors, those flavors go really well with strawberries.
Maybe fill some bought grapes or some homemade crapes with
(04:02):
these cooled strawberries, with some chopped pistachios, but a Greek
yok it bit of whipped cream, and then I love
to buy a terrible sponge cake from the supermarket, or
make your own homemade bask cheesecake or sponge cake, but
you know, either, or top it with a whole lot
of beautiful whipped cream or Musca pony and then put
(04:23):
these you know, just spoon these beautiful, drizzly kind of
cooled roasted strawberries on top, and you've just got a
winning dessert. So so many things you can do with them.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Jack, It sounds so good and very easy, very easy.
You could that no time, right.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah, absolutely, and you won't be sorry. They'll just taste
like you know, round about you know, January, the strawberries
are starting to do jemmy just by themselves. But at
the moment we've got to give them a little bit
of help. So you keep jiggling, and I can't wait
till you first take you know, you taste that first strawberr,
because it's gonna be oh I know.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
It's such a good feeling. A Hey, Carol's just text
us to say she's just put your strawberry and vanilla
shortcake in the oven. Tell you what this would be good?
On top of that, wouldn't it my good.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Strawberry recipes and canvas today? So I'm all about the strawberries.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
That's fantastic. Hey, thanks so much, Nicky. We'll make sure
that recipe for Nicky's roasted vanilla strawberries is up on
the News talks 'DB website, so if your strawberries are
ready for enjoying, like Minor, you can start getting into.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
It for more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen
live to Newstalks i'd be from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
That'd be our cook. Nicky Wex is here with us
this morning. I'm sure she's got some thoughts on Michelin
starred restaurants. Good morning Nikki.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Good morning Jack. Yes, big week, big week for our
hospitality sector. I'd say, I mean it's a great thing.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, I can saw our brown made some interesting comed
It's just about the kind of pressure that can put
on on on chefs and restaurants, and I can I
can appreciate that. I can see how that would you know,
how that might influence you and kind of, you know,
wigh on you and hang over you. I remember talking
to Matt Lamb but about that, the kind of pressure
that comes with the expectations sometimes. But yeah, at the
same time, if it means that, you know, it gives
(00:48):
a bit of a boost to our hospital scene, I
think there's probably probably good.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
And I have sat for so long that we have
such incredible dining in this country, you know, up and
down the length of the country, and our food really
does stand up there in terms of any of the
wonderful meals and I've had overseas and I feel as
though it's great to have an international standard. Whether or
not that's the standard we want, I don't know, but
(01:14):
I think it'd be great. And I also think that
if our chiefs can get their head around it, they
can control that sort of pressure themselves too, you know,
I think it's a good thing. I did love what
you said about us being pretty casual. So yes, I
have dined in a couple of Michelin Star restaurants, one
in Lyon and one in San Sebastian, and both were
very stuffy and you know, very sort of fine dining in.
(01:34):
The food was extraordinary. But I'm really looking forward to
the fact that these judges will see that New Zealand
can bring that sort of level of cuisine but in
perhaps a more relaxed which doesn't mean as slack or
you know, bad service kind of environments. So yeah, I'm
looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Right. So I've been jiggling my strawberries very very thoughtfully,
because we need a bit of term for that. Anyone's
got no ideas about that, you know what I mean though, right?
And when you move your storbies just a little bit
so they don't you do so, which means they are
and they are just right now, like I reckon this afternoon,
I'm probably gonna have my first strawberries of the season.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I love it. Have you got them covered so the
birds don't get it?
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Certainly?
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Oh, I love it.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
God. Well, look, you know, I mean, I love strawberries,
but I think unfortunately they do appear on our shelves
too early to be really great. So I actually think
that strawberries have got a struggle on their hands for
popularity because there's so many other great berries these days.
And really, strawberries get really good end of November December
purely in the shops. Until then, they can be a
(02:35):
little bit white on the inside. They can be a
little bit chewy, a little bit, I don't know. It's
a little bit lacking in flavors. So at this time
of the year, I am buying punnets of them, and
I like to rather than jiggle them, I pop them
in a pan and roast them. Yeah, because that way, Oh,
it really brings the sunshine into them. It's great. So look,
you can you can either roast them or do them
(02:56):
on the stovetop. But the thing is, when you're cooking strawberries,
is you want to cook them until they just slump
a little. You don't want to cook them to oblivion
because they sort of swim up and go very mushy.
So roasting is probably the safest option here. I don't know,
oven on one hundred and eighty something like that. In
a pan, I've used a tablespoon of brown and white
sugar juice from an orange in there. You could use
(03:17):
a lemon as well, and then plenty of vanilla. I've
got some old old vanilla pods that I brought back
years ago from Vietnam I think declared them. Have them,
scrape the seeds out and put that in the pan
with them as well, and oh, it just really intensifies
the flavor of them. I've given you lots of different
serving suggestions for these. I love them spooned over breosh toast,
(03:40):
or on a toasted croissant that's also been swiped with
a nice big heap of fresh ricotta in a bowl,
of course, with some ice cream that makes sense. But
a lick of balsamic vinegar, believe it or not, or
a grind of black pepper and some crushed taizelnuts is amazing.
Those two flavors, those flavors go really well with strawberries.
Maybe fill some bought grapes or some homemade crapes with
(04:02):
these cooled strawberries, with some chopped pistachios, but a Greek
yok it bit of whipped cream, and then I love
to buy a terrible sponge cake from the supermarket, or
make your own homemade bask cheesecake or sponge cake, but
you know, either, or top it with a whole lot
of beautiful whipped cream or Musca pony and then put
(04:23):
these you know, just spoon these beautiful, drizzly kind of
cooled roasted strawberries on top, and you've just got a
winning dessert. So so many things you can do with them.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Jack, It sounds so good and very easy, very easy.
You could that no time, right.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah, absolutely, and you won't be sorry. They'll just taste
like you know, round about you know, January, the strawberries
are starting to do jemmy just by themselves. But at
the moment we've got to give them a little bit
of help. So you keep jiggling, and I can't wait
till you first take you know, you taste that first strawberr,
because it's gonna be oh I know.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
It's such a good feeling. A Hey, Carol's just text
us to say she's just put your strawberry and vanilla
shortcake in the oven. Tell you what this would be good?
On top of that, wouldn't it my good.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Strawberry recipes and canvas today? So I'm all about the strawberries.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
That's fantastic. Hey, thanks so much, Nicky. We'll make sure
that recipe for Nicky's roasted vanilla strawberries is up on
the News talks 'DB website, so if your strawberries are
ready for enjoying, like Minor, you can start getting into.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
It for more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen
live to Newstalks i'd be from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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