I had a really great time reading all of the entries and am so impressed with the creativity inspired by the Renoir painting. I want to thank you all so much for participating and helping me celebrate the first year of this project.


Pierre Auguste Renoir, Strawberries (1905) oil on canvas, 46 x 28 cm, Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, France

I found it very interesting to see the similarities and differences between all of the recipes. Lemon cake was a popular entry with a wide variety of strawberry toppings. Bria from The Salty Spoon made a delicious ruby red Strawberry Zinfandel Compote that looked so beautiful against the yellow cake. Ginny from Just Get Floury made a tasty looking number with a lovely lemon glaze. Julie from Living La Vida Low GI made a healthy cake with almond meal and agave cream, two ingredients I really enjoy cooking with. The lovely Shaz from Test with Skewer topped her lemon shortbread with a beautiful strawberry flower – a recipe that I will be definitely trying out very soon! The Australian dessert Lemon Delicious is paired with cream and strawberry puree in an especially decadent photograph by Barbara of Winos and Foodies and if your sweet tooth is beginning to ache from all of the sweets then Jen from the Chaotic Chef will tip you over the edge with her especially indulgent Strawberry Lemon Many-Layer Pie in which she combines all of her pie recipes together (complete with a diagram!). Rounding out the dessert listing with is a bit of chocolate in the form of a brownie by Angie of the Cooking for College Blog.

Leela’s Strawberry & Lemon Trifle is a great way to liven up a bit of yogurt and perhaps my new favorite breakfast when paired with a bit of granola. Mia made a vanilla strawberry shake that would be perfect with a breakfast trifle. Two of my favorite photographs were by Deana of Lost Past Remembered and Susan of Savoring Time in the Kitchen. Both photographs were beautifully lit with a dark dramatic background very reminiscent of still life paintings.  Deana’s post was an introduction to St. Germain Elderflower Liquor, my next indulgent purchase. I have been craving Susan’s Aebleskivers as I absolutely adore lemon curd!  For a refreshing palate cleanser look to Ozoz’s blog Kitchen Butterfly for a refreshing strawberry sorbet cleverly served in a lemon.

The savories were a clever bunch with a vegan strawberry chutney by Betsy of The Blooming Platter, perfect for a toasted baguette with cream cheese. Joanne from Eats Well with Others provides an interesting recipe for Strawberry Balsamic Pesto Orzotto as well as the answer to the question ‘is a strawberry a fruit?’ Adele  from Will Work for Biltong after an unsuccessful strawberry search in South Africa made Salmon with Strawberry and Feta Crust upon her return to Australia. Be sure to click all of the links to visit the respective sites, all of them are worth a read!

 

Renoir Still Life Recreation by Mathea of Peas Love Carrots

 

The winning entry is by Mathea of Peas Love Carrots. Not only was her couscus recipe wonderfully inventive (roasted strawberries/arugula/lemon, yum!) but her photography was top notch – just look at the recreation above!! Congratulations Mathea, the cookbook The Impressionist’s Table is heading your way! Check out all of the other creative entries below.

 

{Recipe Competition Entries}