Berries With Pepper Sauce

Serves:

Ingredients:

1 Lemon
1 c Sugar
3/4 c Water
1 1/4 c Orange juice
1 tb Green peppercorns, coarsely
-crushed
1 lb Strawberries
Fresh mint leaves (opt)
Half-and-half (opt)

Method:

Finely grate peel from lemon and put into a saucepan.
Squeeze juice from lemon and reserve.
Add sugar and water to lemon peel and heat gently, stirring until sugar dissolves.
Bring to a boil and boil until syrup turns a light caramel color.
Remove from heat and hold pan handle with a cloth as mixture will splatter.
Stir in lemon and orange juices.
Heat gently, stirring to dissolve caramel.
Stir in peppercorns and boil 3-4 minutes or until slightly thickened and syrupy.
Allow to cool 2 minutes, then spoon hot syrup over strawberries.
Garnish with mint, if desired, and serve at once with half-and-half, if desired.