It seems everywhere I turn this month I find fresh strawberries on sale, then I get them home and wonder what to do with them when I don’t want to make a pie or have them with cream.

With a couple pounds of them in the fridge on Easter, and a big dinner that required no dessert, it was a chance to use up some bits and bobs of chocolate for simple, but luscious, chocolate-dipped strawberries.

It couldn’t be easier. Melt chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler, let it cool for a minute or so, dip the bottom part of the berries and lay them on wax paper to set. If it’s warm it’s better to make only what you’ll eat; the chocolate, untempered, will become melt-in-your-hand soft at room temperture but quickly lose its sheen in the fridge.

If you have both white and dark or semi-sweet chocolate and a little more time, you can make strawberry tuxedos. Dip the entire berries in the white chocolate and let them dry. Then dip the sides in the other chocolate and use a parchment triangle or a small zipper bag with a corner snipped off to make the “buttons” and bow tie, if you wish, and let them set again.

If you want something more filling, a proper dessert, take a look at Strawberries Romanof at Kalyn’s Kitchen. It sounds somewhat elegant and it is, but it’s only three ingredients and Kalyn made it suitable for the South Beach Diet. I’m trying it tonight.

The California Strawberry Commission has a recipe for an intriguing way to use strawberries. It’s a sweet breakfast salsa to be used as a topper for pancakes or hot cereal, or just mixed into plain yogurt.

If you’d rather drink your strawberries, Janet at Gourmet Traveller has Bahamanama Smoothie, a sophisticated smoothie with a splash of rum and liquer. She usually makes it with fresh berries but offers the amount (metric) for frozen.

And if you still have an armload of berries, don’t forget you can freeze them. There are a few ways, with or without sugar, whole or pulp, and you’ll find all the directions at strawberry-recipes.com.

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