Showing posts with label cherries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cherries. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Cherries Simmered in Red Wine

4 cups dry red wine (I just buy a bottle of $5 Zinfandel or Cabernet at Trader Joe's)
1 cup sugar
2 pounds sour red cherries, stemmed & pitted (You can use frozen cherries, but if they are sweet cherries add 1/2 cup sugar then taste & add more if necessary)
1/2 teaspoon orange zest (or just use 1 tablespoon OJ if you are feeling lazy or are without zest)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

Stir wine and sugar in heavy large saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Add cherries. Bring to boil. Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes. Transfer cherries to a bowl.

Mix in orange peel, extract and cinnamon to wine-cherry liquid.
Boil cooking liquid until reduced to 2 cups, about 25 minutes. Cool.

Pour syrup over cherries; toss. Cover; chill until cold.

Serve over vanilla ice cream, with flourless chocolate cake or top with creme fraiche! I am submitting these cherries to One Page Cookbooks by Varsha Vipins and Ramki

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Sour Cherry and Ricotta Tart

I posted recently about making fresh Ricotta Cheese. I received the Silver Spoon cookbook as a gift from my parents and found a recipe that utilizes the ricotta nicely. A ricotta and cherry tart is an elegant dessert - AND you can use the leftover lemon rind from making the ricotta cheese.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sweet butter, chopped into small 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 egg yolk
Lemon rind, minced (from 1/2 lemon)
2 cups sour cherries, pitted
1 1/2 cups Ricotta Cheese

Sift to make a mound. In the center, add the egg yolk, butter, lemon rind and half of the sugar. Mix well and shape into a ball. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.

Add cherries, 4 tablespoons water and remaining sugar in medium sauce pan and cook 20 minutes over medium-low heat. (Bring to a simmer, then turn to medium-low).

Drain the cherries and mix with ricotta in medium-sized bowl.

Grease and dust a tart pan. Halve the dough and roll out one half on lightly floured surface to make a 1/4 inch thick circle. Place in tart pan. Roll out remaining dough and cut into long strips to make a lattice top for the tart.

Sprinkle ricotta mixture over tart shell. Cover with lattice strips and press remaining dough around sides of tart forming a ring. Use enough pressure to seal the dough to tart shell.

Bake about 45 minutes, then let cool before serving.