Showing posts with label balsamic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label balsamic. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
A Jammy Weekend Recipes for Strawberry Balsamic Fig Vanilla Black Pepper Jam
A little cafe surrounded by a kitchen garden - windows with fluttering lace curtains - a big oven on one side - cinnamon, yeast, vanilla scents in the air - sounds of happy chatter - the aroma of fresh coffee brewing - people waiting in anticipation of a simple good time - a cup of good coffee or choice of tea with a scone or a muffin topped with some homemade jam - A girl can day dream right?
On Thursday, I ordered more fruit than I usually do for a week, especially strawberry and figs, with the intention of making jam. Im not much of a jam sandwich person. Give me a Mumbai style coriander-mint chutney and cucumber sandwich any day. But when you have a little boy at home wholl say Im hungry at the most unpredictable times of the day, it is good to have a loaf of bread and some spreads handy to make a snack in 2 minutes. He likes my Chocolate coconut Peanut Butter - well, I like it a lot myself and each batch gets over in a matter of 2-3 days. So I decided to make some jams anyway. What better way to preserve the goodness of seasonal fresh fruit for a couple more months?
Theres a lot more Id like to write about on jamming but the weekend chores beckon and I promised a few people that Ill be sharing the recipe on my blog before the end of the weekend, so here are the recipes for the two jams.
If you always wondered what the difference was between jelly, jam and preserve, read this.Id say my recipes are in between a jam and preserve, because while they do have a chunky texture, it is not that chunky because the fruit was fairly finely chopped to begin with. Contrary to popular belief that jam making is the job of old matronly housewives who wish to slave in the kitchen all day and night, these jams dont take more than 30-45 minutes each, including fruit chopping time, especially because were making only a small quantity at a time. Also, in both these jams, we dont need any added pectin because both fruits are full of seeds inside them which are a natural source of pectin. As for fig jam, most recipes from international websites dont ask for the fruit to be peeled, but Indian figs are very thick skinned, therefore better off peeled.
Strawberry Balsamic Preserve
Recipe adapted from Epicurious
Ingredients
750 grams strawberries (washed, patted dry and tops removed- I bought 1 kg and this was what I got after eating a few and removing the tops)
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp water
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp butter
Directions
- Finely chop the strawberries-youll get roughly 2 1/2 cups of chopped fruit
- In a heavy bottomed steel or anodised pan, put all the ingredients together, on a medium flame, bring this to a simmer.
- The butter prevents the mixture from foaming and splattering too much. In fact, mine didnt splatter at all.
- Simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the mixture is thick and translucent. Keep stirring off and on. Dont worry if its still a bit flowy and it will thicken further on cooling. So, switch off before the jam turns thick.
- Remove pan from heat and cool thoroughly.
- Meanwhile place two empty clean and dry glass jam jars bottles without their lids in the microwave for one minute. This is to quick sterilise the bottles.
- Once cooled to room temperature, spoon the jams into the two jars. Id say I got roughly two jars of 300-350 grams each.
- Close them tight and keep in fridge. Use within a month.
Recipe for Fig-Vanilla-Black Pepper Preserve
Adapted from Taste
Ingredients
Roughly 1 kg fresh figs
1 cup sugar
half a vanilla pod (or use a cinnamon stick + 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon)
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice or balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp butter
Directions
- Wash, dry and remove stems of figs. Peel and chop finely.
- Slice the vanilla pod and scrape the seeds with the end of the knife, add this to the chopped figs.
- In a large bowl, add all the ingredients, including the scraped vanilla pod, cover and keep overnight. [at this stage you could either keep the bowl of ingredients covered in the refrigerator overnight and proceed with jam making in the morning or proceed with the process immediately. I left it in the fridge overnight]
- After the mixture has sat in the fridge overnight, transfer them to a heavy bottomed steel pan or anodized pan, bring to a simmer on medium flame.
- Keep stirring off and on so that the sugar does not stick to the bottom and burn.
- In around 20 minutes, the mixture will start to thicken. Remove from flame. Cool thoroughly.
- Meanwhile place two empty clean and dry glass jam jars bottles without their lids in the microwave for one minute. This is to quick sterilise the bottles.
- Once cooled to room temperature, spoon the jams into the two jars. Id say I got roughly two jars of 300-350 grams each.
- Close them tight and keep in fridge. Use within a month.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Glazed Peaches – A Perfect Pairing in 2 Parts
Ahh, the perfectly ripe peach. My momentary guilt for not just eating it raw was quickly forgotten as soon as I tasted this amazing sweet and savory summer combo. By the way, this was filmed last summer before I even thought about wearing a Chef coat while shooting (thanks mom). So, that’s me in the lime green Polo shirt cooking this truly delicious recipe. This was one of the first recipes I ever filmed for the web (insert standard lower video quality disclaimer here), and it’s still one of my favorites. This was actually posted here back in May, when I converted a bunch of older clips over to this blog, but since peaches werent in season yet, I doubt too many people payed much attention.
Everything on this plate works so well together, and it’s also a very easy recipe with just a few ingredients. While I used a fresh, ripe peach, jarred or canned halves will work in a pinch. This juicy fruit is first caramelized with aged balsamic vinegar and then used in a salad sitting next to sliced, roasted pork tenderloin. As you’ll hear in the recipe I refer to another meat trimming demo (how to trim a butcher steak), as I remove the “silver-skin” from the tenderloins. Don’t bother looking around the site for that, as it no longer exists, although I plan re-shooting that one soon. I also prepare a very simple pan sauce to finish this amazing dish. This recipe demo is broken into 2 parts because of its length. In Part 1, we make our glazed balsamic peaches, and prep our pork tenderloin. We also “bruise” some rosemary …hey, that fragrant rosemary had it coming! In Part 2, we finish the pork, make our pan sauce, and “plate up” with our glazed peaches and salad. If you’ve only used peaches for summertime desserts, give this a try. You will think about our fuzzy friends in a whole new way. Enjoy!Part 1:
Part 2:
Ingredients:
whole pork tenderloin (not loin)
3-4 rosemary sprigs
Black pepper and salt to taste
2 fresh peaches
2 tbl butter
2 tbl aged balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic
olive oil
mixed greens
slice of toast to garnish
Note: If you are using fresh peaches make sure you get the "freestone" variety, not the "clingstone.” For more info on the difference, click this link to wikipedia.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Salmon Steaks with Basil and Balsamic Vinegar
Salmon Steaks with Basil and Balsamic Vinegar
from Good Housekeeping Cookery Book (The Cooks Classic Companion)
Serves 4
4 salmon fillets
30ml (2tbsp) balsamic vinegar
10ml (2tsp) soy sauce
90ml (6tbsp) extra virgin olive oil
40g (1 1/2 oz) fresh basil, stalks removed
8 ripe plum tomatoes (or other flavourful tomatoes) diced
30ml (2tbsp) chopped fresh chives
salt and pepper
basil sprigs to garnish
1. Place the salmon steaks in a shallow non-metallic dish. Mix the balsamic vinegar and soy sauce together and pour over the salmon, turning to coat. Cover and leave to marinate in a cool place for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, put the olive oil and basil in a food processor or blender and work until smooth. Pour into a bowl, cover and leave to infuse. (do not make this too far in advance)
3. In a bowl, mix the tomatoes with the chives and season well with salt and pepper. Cover and set aside
4. Lift the salmon out of the marinade and place skin side down in a hot pan with a little olive oil. Cook for 4 minutes each side, once cooked add the rest of the marinade to the pan and reduce to a syrupy sauce.
5. Whisk the basil oil briefly at this stage to re-combine.
6. Spoon the tomato mixture onto the warmed serving plates and place a salmon fillet on top. Drizzle with the basil oil and spoon on the reduced marinade. Serve immediately, garnished with basil.
And finally some boiled new potatoes to soak up the juices.
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