Strawberry Champagne Trifles with Champagne Caviar

Christmas week. New Year's coming. 2017 was the year Rosa died, the year Caleb was arrested and started treatment, the year I turned thirty, the year Danny said I am a man who feeds people. It was a heavy year and also a year of things going right in the middle of the things going wrong, which is what every year is if you are paying attention.

Caleb is at eighteen weeks in treatment. He called Christmas Day to say merry Christmas, and he was at Terry's for dinner, and he was present in the way that matters: his eyes were clear, he was in the conversation, he ate everything Terry put in front of him. Eighteen weeks is not the same as solved. Eighteen weeks is eighteen weeks. But at Christmas, with Danny in his chair and Caleb at the table eating, eighteen weeks is enough to be grateful for.

I made black-eyed peas for New Year's Day, same as last year. The tradition holds. Dried peas, smoked ham hock, salt and pepper and cayenne. Cornbread. The same things Terry made when I was a child, the things her mother probably made, the Oklahoma tradition that runs through every house in this state regardless of everything else. On New Year's Day you eat black-eyed peas because luck is something you cook into the year at its beginning, and even if you do not believe in luck, you do not skip the peas. That is the rule.

Luna said a full sentence this week. "More beans please." She is twenty-one months old and she said "more beans please" while pointing at the black-eyed peas on New Year's Day and she said it with the clarity and authority she brings to all her words. Hannah made me write it down. I wrote it down. More beans please. That is my daughter, at twenty-one months, saying the first complete sentence she has put together for me. She could have asked for anything. She asked for more beans. She is going to be okay. We are all going to be okay. That is the New Year's feeling I am taking into 2018.

The black-eyed peas are the anchor of New Year’s Day in our house — that is not changing, and Luna has already made her position on the beans very clear. But after a year like 2017, after Caleb’s voice on Christmas morning and Danny in his chair and eighteen weeks that mean everything, I wanted something to mark the turning of the year that felt as bright and full of promise as I actually feel going into 2018. Something with bubbles in it. Something that looks the way hope feels. These Strawberry Champagne Trifles are that thing — layered and light and a little extravagant in exactly the way this New Year’s deserves.

Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 5 min | Total Time: 30 min (plus 1 hr chilling) | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 lb fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced, divided
3 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
1 cup brut champagne or dry sparkling wine, divided
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 store-bought pound cake (about 10 oz), cut into 3/4-inch cubes
8 oz mascarpone cheese, softened
2 tablespoons honey
For the champagne caviar:
1/2 cup brut champagne
1/2 teaspoon agar-agar powder
1/2 cup cold vegetable oil (chilled in freezer 30 min before use)

Instructions

Macerate the strawberries. Combine sliced strawberries with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1/4 cup champagne in a bowl. Stir gently and let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes until juices release.
Make the champagne caviar. Combine 1/2 cup champagne and agar-agar powder in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk constantly until agar dissolves and mixture just begins to simmer, about 3–4 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes until still liquid but not hot. Using a dropper or small syringe, drop the champagne mixture slowly into the chilled oil one drop at a time. The droplets will solidify into small pearls. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, rinse gently with cold water, and refrigerate until ready to use.
Whip the cream. In a chilled bowl, beat heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer on medium-high until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
Prepare the mascarpone layer. Stir together mascarpone, honey, and 2 tablespoons champagne until smooth and creamy.
Soak the cake. Drizzle remaining champagne over pound cake cubes and toss lightly so the cake absorbs the liquid.
Assemble the trifles. In six individual glasses or one large trifle dish, layer in this order: pound cake cubes, a spoonful of macerated strawberries with their juices, a dollop of mascarpone mixture, and a layer of whipped cream. Repeat layers until glasses are full, finishing with whipped cream on top.
Garnish and chill. Top each trifle with a few fresh strawberry slices and a spoonful of champagne caviar pearls. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving to allow layers to set.

Nutrition (per serving)

Strawberry Champagne Trifles with Champagne Caviar — Because a New Year Worth Hoping For Deserves Something to Toast