everyday experiments with food
I made these the other day with some fruit leftover from Christmas.
2 punnets of redcurrant
2 punnet of blueberries
2 ripe nectarines
These were simmered with some sugar, 2 pieces of orange rind, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 star anise, a few cloves and a splash of brandy and Cointreau.
I strained off the syrup to make mulled wine, then pureed the fruit.
Then I sliced 3 more nectarines and simmered them in the fruit puree.
Really tasty and simple.
Our blood orange tree is bearing fruit for the second year. Last year we had one orange, but this year we have about 60, although they’re not too large. I love the look, smell and flavour of blood oranges, so we hope to have many years of discovering what we can make with them.
Giorgio Locatelli is my Italian food hero. This sorbet recipe is from his book “Made in Sicily“. Clean, simple and delicious. I’ve described his wonderful magnum opus “Made in Italy” here. Both books are excellent, not only for the recipes but for the local background and stories, and insight into both the produce and restaurant-quality cooking techniques.
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tbsp blood orange juice
Grated zest of 1 orange
1 cup dextrose (we used glucose syrup)
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp caster sugar
Stir 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp orange juice plus orange zest and dextrose/glucose until smooth. Heat in a pan over low heat, stirring, and bring to 40 degrees C. Whisk in sugar and bring to 85 degrees C.
Take off the heat and put into another container. Out it into the fridge to cool down for an hour or so, then whisk in the remaining orange juice.
Cool in the fridge for several hours or in the freezer for a shorter time.
Use an ice-cream maker to churn until the mixture thickens sufficiently.
We served it with fresh strawberries, halve and mixed with sugar. Next time I’ll try adding some brandy, Cointreau or Grand Marnier.
The colour is spectacular and it was a lovely taste combination.
(Locatelli mentions optional sorbet stabiliser, but I have no idea where you get this.)
Here’s a pear recipe that I invented. Serves 8 (halve the recipe for 4).
Simmer 1 bottle of red with 2 cups sugar until sugar dissolves.
Add 3 star anise, 2 cinnamon sticks, 6 pieces of orange peel, 1 split vanilla bean and 4 tbsp brandy for 10-15 minutes until the flavours combine.
Add 8 peeled halved beurre bosc pears. Cook on low heat for 30-40 minutes, turning the pears halfway through. Check with a skewer to see it they are cooked.
Optional: towards the end, add a few pieces of dark chocolate to the sauce.
Serve with marscapone cream.
Finally it’s fig season here, and I just LOVE fresh figs.
This dish is very simple. Brush figs with olive oil and place on foil under a hot grill. After a few minutes, remove figs, drizzle with honey and place back under grill for a few more minutes. Remove figs again, add a dollop of goats cheese, and grill a bit longer.
Transfer figs to a plate, drizzle with the honey that has collected on the foil. Drizzle place with some vino cotto (or reduced balsamic vinegar with added sugar). Quite amazing flavours.