Recipes: I'm a fool for you Kendall Farms Creme Fraiche Strawberry Fool

“Kendall Farms Crème Fraiche is the paradigm of crème fraiche.” Thomas Keller, The French Laundry, Per Se, Bouchon

If you have made it all the way through the April 2005 issue of SAVEUR magazine on ‘American Artisanal Cheese’ you will have read about the remarkable Sadie Kendall (page 50 and 51).   Sadie Kendall made the first artisanal cheeses in America.  She now makes, in my opinion, the best crème fraiche.   

Kendall Farms Crème Fraiche has a fresh flavor with a slight acidity that results in a bright taste.  The texture is velvety smooth.  Amanda Hesser in The New York Times described it as “all silk and cream with a delicate hint of hazelnut”. It is the food of angels.  But it is also a real kitchen workhorse.  Because of the fine emulsion that Sadie is able to achieve, this crème fraiche does not break at even the highest temperatures.  Chefs use it to make pan sauces.  Hollandaise broken?  Whip in some Kendall Farms Crème fraiche and it comes right back.

Next Thursday, April 14, Sadie and I are going to be teaching a class about her crème fraiche at Andronico's in Danville, California, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m..  As of this posting there were still a few spots available. 

In the meantime, enjoy this lovely Fool, from the French verb 'fouler', to crush. Only very ripe strawberries please.

KENDALL FARMS CRÈME FRAICHE STRAWBERRY FOOL

From The Crème Fraiche Cookbook by Sadie Kendall (out of print)

1 cup Kendall Farms Crème Fraiche

10 large strawberries, stems removed

6 to 8 tablespoons white sugar, to taste

4 heaping teaspoons brown sugar

1. Using a fork or pastry blender, mash the strawberries with the white sugar.

2. Place 4 tablespoons of crème fraiche in each dessert dish.

3. Top the crème fraiche with the 2 tablespoons of mashed strawberries.  Swirl strawberries into the crème fraiche, but not completely

4. Top each dish with 1 heaping teaspoon brown sugar.  Serve at once.

Serves 4

Sadie likes to warm the fruit-sugar mixture and serve it over a mound of cold crème fraiche.  The contrast of the warm fruit and the cold, velvety denseness of the crème fraiche is another ‘dimension of pleasure’.

Comments

[Lana De Cassanth]

I can't wait to buy some Creme fraiche, particularly to try the Kendall Farms version, with your recipe that sounds quite delectable. I'm going to also experiment with rasberries which I have been buying frozen from Trader Joe's: great quality and flavor!

Thanks for producing a great site, I'm hooked.

[Fatemeh]

This sounds really delightful.

I was at a tasting of botrytis wines yesterday, and this would have been a perfect compliment for some of them - I was tempted to do something similar with lemon quark, but I think I like the creme fraiche idea better.