1949 Strawberry Tapioca Flamingo

Originally printed in the New York Times in 1949 and an updated version of the recipe published in NY Times 24 June, 2007: 'Today, a looser concoction of tapioca is preferred, so if you want the dessert lighter, add 1/4 cup more juice to the tapioca cooking liquid and 1/4 cup more cream to the topping. If you like a neater presentation, the strawberries may be cut into small pieces rather than crushed.' Read the full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/magazine/24food-txt.html?_r=1 I made the recipe "as is" with pineapple juice although I did reduce the sugar by half. Easy!

• Ready In: 40 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1  lb strawberry, hulled
• 1⁄2 cup sugar (originally 1 cup)
•  about 2 cups  unsweetened pineapple juice or  water
• 1⁄3 cup quick-cooking tapioca
•  scant 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1⁄2 cup heavy cream, whipped (Ooops, I forgot to whip the cream! Turned out okay!)

• Garnish (optional)

•  lemon zest
•  lime zest
•  mint leaf
•  lemon verbena, leaf
•  lemon balm, leaf

Directions

1. Lightly crush the strawberries. Add the sugar and let stand at least 30 minutes. Tip: I used a mini-food processor to semi-puree the strawberries.
2. Set a strainer over a bowl and drain the strawberries.
3. Now set the strawberries aside. Add enough pineapple juice or water to the strawberry juice to make 3 cups total.
4. In a saucepan, mix together the juice, tapioca and salt. Bring to a full boil, stirring constantly, then remove from the heat. (The mixture will be thin. Do not overcook.).
5. Fold the drained strawberries into the tapioca mixture. Cool, stirring occasionally. The mixture will thicken as it cools.
6. When the tapioca is cool, divide [*HALF*] of the mixture among 4 coupe glasses. Chill the glasses and the remaining tapioca mixture.
7. Fold the cream into the remaining tapioca mixture, then pile lightly into the glasses.
8. If desired, top each serving with garnish of choice as listed above.
9. Note: the dessert tastes best if well chilled.