Summertime and “Strawberries Jane” at Canal Side Inn -Recipe

The Canal Side Inn of Little Falls has recently been purchased and is being reinvented for the next 30 years of incredible food. The staff there is doing an amazing job with a new style of French - American cuisine with a new chef during the COVID-19 shutdown and the food is top notch and well worth the drive if you don’t live in Little Falls. But, as one of the many people who frequented the Canal Side when owner James Aufmuth was the head chef, there are certain dishes that will remain in your memory banks. One of those dishes, a dessert, is Strawberries Jane.  

“I don’t know why you like it so much, it’s such a simple recipe,” James would always say. This past weekend, my wife and I were reminiscing and we both were craving the “carb filled” dessert that we ordered every time we were there. That’s when I said, James always claimed it was a simple dish, let’s make it. On Saturday night, we did make it and I have to say - while it wasn’t as simple as James (a professionally trained French Chef) said it would be, I really think we were able to pull it off. In fact, my wife’s comment when she dug in was, “This is it!”

So here goes: the classic Strawberries Jane dessert from James’s Canal Side Inn of Little Falls.

Here’s what you’ll need to make the recipe:  Time (not Thyme) will be needed to make the meringue, sugar, confectionery sugar, 3 eggs, Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream, a container of strawberries, heavy cream, water and vanilla extract. That sounds pretty simple, right? Yes, but there’s one step that is a little complicated and that’s making the meringue wafers. 

Strawberries Jane is constructed this way: add a meringue wafer to a plate and cover it with your homemade strawberry sauce. The sauce should include strawberry chunks. Then add a large scoop of Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream followed by more strawberry sauce, some fresh strawberries and a dollop of homemade whipped cream. And there you have the very delicious Strawberries Jane dessert from Canal Side.  

The hardest part of the entire dish is making the meringue wafers, which actually takes between 2 and 3 hours and that’s the trickiest part of the recipe. Everything else is simple.  Below, you’ll find the recipe on how to make everything by scratch. Keep in mind, you could easily buy all of the elements of this dish in your local grocery store and make this dessert in just a few minutes. But, there’s something special about taking the time to make it from scratch.  

Keep in mind, this is not the original recipe from Canal Side. It’s my best estimate of how James did it. I’m sure it’s not exact; but my wife says, it’s very close. Enjoy.

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1, CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW TO MAKE THE Meringue . (This part takes 2 - 3 hours.

2. The strawberry sauce is pretty easy. 2 cups granulated sugar, and 2 cups water in a pot. Bring to a boil. Add 12 large strawberries quartered and continue to boil and then simmer and reduce by half.  Allow to cool. (Or try this Homemade Strawberry Sauce (Topping).

Construct Strawberries Jane:

Place a meringue wafer at the bottom of a plate

Add a scoop of strawberry sauce over top.

Place a large scoop of Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream over top. Add more strawberry sauce over top.

Top with a dollop of whipped cream, a fresh strawberry and a mint leaf.

Enjoy.