Strawberries with Balsamic Sabayon

Serve fresh strawberries with this chilled creamy sabayon sauce enhanced with balsamic vinegar. The sauce will taste complex and delicious with a really good quality aged balsamic, but it’s wonderful as well when made with a more ordinary balsamic.

• 6 Tbs. sugar  
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 Tbs. aged balsamic vinegar
• 1-1/2 cups heavy cream, whipped to medium-stiff peaks and refrigerated
• 2 pints strawberries, rinsed and hulled
• Amaretti, biscotti, or other crisp cookies for garnish (optional)

Fill a large bowl with ice. In a small stainless-steel bowl, whisk the sugar into the egg yolks until thoroughly combined and lightened in color. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and continue whisking the mixture until it thickens. The mixture is cooked when it’s light in color and it trails off the whisk in ribbons. Do not overcook it. Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk in the balsamic vinegar. Set the bowl over the bowl of ice and continue whisking the sabayon until it’s completely cooled, 5 to 10 minutes. The sabayon will stiffen as it cools. Very gently fold in the whipped cream and refrigerate the lightened sabayon for at least 2 hours before serving. It will hold overnight, but it’s best served the day it’s made.

Serve the sabayon spooned over whole or sliced strawberries in a pretty glass dish with a garnish of crisp cookies, whole or crumbled, if you like.