Try it with strawberry ice cream. No kidding!

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: strawberry-ice-cream-with-balsamic-vinegar

Drizzle a little over steamed asparagus, or green beans, on sliced tomatoes, freshs trawberries, in an apple salad ( cut up apples, a little celery nuts, no mayo), on sliced pears.....and just drizzled over fresh garden lettuce with a little olive oil too.
And....some people love 1/2 a teaspoon ful in the bottom of a glass of white wine....speaking of drinking it!
Linda C

Linda stole my idea! LOL! I was going to suggest a lovely spinach salad with fresh strawberries and a drizzle of any of the flavored Balsamics. There is also a recipe I have filed somewhere for a orange and fennel salad, I think the fig would be fab with it. I also have a recipe for a brie and pear strudel that would be WONDERFUL with a drizzle of one of the sweet balsamics. Or those palmiers form the Silver Palate cookbook with proscuitto and a drizzle of fig balsamic

Then there is always the following:

Balsamic Glazed Cipolline Onions
The sweet sharpness of both the orange juice and the balsamic vinegar combines with the natural sugars in the onions to create a delicious snack that's perfect to serve with cocktails, as an addition to an antipasto assortment, or as an accompaniment to roasted meats.
2 pounds fresh small cipolline onions or pearl onions
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
Blanch onions in large pot of boiling salted water 15 seconds. Using slotted spoon, transfer to large bowl of ice water to cool. Trim root end if necessary, leaving core intact. Peel onions.
Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add onions and sautuntil onions have deep golden brown spots, about 9 minutes. Add orange juice and vinegar; bring to boil, scraping up browned bits. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until onions are just tender when pierced with knife, about 8 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer onions to medium bowl. Boil juices in skillet until syrupy and reduced to 2/3 cup, about 3 minutes. Pour over onions. Serve warm or at room temperature. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Rewarm or bring to room temperature before serving.)
Market Tip
Cipolline onions are small, flat Italian onions. They can be found in the produce section of many supermarkets and Italian markets.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Bon Appétit
May 2005
*************************************************************
Balsamic Glazed Vegetables Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray

Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
User Rating:

1 1/2 to 2 pounds of your choice of the following, or any combination of: "baby" packaged fresh carrots, brussel sprouts, yellow squash (you can also use broccoli, cauliflower and zucchini)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chopped parsley leaves, for garnish

Place veggies in a pan with water and vinegar. Bring to a boil and cover. Reduce heat to medium and cook 10 minutes. Remove lid and raise heat back up. Allow the water to boil away and the vinegar to reduce and glaze the veggies, about 5 to 7 minutes. When the vegetables are glazed, to a sweet, rich brown color add butter to the pan. Turn veggies to coat lightly with butter. Season with salt, pepper and serve. Garnish with parsley.
For an optional glaze for the vegetables, substitute 1/4 melted butter and 1/4 cup honey for 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar. Follow method as listed.

Episode#: TM1B58
Copyright © 2003 Television Food Network, G.P., All Rights Reserved
***********************************************************

This dressing is out of this world. I copied it and the salad after tasting it in a restaurant.

SPINACH SALAD WITH ORANGE-BALSAMIC DRESSING

baby spinach & ruby-edged lettuce for 4 servings*

For 1 1/2 cups dressing, enough for 4 salad servings:

3/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
2 TBS balsamic vinegar
1 TBS red wine vinegar
3 TBS grated orange peel
2 teasp brown sugar
1 teasp ground cumin
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

garnish:

2 TBS sultana raisins
2 TBS pinenuts
3 strips of bacon, diced

1. Fry bacon bits until crisp. Drain on paper and put aside.
2. Put into a blender the orange juice and zest, the two vinegars, brown sugar and cumin and blend for a few moments.
3. Slowly add the olive oil while blending, then salt & pepper to taste
4. Put half the dressing into your salad bowl and add all the greens, mixing and turning with two large spoons until greens are well coated
5. Mix in the pine nuts, raisins and bacon bits
6. Pile onto serving plates and drizzle a little more dressing on top.

* Also good is spinach with red onion rings and mandarin orange slices.

SharonCb

Valerie, did you go to La Bella? I live in San Antonio and would be interested in knowing which one you went to.

Thanks!

Thank you all for your suggestions and recipes. They all sound so delicious and I can't wait to try them. As I read them, I think 'yes, that makes sense' for something as simple as the vinegar over steamed green beans. But when I get home, such an idea is no where in my brain to be found!! LOL!!!

And it's good to know I'm not alone thinking the balsamic would be good over ice cream!!! I think I'll try the raspberry with vanilla ice cream tonight!!! Thanks Jim!!

Brenda55...it was Bella Vista Ranch that we went to, a vineyard/olive grove. It was a smaller operation than I expected, but they were very friendly and accomodating. I guess their wine is okay...truthfully I passed it up for their vinegars and olive oil...which were also very tasty!!

Thank you all again!

Here is a link that might be useful: Bella Vista Ranch

Caliloo...I'd love to have your brie and pear strudel...it sounds divine. Of course, how can anything with brie be bad?? Thanks.

I just made pasta salad with some of the good Texas olive oil Brenda gave me when I was in Texas and some of the strawberry balsamic Sherry (sheshebop) bought for me in Saugatuck.

Some whole wheat pasta, fresh sliced strawberries, leftover roasted chicken and pecans, tossed with a dressing made with olive oil and strawberry balsamic. It was yummy and I'm not even a big fan of pasta!

Annie

You could make olive oil ice cream. It's amazingly good and a chocolate balsamic sauce is the recommended topping.

Olive oil ice cream

Fry a beef steak in a very hot frying pan. Leave the heat way up and just before it starts to burn douse the pan with some vinegar. Put the steak aside and eat the sauce directly from the pan by sopping it up with some chewy white bread. Learned that trick by accident and is it ever good. Working on replicating my accident I've found the pan has to be hot so the vinegar reduces down a bit from the heat. The beef juices need to carmelize so they are sweet.

: )
lyra