Drunken Summer Berries

A dessert of fresh berries soaked in orange liqueur is a great way to spice up an otherwise humdrum weeknight! I used Patron Citronge, but Grand Marnier would work too, as would probably any citrusy hard alcohol that you happen to have around. I have a plethora of hard alcohol leftover from my college days that now sits mainly untouched in the pantry, so I was happy to crack open the Patron for this dessert.

CSA Week 13:

In the box: 1 lettuce, 1 cucumber, 1 bunch carrots, 1 basket grape tomatoes, 1 pound Sweet Girl tomatoes, 2 pounds red potatoes, 1 sweet onion, 1 pound summer squash, 1 basket blackberries, 1 basket strawberries.

A recurring theme throughout the week was garlic and herb goat cheese. I had a huge log of it in the fridge, purchased awhile ago for a recipe I don't think I'll ever get around to making, so I decided to just open it up and start using it.

Ahhh, more potatoes! I tried to make a variation on the Smitten Kitchen red potato tart I made a few months ago. Instead of blue cheese I used garlic and herb goat cheese. I skipped the crust because I was short on time, and just baked it in a buttered 9x9 baking dish. The flavor was great but I think I must not have let the potatoes cool long enough because the filling was kinda lumpy, as if the egg had started to scramble. As a result, the texture was a bit off but we were still happy to eat it. Maybe it also had to do with the fact that I threw some Greek yogurt into the custard mixture? I really shouldn't just add random stuff to recipes when I have no idea what I'm doing.

I made an awesome Greek salad using some of the lettuce, all of the cucumber, most of the tomatoes, tiny bit of the sweet onion, feta, chopped roasted chicken from the store, olive oil, rice vinegar, salt, and pepper.

The rest of the sweet onion got sauteed and placed on top of burgers that had been stuffed with goat cheese. To go with the burgers, we grilled the summer squash (cut into spears) and sauteed a bunch of the grape tomatoes in the same pan as the onion, until they were just starting to burst out of their skins.

The rest of the Sweet Girl tomatoes were sliced and placed atop pieces of toast (Joe's homemade bread, by the way!) that had more of the garlic and herb goat cheese spread on it.

All of the berries were used for the drunken berry dessert.

Carrots have plans to be either stir-fried or roasted along with slices of tofu, probably tomorrow night.

Drunken Summer Berries
adapted loosely from a couple of Cooking Light recipes (this one and that one)
serves 4-6

About 6 cups fresh berries - I used strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries (my blueberries were thawed from frozen and did great, but I'm not sure if that would work with all types of berries)
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 cup orange flavored liqueur, such as Patron Citronge or Grand Marnier, or any citrus-flavored liqueur
Handful torn mint leaves
Greek yogurt or whipped cream for topping

Gently rinse and dry the berries. If using strawberries, hull and quarter them.

Combine the berries with the powdered sugar and the liqueur. Chill for about 30 minutes or so.

Gently stir in the mint using a spatula. Spoon the berry mixture into individual serving dishes, top with a dollop of yogurt or whipped cream, and serve.