Atole de Fresa / Strawberry Atole, 1975

Zelayaran Ramirez, Bertha.  Las 500 Mejores Recetas de la Cocina Mexicana. México : Gómez Gómez Hnos. : distribuidores exclusivos, Editora y Distribuidora Mexicana, 1975. Pp. 216.

Here’s another fun strawberry recipe for summer.  Atole is a family of hot, corn-thickened drinks that also includes champurrada.  This particular recipe is flavored with strawberries and thickened with cornstarch (sometimes referred to in short-hand as maizena after the popular brand). 

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Atole de Fresa

675 grs. de fresa
280 grs. de azúcar
85 grs. de maizena
4 tazas de leche
2 tazas de agua
1 taza de crema
1 varita de vainilla

Se deslíe la maizena en el agua y agregando la vainilla se pone al fuego; cuando empieza a espesar, se aparta de la lumbre y se añaden las fresas con un lienzo húmedo y exprimiéndolas; luego se pone la crema y un poco de color vegetal para darle un bonito tono rosa.  Se pone de nuevo al fuego y cuando hirva se retira.

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Strawberry Atole

675 grs. Strawberries
280 grs. sugar
85 grs. cornstarch
4 cups milk
2 cups water
1 cup cream
1 vanilla bean

Dissolve the cornstarch in the water, add the vanilla bean, and heat until the liquid begins to thicken.  Remove from the heat and add the strawberries, after sqeezing them through a damp cloth.  Add the cream and a little food coloring to give it a nice pink hue.  Return to the heat until it boils and then serve.

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In the Kitchen…

The recipe as written makes 7 cups of atole, so for my version, I quartered the recipe to make just over 2 cups.  I also converted the grams to cups and tablespoons, using Gourmet Sleuth’s ingredient convertor.

1 cup sliced strawberries
1/3 cup sugar (I used brown sugar for a slightly carmel-y flavor)
2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup cream
1/4 of a vanilla bean

When heating the cornstarch, water, and vanilla bean, it is important to stir and watch closely.  I had to throw out my first batch when the cornstarch formed a gummy sheet on top the  water. 

Cornstarch, Water, and Vanilla

I lightly blended the strawberries using an immersion blender and then squeezed them through cheesecloth.  I think straining the strawberries was supposed to remove the seeds, but the holes in the cheesecloth were too big.  A wet tea towel or cloth napkin would probably have worked better.  Also, I don’t think pre-blending was necessary.

Squeezing the strawberries

The recipe does not indicate when to add the sugar, so I decided to add it with the strawberries, milk, and cream.

Bring to a boil

Usually, when making puddings or stews, the mixture needs to boil for at least a minute to fully activate the cornstarch, so I let the atole boil for 1 minute before serving.

Drink up!