Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote

Ingredients

½ lb rhubarb

½ lb strawberries

3½ oz sugar

1½ tsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

pinch salt

Directions

Chop both the rhubarb and strawberries into ½" pieces (separately).

Toss half of the sugar with the strawberries in a bowl; add lemon juice. Place berries in a strainer over a saucepan and let sit for ½ hour, stirring occasionally.

Return berries to bowl. Add rhubarb and remaining sugar to the strawberry juice in the saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce ehat and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally until fruit is softened (about 10 minutes). Add strawberries and cook an additional minute or two. Remove from heat.

If desired, mash fruit to desired consistency. Stir in vanilla and salt.

Serve on toast or muffins; stir into yogurt, spoon over pancakes, waffles, angel food cake, ice cream...

Cranberry Curd

A holiday twist on lemon curd. Not quite as good as I'd hoped; but not bad and worth making again...making tweaking it in hopes of improving it. I'd like a little less sweetness and a little more acidic cranberry punch.

But...not bad for a holiday flavored bite -- with a little cream cheese on a pumpkin roll!

Cranberry Curd Recipe

Rhubarb Jam

I love the tangy zest of rhubarb! But I don't want preserves too sour. Depending on how tart or how sweet you'd like your jam, you may want to adjust the amount of sugar (or rhubarb). This ratio seems to hit it about right for me.

Ingredients
1 lb rubarb, chopped
¾ C sugar
1 tsp orange zest
3 T orange juice
3 T water

Directions
Combine everything in a saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring frequently, for 30-50 minutes to achieve desired consistency (it will thicken as it cools). Scoop into sterile canning jars for long term storage, or into any sealable container to refrigerate for use within 2 weeks.

Apricot Rosemary Jam

Ingredients
6 C (about 2.5 lbs) juicy, ripe apricots
2 C sugar
½ t salt
3 T pectin
3 T lemon juice
~12" fresh rosemary sprigs

Directions
Halve apricots and remove pits; rough chop into large pieces. Combine sugar, salt, pectin and lemon juice in large sauce pan. Add apricots and stir to coat thoroughly. Add rosemary sprigs. Let sit at least 2 hours and up to overnight (refrigerate).

Stir to combine juices with sugar that may have settled to bottom of pot.  Bring to boil; boil 6-8 minutes sstirring frequently (reduce heat if needed to prevent jam from boiling over or excessive spattering).

Remove from heat. Remove rosemary sprigs and discard (some loose leaves in the jam is fine, but they can be removed if preferred). Mash with potato masher for chunky jam, or purée with immersion blender for smoother jam.

Return to heat; continue boiling until jam is reduced to 4½ C; skim foam off top if/as needed.* Scoop or pour jam into sterilized jars.

* You can test jams for consistency: Scoop a little jam onto a spoon and place it in the freezer for 3-5 minutes to reach room temperature. Tip the spoon on end; if it's too thin and runny, continue boiling another 3-5 minutes and retest.

(White) Raspberry Jelly

I bought a box of white raspberries at the local Farmer's Market...enjoyed a few handfuls fresh and made a small batch of jelly with the rest. Recipe works with white or red raspberries. I just had one box from the Farmer's Market, but easy to double (or triple) the recipe amounts. :)

Ingredients

1½ C (white) raspberries

½ C sugar

lemon juice to taste

Directions

Combine berries and sugar; refrigerate 24 hours, stirring occasionally. Macerating the fruit draws the liquid out. Just before cooking, add lemon - a little at a time, taste test as you go until the fruit flavor really 'jumps forward.'

Bring it all to a boil, dissolving all the sugar if it isn't already. At first, there's lots of liquid and it's lighter in color. If foam develops, remove from heat briefly to skim off foam. As it continues to cook, the volume will reduce, the color will darken. The bubbles start to get smaller, shinier and glossier and they form small 'wells' of bubbles. The boiling begins to sound more like a rustling.

If you want a seedless jam (jelly), now is the time to pass the jam through a strainer; then complete the cooking process.

As it nears 'done-ness' it's thick enough that as you draw a spatula across the pan it will clearly leave a track before syrupy-thick jam covers the bottom of the pot again. (see pics & jam making tips) The berries are broken down by this point and the jam is more cohesive, rather than chunks of berries in liquid.

The best test for done-ness' is to remove it from the heat, scoop out a small spoonful and put it in the freezer a few minutes -- just to bring it more quickly to room temperature -- to test the texture for spreadable consistency.

Pour or spoon jam in to sterile jars; seal.

Rustic Plum Tart

I had a couple plums that were over-ripe. Found a Food Network recipe for a very basic Open-Faced Plum Tart made using a store bought crust (which I also had in the freezer and was glad to find some way of using it up!) -- though you could easily make your own. The original recipe even called for fig jam, which I have!  However, my fig jam already has ginger in it; so...here's my version, just slightly dressed up with some cloves, mint, and orange zest. Still quick and easy, especially using the store bought crust.

Ingredients:

1 9-inch store-bought pie crust
1/4 cup ginger-fig jam

¹/₈ tsp ground cloves

2 tsp fresh chopped mint

1 tsp orange zest
2 large plums, thinly sliced
1 egg 

¼ C raw cane sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°. Bring store bought pie crust to room temperature. Line baking sheet with parchment; place crust on baking sheet. Spread crust with ginger-fig jam, leaving 2" border around the edges. Sprinkle with ground cloves. Fan plum slices on top of jam. Top with chopped mint, orange zest, and half of the sugar. In small bowl, beat egg with about 2 Tbls water. Fold crust edges inward -- leaving center exposed -- press slightly to seal. Brush crust with egg wash (using it to help seal folds as needed); sprinkle with remaining sugar.Bake until dough is thoroughly cooked with golden edges (about 35 minutes). Serve warm with ice cream.

Grilled Monterey Jack with Prosciutto, Basil, and Fig Preserves

Last April, Food Network Magazine ran a feature on dressed up grilled cheese sandwiches. I just ran across a page I'd ripped out. I didn't have the dates called for in the original recipe, but it inspired my own twist...with a smear of chunky fig preserves (from Snow Goose Produce near Mount Vernon, WA), a gift from my good friend Gayleen who knows I love to cook. :) I love the sweet-salty combination from the prosciutto and the fig!

Ingredients:
asiago cheese bread
butter
prosciutto
monterey jack cheese
fresh basil leaves
fig preserves with ginger

Butter one side of each slice of bread (any crusty bread will do, but I had the asiago on hand). Place slices, buttered side down on a hot skillet. Top one side with a slice or two of prosciutto and a slice of monterey jack, the other with a tablespoon of the fig preserves, basil leaves, then another slice of monterey jack. I had my cheese sliced extra thin, so two slices wasn't overwhelming...and as it melted it helped hold everything together. :)

If you can't find fig preserves, I imagine
an apricot jam would compliment the
prosciutto well, too.  -- or go for the
original idea of thinly sliced dates.

Orange Butter

I've made apple-butter before, so I was intrigued when I came across this recipe for Orange Butter. It was delicious on breakfast crepes. I'll try it tomorrow morning on toast. It's also a less-sweet option for an ice cream topping, or drizzled over a bowl of fresh fruit...

Ingredients: 
½ C butter 
½ C sugar
½ C fresh orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
½ lemon, juiced
1 tsp Grand Marnier (or other orange-flavored liqueur)

Directions:
Combine sugar, butter, juices and zest in saucepan and cook for 10 minutes until caramelized to a rich, golden color. Remove from heat, and liqueur; return to heat and whisk until reduced and syrupy -- about another 10 minutes. Remove from heat; cool. Serve slightly warm.

Raspberry-Peach Lavender Jam

Ingredients
2 tsp dried lavender
1 lb peaches (about 5)
3 oz (½ pint) raspberries
1½ C sugar
3 Tbls lemon juice

Directions (Jam making tips)
Peel and pit peaches; chop into 1" pieces. Rinse raspberries and gently pat dry.

Pour ¼ C boiling water over lavender buds in a small bowl and let steep 10 minutes. Strain out lavender buds and discard; set aside scented water.

Combine peaches, raspberries, sugar and lemon juice over medium-high heat in a 4-quart pan, stirring frequently until liquid has consistency of thick maple syrup (12-15 minutes). Stir in lavender water. Boil another two minutes (or until desired consistency is achieved - it will thicken considerably as it cools), stirring often.

Remove from heat. Jam can be preserved in sterilized, air tight jars, or...
Let cool 15 minutes; cover and chill at last 2 hours before serving. Jam will keep, refrigerated, up to 4 weeks.