Sauteed Strawberries in Red Wine Pepper Sauce

By lisajesselson

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups good quality Cabernet
• 7 Tbs. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 2" long piece vanilla bean, split
• 1 Tbs. cornstarch
• 2 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 4 cups whole strawberries, hulled, quartered
• pinch of pepper
• vanilla ice cream
• 6 fresh mint sprigs

Preparation

Step 1

combine 1 cup wine, sugar, and 1/4 tsp. pepper in heavy med. saucepan
scrape in seeds from bean, add bean
stir over med. heat until sugar dissolves
whisk remaining1/4 cup wine and cornstarch in small bowl to blend
add cornstarch mix to sauce and whisk constantly until boiling and thickened about 2 min.
remove beans, set sauce aside

melt butter in large skillet over high
add berries saute 1 min. add sauce and pinch of pepper
bring to boil
divide berries and sauce among 6 Martini glasses
top each with ice cream
garnish with mint