Grandma’s Classics: Black Current & Black Cherry Jam

19. July 2013
by troutandhawk
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Jams + Preserves
 

When Grandma cooks jam, she will make her choice of fruit dependent on what special fruits are in season, the lushest offers at the farmer’s market, and on cases of uncontrollable fruit abundance in the neighbours’ gardens. She quickly cooks 2 or 3 jars between her usual cooking, gardening and housework.  The black fruit jam however is one of her true classics.
The fruit/ sugar ratio is always the same: fruit to sugar, 2:1.  The rest is stirring. First hot, while simmering, then cold to enjoy the reliable process of thickening.

Today she combined
250g black currants
250g black and sweet cherries, pitted
250g sugar.

Click here for a more detailed description of the cooking process.

Sauce Bois Boudran

17. July 2013
by troutandhawk
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Dinner / Lunch

I really don’t know why it took me so long to share this amazing recipe with you. It’s a sauce of Michel Roux, who in the seventies had opened several famous restaurants in London like Le Gavroche and the Waterside Inn. He created this sauce specifically for Mme Cécile de Rothschild.

Sauce Bois Boudran 1) goes with nearly everything (fish, meat, potatoes, vegetables, bread…) and 2) tolerates a few adaptions to your resources and preferences without losing its unique flavour.

Here’s the original recipe:

150ml peanut oil
50ml white wine vinegar
85g tomato ketchup
1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce (vegan version without this ingredient)
a dash of Tabasco sauce
100g shallots, finely chopped
2 teaspoons chervil, finely chopped
2 teaspoons chives, finely chopped
20g tarragon
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Mix everything in a bowl. It lasts up to 3 days in the fridge.

Instead of chervil and tarragon we prefer to use whatever herbs are in season in our garden. We also add green or red bell pepper for more substance.

Rose Jam

15. July 2013
by troutandhawk
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Jams + Preserves

Inspiration and recipe by CHLOE’ SS 2013 and Marmellata di rose. The fact that the pictures of the Chloe dress and the marmellata di rose were so beautiful, the recipe so simple and my own roses in full bloom made me wish to loose not a second to try it (picturing the beautiful images my camera would take in front of my inner eye). First thing in the morning I went out to pick a bowl full of the petals of my mozart rose.

Then I mixed 200g rose petals with the juice of half a lemon and 200g sugar for a minute with my hands.
In the meantime I heated the water with the other 300g sugar and poured in the mixture of roses. After I brought it  to a boil, I reduced the heat and let the mixture simmer for another 40 minutes.

Then I took the jam from the heat and stirred it gently with a wooden spoon for 10 minutes as I had learned from my grandma. So you can always be sure that the jam thickens without using gelatine or additional pectine.

I recommend to try it with ciabatta and fresh goat cheese, as suggested in the original recipe.

Louisa’s favourite (so far): Roasted Banana Ice Cream

29. June 2013
by troutandhawk
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Sweets

I came back from hot Florence filled with  inspirations for cold delights such as extravagantly flavoured ice creams, sorbets and granitas. Black Sesame and Ginger Ice Cream are still on my to-try list. For a start I experimented with roasted bananas (ice cream) and cantaloupe (granita). My daughter Louisa, who has just arrived from England, instantly fell for the roasted banana ice cream because of its melting smoothness and the rich and sweet banana flavour. David Lebovitz has been absolutely right saying that roasting bananas in butter and brown sugar gives them a deep, rich butterscotch flavour, which enhances their abundant natural sweetness. 

Roasted Banana Ice Cream
(by David Lebovitz)
 
3 medium sized ripe bananas, peeled
70g (1/3 cup) Muscobado sugar
1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces
375ml (1 1/2 cups) whole milk
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 pinch of coarse salt
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Slice the bananas and toss them with the brown sugar and the butter in a baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring just once until the bananas are browned and cooked through.
Scrape the bananas and the thick syrup into a blender or food processor. Add the milk, granulated sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and salt, and purée until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the fridge, then freeze it in your ice cream maker.

Enjoy!!