Strawberry Balsamic Champagne Sauce

There were several ingredients I needed to use up in my fridge after the holidays. The two that stood out more than anything were champagne and strawberries. I purchased the strawberries for New Year’s Eve to cover in chocolate, but that never happened. Four days later, they just weren’t as vibrant.  The champagne was begging to hook up in a flute with a glass of orange juice.  I had to resist the temptation, so I decided I would make a strawberry balsamic champagne sauce to use at a later date.

Sauces are great for drizzling (or dumping by the bucket full) over meats. It’s the perfect savory sweet combination. I’ll tuck this sauce away in the freezer and pull it out to use on a grilled pork loin or stuffed cream cheese and spinach chicken breast. Seeing as I’ve been eating a little healthier these days, looks like the pork loin is the front runner.

I found a great pork marinade over at Delicious Shots. I tried this recipe around Thanksgiving because my daughter isn’t a big turkey fan.  I found that hard to believe watching her literally devour my turkey … including the next day!

Strawberry season is here for us in Florida, so I think this is a great way to use up all those left over strawberries you picked. Of course, after all the pies and jams made!

What you will need:

1 pint of strawberries

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup apple juice

1/2 cup champagne

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Juice of 1 whole lemon

Pinch of cloves

Pinch of nutmeg

Instructions:

Wipe your strawberries with a damp cloth. Hull and quarter them.

Put them into a blender or food processor and chop them up. An old fashioned masher will work just fine too!

This is the consistency we’re looking for.

Next, on medium high heat, add your strawberries, sugar, and apple juice to a medium sized pot.

Stir well to dissolve sugar. You can pull back on the sugar if you don’t want too sweet. My strawberries were a tad tart, so I adjusted the sugar to balance the tartness.

Add champagne.

I just love how the pale pinkness of it bubbling up.  Gets me all warm and fuzzy. Orrrrr I may or may not have had one mimosa at this point. Waste not want not.

Add balsamic vinegar

Squeeze juice of one whole lemon in pot. Pick out any seeds that fall in the pot. Slippery little buggers aren’t they?

Add just a pinch of ground cloves and nutmeg. Really, that is all you need. It’s the “hmmm what’s in this?” factor that your family or dinner guests will be questioning.

Bring mixture to a boil stirring occasionally.

Turn down to slow simmer and reduce. Stir occasionally.

The whole process should take about 30-40 minutes.  So worth it. I can’t wait to try this sauce over a grilled pork loin.