pears poached in grapefruit wine with cranberries
December 29, 2009
I made these a few weeks ago, and they were delicious! And way too easy. I have a shelf of canned pears in my pantry. They are preserved in a 30 percent simple syrup. I also have a somewhat dwindling (but still plentiful) supply of grapefruit wine. I simply opened the jar of pears, plopped them into the pan, added a cup or so of grapefruit wine, and put the pot on the woodstove to simmer over lunch.
If you don’t have home canned pears and grapefruit wine, I would recommend peeling and poaching fresh pears in water with a little sugar to taste. You can add a cup or so of regular white (or red) wine, and some additional citrus peel here as well.
Meanwhile, I prepared a sauce of cranberries. Place a handful or so of cranberries in a medium sized pot on the stove (medium heat). Add a few strands of orange zest and a sprinkling of sugar. Not too much that it makes the cranberries sweet, but not so little that they are unbearably sour. If you have just rinsed the cranberries, the water left should be sufficient, but if you are starting with dry cranberries, add a sprinkling of water. Cook over medium heat, stirring until most of the berries have popped, and the sugar has caramelized a little. Set aside.
Ladle the warm pears and a generous amount of the liquid into a little bowl. Spoon the cranberry mixture over the top and serve right away. I would definitely serve with fresh cream. The bitterness of the grapefruit wine complements the sweetness of the canned pear syrup, which is almost a juice, and the cranberries give the whole thing an extra zing!
(They look really pretty, but I didn’t get around to taking a picture of the final product…)
brandied cranberries
December 9, 2009
Last Monday my dad and I went down to the Dutchman’s store in Cantril. We found a nice collection of items including a new pair of lined pigskin gloves for firewood duty, some potting soil, hotpads, peanut butter filled pretzels, and cranberries! Fresh Wisconsin cranberries to be exact. Two large bags of them…
I can’t resist a good looking batch of fruit, and so I grabbed them up and brought them home, thinking the whole while about everything that I could make.
Brandy, cranberries, cinnamon, sugar, and orange zest. That is it! The recipe is from Joy of Jams, Jellies, and Other Sweet Preserves, by Linda Ziedrich. I made one batch and liked it so much that I made a second! The recipe is simple, and the preserves can be processed for storage, or eaten right away! I put mine in little jars to give away, or open and eat all by myself. (Sometimes pint or 1/2 pint jars are too big for me to finish soon enough, so the smaller servings come in handy. And they are cute.)
I used one of my favorite tools on this project; a citrus zester. There are sharpened little circles across the top, and you drag the zester down the side of the orange (or lemon, lime, etc) and it peels nice even strips off. The hole on the side is for larger pieces of zest. I am not much of a gadget person, but this particular tool is awesome!
Cranberries, sugar, and zest, ready to be baked in a slow oven. The sugar almost caramelizes a little, and the flavors mellow and come together. I would guess that most of the alcohol cooks out of the brandy, but the taste is definitely still there!
The finished preserve is a rich dark red, with a hint of cinnamon and a refreshing tang.
finishing and starting
November 17, 2009
Today was a finishing old drinks and starting new drinks day. There is definitely something about drinks tasting really good after sitting for a while… for different reasons of course! I put up some raspberries in vinegar a month or so ago (when there were lots of them to pick). They sat in my pantry, imparting all their flavor into the apple cider vinegar and red wine vinegar that they were soaking in. Today I strained them and made the syrup for a “shrub.”
A shrub is an old fashioned vinegar fruit drink. I have found lots of different recipes and variations, and the recipe that I used was from The Joy of Jams, Jellies, and other Sweet Preserves (as per usual). I strained the raspberries from the vinegar by passing it through a damp cheesecloth, and then I boiled the resulting raspberry vinegar with some sugar. (I am a little concerned that my house will smell strongly of vinegar and raspberries for a while after the boiling process.)
I tried a teaspoon full of the syrup straight, and it nearly made me choke it was so strong. I added the syrup to water, and it turned into delicious, uniquely flavored, zingy drink. It is almost a better drink for warm weather, so I think that I will try to bottle some of they syrup up and save it for the summer…
On the other end of things, I started a batch Vin de Pamplemousse (I like to think of it as pamplemousse juice as it rhymes nicely), a recipe from Saving the Season, my favorite blog on canning. The recipe, which takes about 40 days to mature, has been conveniently posted about 40 days before the New Year..
The recipe calls for a whole bunch of grapefruit, sliced and placed in large jars with some vodka, sugar, lemon, chamomile, vanilla, and a whole bunch of white wine. I made a single batch, which filled two 4 liter jars, and one 2 liter jar. The process was really fun, slicing and gently crushing the fruit, and releasing the fragrance of the vanilla, citrus, and chamomile. I am really excited for this (warming) drink to be ready!
I was out of town for a week, and when I returned, I imagined that everything in the garden would be brown. Fortunately things disappear in stages. The arugula, kale, thyme, and parsley seem to be holding out for as long as they can.
My two favorite November fruits, pomegranates and persimmons, were ripe when I was visiting California, and I made sure to bring as many back as I could. (We picked some and purchased some from farmers, and from the farmer’s market!)
Pomegranates must be my favorite fruit. There is something SO satisfying about carefully peeling each seed away from the bitter white surrounding it, making sure that each seed remains whole, and then collecting the seeds in a glass, or perhaps eating them one by one.
There is a trick however, if you ever find yourself without the time to spend on carefully peeling each seed. Simply fill a deep bowl up with cool or room temp water. Score the outside of the fruit all the way around in several sections with a knife and submerge the fruit in the water.
When the pomegranate is submerged, carefully break the pomegranate sections apart, keeping the fruit under water so that the seeds wont burst and spray you with the bright red juice. When all the seeds are removed from the white, the seeds will sink, and the white will float to the surface to be gathered and discarded. Then remove or strain the seeds, and gently dry with a kitchen towel. The entire process is done under water, and this helps to reduce or eliminate staining, and keeps the seeds separated from the inedible white part!
For lunch today, I wanted to mix fresh Iowa greens with fresh California pomegranate. I picked some of the lingering spicy arugula, and topped it with sweet ripe pomegranate seeds. For salad dressing I spooned on top some raspberries that I preserved in apple cider vinegar about a month ago. Then I drizzled the whole thing with a little bit of olive oil. And a sprinkling of salt and freshly ground pepper. Yum! This salad is also really good with the addition of fresh crispy pear slices.
canned pears
October 22, 2009
There are certain things from my childhood that evoke specific experiences. Canned pears are one of those things. When I was six my family drove out to the desert in southeast Oregon. We drove across country in a converted school bus, and very carefully planned and packed our bus with supplies, including many cans of pears. I remember the smell, texture, and taste of the pears, floating in syrup. I remember eating pears in syrup at dusk, while watching for wild horses in the distance.
When my friend Clint (with the pear tree) gave me another bag full of pears I decided to try canning them in halves, as I remembered. The process of making canned (technically “jarred”) pears is simple. I got the basic directions from the recently revised Joy of Cooking.
I peeled the pears and put them in an anti browning solution of lemon juice and water.
Meanwhile I made a sugar syrup using approximately 1/2 cup sugar for every quart of water. Joy of Cooking gives guidelines for how much/little sugar should be used, an I went somewhere in the middle, on the less sweet side.
Then after cooking pears, I carefully placed each slice into warm jars and processed according to directions. When I tried fitting the pear halves into the regular pint jars that I had I realized that they wouldn’t really fit. I decided to get some wide mouth jars as well, so now I have some jars with pear quarters and some jars with pear halves.
And thats it! Very simple, and the result I tried for breakfast this morning. The pears were rather firm to start with, so they maintained a nice texture even after cooking and processing in the boiling water bath. I am looking forward to lots of cozy pear treats this fall and winter!
apple picking and processing
October 12, 2009
Heli and I went to an apple orchard yesterday, and picked a lot of apples! Somehow I always end up with more than expected. When we got home we excitedly discussed our options. We both had already made apple butter, but didn’t have any apple sauce, so decided on that. And to spice things up a little we also made some caramel apple jam, with several variations.
When we went to the local plant and garden store this morning (Downtown Home and Garden, which is awesome!), we decided to try some new jars. Usually we use Mason or Bormioli jars, but we fell in love with Weck jars. They have a different sealing system, and glass lids! They are a bit more expensive, but I keep telling myself that I will reuse them for the next 40 years or so, so this is a one-time investment…I will probably always buy new cute jars with this rationale!
When we arrived home, with 5 trays of empty jars, to attack our two mountains of apples we were excited! And now, after canning ALL day, we are rather tired, but all the jars along the windowsills create a nice homey feeling.
Our first project was caramel apple jam with brandy and vanilla. We had to stop at the liquor store to purchase some brandy, and the grocery store for some cinnamon. The apple jam uses apple sauce, which we made with quartered and cored apples (we kept the peels to add flavor and color). We added a little water to the bottom of the pan so the apples wouldn’t stick, and boiled them until soft, and then put them through a food mill.
The fun part of this recipe was making the caramel! You don’t stir the mixture of water and sugar as it cooks, and this creates a crunchy, sticky gooey sugar mess that smells wonderful. When we added the apples, everything sizzled and puffed up, and then turned into little pieces of hard sugar mess.
After stirring the apples and sugar for a while we put the mixture into our new jars and sent them off to a hot water bath. Heli’s stove is about the size of a matchbox, so the logistics were a little tricky. We had to juggle all the pots of boiling liquid from burner to burner, but somehow we made it without any massive burns!
The new jars filled with caramel apple jam! Some with brandy and vanilla, some with vanilla, some with only sugar. And some a mixture of everything all together!
pears with heli
October 10, 2009
A few weeks ago Emily, Clint and I went to Clint’s pear tree (planted back in 1987 or so) south of town and harvested a bucket of then “slightly” unripe pears. We made some yummy pies, and the rest of the pears sat in my kitchen in the bucket, with me nibbling occasionally.
When I was talking with Heli about visiting her, I asked if she wanted me to bring the pears up for us to can. She did, so I tossed the whole collection in the back seat of the car (along with the chestnuts, and a whole bunch of last minute herbs from the garden). Today we collected the supplies for pear preserves with ginger and lemon, from The Joy of Jams, Jellies, and other Sweet Preserves, by Linda Zeidrich.
The recipe includes a generous amount of lemon zest and minced ginger, and sits out on the counter for quite a few hours. The kitchen smells lovely! A delicate mixture of pears, ginger and lemon.
I can’t remember where I learned this, but it is a nifty trick for peeling ginger. When you are peeling fresh ginger, use the back side of a butter knife (I think that there might be a tool for this as well) to scrape the peel off. This is the easiest way to peel ginger without taking off too much of the root.
For mincing the ginger, Heli, trained in the Deli, had a little tip. Chop the ginger (or anything that you might be chopping) with your hand over the middle part of the knife finger tips up. This protects them as you chop quickly (as she is demonstrating!)
As we peeled the pears we layered them with the sugar, ginger, and lemon (as per recipe). We had fun here, with the pot in the kitchen between us, chopping and layering. Heli had a clear plan that we needed to layer 4 sliced pears and then add the sugar, etc. I accidently started adding the spices early and was clearly instructed that we hadn’t added enough pears yet…love to be back with the sister!!!
Later…
After sitting overnight, the sugar dissolved, and the pears were ready to slowly cook for several hours. We were in the kitchen, stirring the pears every so often, while we made Monte Bianco. As the pears cooked, they turned a beautiful burnt orange color. I am a little concerned though as we ended up with a lot of liquid, and not too many pears floating in it… I think that if I were to do it again I would maybe change the sugar to fruit ratio, which seemed high on the sugar side. The recipe did suggest using the pears over ice cream, which I think would be good! Or maybe with fresh cream!!
Finished pears, cooling on the window sill. Soon to be whisked off to a cool, dark cupboard for better storage.
raspberries in vinegar, raspberries in brandy
September 30, 2009
It seems to be the end of the raspberry season. I went to pick last night, and the berries were smaller, fewer, and farther between. And they definitely had a different taste. A little old maybe. Trying to make the most of the last bits of warmth and sunlight.
The yellow jackets were out too, practically burying themselves in the riper berries.
This is the raspberry patch. All the berries are planted in raised beds, with grass planted between them. This makes for slightly easier weeding and care. and easy picking too! You don’t have to bend down as much to pick the berries.
It is the end of the season, and I am getting a little tired from all the cooking, stirring, etc. So with this batch of berries I decided on something a little easier. Raspberries in red wine vinegar, raspberries in apple cider vinegar, and raspberries in brandy.
The berries are put in sterilized jars and mixed with the vinegar or brandy.
The brandy berries have to wait at least 40 days. Vinegar berries wait at least a month.
Recipes for raspberries in brandy (and a million other interesting ways of preserving foods) are from Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning: Traditional Techniques Using Salt, Oil, Sugar, Alcohol, Vinegar, Drying, Cold Storage, and Lactic Fermentation. A very interesting book compiling many traditional recipes from the French countryside. With a forward by Deborah Madison.
For recipes for raspberries in vinegar look in The Joy of Jams, Jellies, and other Sweet Preserves, by Linda Ziedrich. Another wonderful source for recipes, and lots of interesting information!
quince part three
September 28, 2009
I processed another batch of quince this weekend. I think this was my favorite so far. I think that this is for two reasons. Firstly, the quinces have been ripening in my kitchen. Every time I walk into my house there is a delicate, sweet smell of quince. As they ripen, the color of the fruits turns a deep yellow, and the fur on the skin becomes easier to remove. Secondly, I made quince paste (from one of my favorite preserving books, “The Joy of Jams, Jellies, and other Sweet Preserves” by Linda Ziedrich). Quince paste is like the essence of quince. The tang, the sweetness, and the gritty and firm texture (at least in mine) are what remind me of quince.
The general idea behind quince paste is that the quince fruit is cooked, pureed, added to sugar, and cooked some more. The result is a fruit gel of sorts that I am thoroughly addicted to. All the pectin in quince (particularly in the peels, seeds, and cores) helps to gel the fruit, creating almost a cake. I am trying not to eat it every time I get near the kitchen…which is pretty much all the time that I am in my house.
Witherspoon Quince Family Trivia
After talking with my dad, I learned that my great grandmother had a huge quince tree, and that my dad and a friend used to own 20% of the quince fruit tree crop in California! This turns out to have been 12 trees, and because there was so little demand for the fruits, they ended up giving them away!
one berry pies
September 24, 2009
I have been wanting to do this for a long time. Kathy brought me some berries from the market, and I promptly ate most of them, and had to re pick some berries from the back garden. Not sure that I need to say more. Except that my mom came over half way through the baking process and the results were more perfect pies and a teddy bear picnic on my counter.
