Pickled Cherries = Manhattan Time

Though the lack of space in our fridge might tell a different story (it's hard to find what you're looking for sometimes amid all those jars), quick pickles or refrigerator pickles are just so easy! And there's no reason to stick to veggies. Lots of fruits make excellent pickles, and their true sweet-and-sour flavor profile is just the thing for cocktails. If you love a Manhattan like I do, try this version out immediately. It is a long weekend after all...

Pickled Cherries
This recipe allows for extra pickling brine to use in cocktails and still ensure proper coverage for the remaining cherries, so you could easily increase the amount of cherries to 1½-2 pounds if you're planning to have a party or just want more on hand.

1 pound ripe but firm Bing cherries
1½ cups red wine vinegar
½ cup water
1½ cups sugar
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 large strips of orange peel, removed with a vegetable peeler
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 bay leaf

After washing your cherries, prick each one a few times with a fork and place in a large bowl.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large non-reactive pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

Place cherries in a quart-sized jar, spoon in the orange peel, cinnamon sticks and spices, and then cover completely with the pickling liquid.

Store in the fridge for 1 month, but wait at least 24 hours before eating so there's time for the flavors to infuse.

Sweet & Sour Manhattans
This cocktail is best made one at a time.

2 ounces good quality bourbon
½ ounce sweet vermouth
2 dashes of Angostura bitters
½ ounce of pickled cherry brine
1 pickled cherry

Pour the liquid ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a pickled cherry. Lean back and enjoy.

These cocktail cherries also make an excellent cocktail garnish.

Canning Whole Fruit - Cook It! July Resolution: Plums in Syrup with Rosemary

Plums are one of those fruits you can almost always bank on getting free. Folks who have plum trees are continually looking for friends to take the abundance off their hands. I usually get a good haul in from a couple trees at my parents' place, but was away during plum harvest season this summer so was happy when the plums I'd been ogling in the yard in Eugene were ready by the time we left town.

So whole plums in syrup seemed the obvious choice for the July Cook It! project.

Plums in Syrup with Rosemary
Yields one quart-sized jar

1½ - 2 lbs whole plums, depending on size of fruit
2 cups of water
1 cup of sugar
1 piece of fresh rosemary, washed

While you heat up your water bath canner, place water and sugar into a non-reactive pot and stir to dissolve sugar. Bring to a boil and cook while stirring for one minute.

Wash the plums and prick each one 3-4 times with a skewer or toothpick. Place the plums in your hot jar, packing them as tightly as possible. They will shrink once you add the hot liquid and process them, so squeeze as many in as you can.

Place the sprig of fresh rosemary down one side of the jar, and pour the hot simple syrup over the plums, leaving ½" headspace.

Wipe the rim with a clean, damp dish towel, placing the lid on top and screwing down the band to fingertip tightness.

Process for 25 minutes and let cool on a wire rack. Over time the rosemary will infuse the syrup and plums with more flavor, so keep this jar on the shelf for at least a month or two before opening. 

Use the flavorful plums to top ice cream or cake-like desserts. The extra syrup provides the perfect hint of fruity and herbal flavor for cocktails.

Note: If you are using thin-skinned plums, they may burst inside the jar when you process them. While this isn't the most attractive outcome, there's always a silver lining: when you open the jar, you can quickly cook them down in the syrup to make plum rosemary compote! (Just don't forget to remove the pits.)

Swapper Profile: Lea Rude + Candied Citrus Peel and Citrus and Stone Fruit Jam Recipes

It has been way too long since we've had a swapper profile, so it is with considerable fanfare {cue drums and crowd cheers} that I introduce Lea Rude. When Lea walked into the swap a few months ago, we immediately recognized each other. After some to-and-fro we narrowed it down to UC Santa Cruz days, but not the specifics. We gave up on trying to place our common past, because really it doesn't matter at all, and just feels nice that we've reconnected now through food swapping. I especially appreciated her clever name and packaging play on the famed Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce with her assorted lemon, orange and aromatic bitters at the April swap. And though I missed out on those sadly (consider this my unapologetically overt plea for her to make more), I scored some of her Vin d'Orange that was an especially big hit one late night with a gang of my girlfriends. And, she's included not one, but two recipes for your lip-smacking enjoyment. Bonus!

Lea shows off a watermelon from her CSA

Name: Lea Rude

Home / Hometown Swap: El Cerrito, San Francisco

           

Profession: Librarian

How did you first get involved in food swapping? How long ago?

I first heard about SF Swappers from my friend, Christina Moretta, and it sounded like it was right up my alley. We had been doing a bit of casual home-made food trading over the past couple of years and the swap sounded like a fun way to take it further. I have been to the last two swaps.

What did you make for the last food swap and what inspired your choice?

I made Candied Citrus Peel and Pickled Red Onions. I had been curious about making candied citrus peel since earlier this year when a friend served some home-made candied Meyer lemon peel at a party (along with home-made limoncello!)  I have a steady supply of Meyer lemons from our backyard tree and I had some ruby red grapefruits and oranges on hand, so it seemed like the time to do it. The red onions came in my CSA. I’m not a big fan of raw onion so I decided to pickle them.

Pickled Red Onions for the swap

What’s your favorite thing about swapping?

I really like the swap itself. The social aspect is awesome and totally unique. I love talking to new people and getting inspired by what everyone makes. It is a great way to get ideas for new ways to cook. I love the potluck aspect and all of the tasting, too. I go home stuffed and pumped up!

Who or what most influences your cooking?

My mom is definitely the biggest influence and inspiration for me in the kitchen. She is an amazing cook – she can make a tasty and satisfying meal from whatever happens to be in the pantry, but she can also go home after a meal in a great restaurant and recreate her favorite dish. Whenever I make something new or just really good I get on the phone and tell my Mom all about it, and she does the same with me - she is always turning me on to new ingredients and new approaches to cooking.

What’s your favorite kitchen tool?

I am currently working out how I can make space for a permanent spot on the counter-top for my blender. I have been using it a lot more since I started making salsas and it keeps getting pulled out lately to make aguas frescas and smoothies.

Booty from Lea's CSA box

Your current flavor or ingredient obsession?

The ingredients of my CSA box. We started getting a box from Terra Firma Farms in January and it has had a huge influence on my cooking. My approach to cooking in general has always been to use what is on hand but this has taken it to another level. Every week I have to figure out what to do with the bounty of produce that comes in, sometimes including things I have never cooked before. It is so much fun!

Garlic Scapes

Biggest food surprise?

A recent surprise was garlic scapes. I just caught word of them a couple months ago on some canning blogs, but I had never seen them before. I took a trip to Vermont last month and saw them everywhere! Farmers markets, farmers stands, and in my friends’ CSA. At the CSA farm they had giant tubs of extra garlic scapes, so we made grilled scapes and garlic scape pesto. They taste great but I think the most surprising and delightful thing is their looks. They are so silly!

If the Rapture came tomorrow, what would your last meal on earth be?

I am on a mostly gluten-free diet, so if an asteroid were going to collide with the earth tomorrow I would spend the day eating things on bread. Good butter, triple-cream brie, homemade pesto, and all the homemade preserves in the house on sweet baguette. Plus steamed artichokes and Dungeness crab with butter and garlic.

When I'm not in the kitchen… I'm sewing, reading or walking the dog.

Favorite local food experience:

Backyard BBQs with friends year round, fancy dinner at Camino in Oakland, casual lunch at Tacubaya in Berkeley.

Recipes by Lea:

Candied Citrus Peel

Candied Citrus Peel

When I decide to make the candied citrus I trolled around online and read some recipes in cookbooks. I did what worked with my schedule and used the techniques that sounded right.

Remove the peel in large strips from 2 grapefruits, 3 oranges and 6-7 lemons, about 5 lbs. of fruit. Large strips are best. Little pieces fall apart and get lost in the syrup.

Scrape or slice off any pith that is left on the peel, but keep the white part. That gives it heft and the bitterness and toughness is simmered out in the next step.

Cover the peels in cold water and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain, and repeat once, then repeat again but simmer for 15-30 minutes, depending on how much time you have. Drain peels.

Combine 5 cups of sugar and 5 cups of water, bring to a boil simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, then add the peel and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to touch.

Remove the peels from the syrup and place on wire racks placed over cookie sheets or platters. Try to keep the strips from touching each other. Let dry for 24 hours (a cold oven is a good place to keep them out-of-the way and dust-free).

Put ½ cup sugar or superfine sugar in a bowl (I actually pulsed regular sugar in a food processor to make it finer). Roll the peels in the sugar to coat, then let dry for another hour. These should keep for a couple of months at room temp in airtight containers.

Candied Citrus Peel packages for the June swap

Citrus and Stone Fruit Jam

I had about 3 cups of syrup left over from making the peels and I figured it would be a good base for a small batch of jam. I had cherries, apricots and a peach from the CSA, so I made this jam. It is my favorite jam ever! You can use any combo of fruit, but definitely include the lemon – it makes a perfect sour, chewy addition to the sweet jam.

Syrup left over from making candied citrus peel (above)

3 apricots

1 peach

a handful of cherries, pitted

1 Meyer lemon, quartered, seeds removed, sliced thin (keep the skin on)

Cook all ingredients for about 20 minutes. Put in a jar and refrigerate. Eat! Yum!