Raspberries: Two 6-ounce packages

[Pontormo]

I like to go grocery shopping with an open mind and pick up at least a few items not on my list....or noted in a generalized fashion simply as "fruit."

Fresh raspberries at this time of year are a real pleasure since, unlike strawberries, they do taste like something when it's not the time of year to grow them outside in the ground on the East Coast.

I usually use them to make a tart. There is heavy cream in the fridge along with four Meyer lemons. There's no ice cream. Half a large container of plain lowfat yogurt is sitting on the top shelf next to more whole milk than I will need for coffee during the week ahead.

However, I was hoping you might have different suggestions, even a variation on a sauce and a new kind of surface to coat. I still am carrying around the extra three pounds I gained by baking* Christmas cookies and a Tunisian blood orange cake with olive oil for Chanukah, so something light would be welcome.

*Yes, and licking spoons, scarfing down the leftover shelled nuts, testing one or two from each batch...

[Alex]

If you have or can get eggs, how about a light trifle? Make an angel food cake flavored with some grated lemon peel, then slice or cube and sprinkle with a light liqueur. If you have the time, drain the yogurt through a very fine sieve or paper filter to thicken then beat in a little honey and vanilla, or just use sweetened whipped cream. Layer the cake, cream or yogurt, and raspberries in a clear glass bowl, if you have one.

[Pontormo]

Good suggestion, Alex. My step-family is British (or the matriarch was until fairly recently), so trifle is quite familiar and makes a regular appearance on Boxing Day.

[nightscotsman]

Even simpler and nice way to highlight the freshness of the berries - how about a meyer lemon sabayon poured over and gratineed (torched) just before serving. Whenever I have really good fresh fruit I feel obligated to do things with it that I couldn't with frozen or otherwise preserved.

[CanadianBakin']

Pavlova all the way! So delicious with cream and raspberries.

[Pontormo]

Ummmm.... You read my mind. (I've never invested in a blow torch and probably won't now since the wiring on my toaster officially became dangerous this afternoon.) I really was thinking of doing something to accentuate the fresh berries. I even have some bittersweet chocolate left from making cookies, but I mentioned the lemons since I want something that tastes very fruity.