Ready for Dessert (47 page)
Authors: David Lebovitz
MAKES ABOUT 4 CUPS (1.25 KG)
In my humble opinion, red plums make the best preserves, and certainly one of the easiest. Their skins give the jam a pleasant tartness and contain so much pectin that even inexperienced jam makers will be blushing like rosy plums with the pride of success. Tossing the fruit with sugar and letting it stand for a few hours intensifies the color of the strawberries so that the jam cooks up with a vivid crimson color.
2½ cups (1 pound/450 g) strawberries, hulled and diced into ¼-inch (6-mm) pieces
1 pound (450 g) red plums (about 10), halved, pitted, and cut in ½-inch (1.5-cm) slices
2¼ cups (450 g) sugar
In a large pot or a Dutch oven, toss the strawberries and plums with the sugar. Let stand for at least 1 hour, tossing occasionally to encourage the fruits to release their juices.
Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, then decrease the heat to medium-low to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally to make sure the mixture is not burning on the bottom, until the jam reaches the jelling point (use the
wrinkle test
to judge when it’s done).
Ladle the jam into clean jars. Cover tightly, let cool, and refrigerate.
STORAGE:
The jam will keep for at least 6 months in the refrigerator.
MAKES 4 CUPS (1.25 KG)
Figs have two seasons—the first figs appear in late summer and the second batch shows up around mid-autumn. If you miss the first one, not to worry—the second is usually more prolific and the figs are even tastier. Don’t be put off by fresh figs with skins that are split and syrupy; those are the ones that taste the best. For jam making, I like black Mission figs, which are the most common variety, but this recipe will work with others as well. Figs are high in natural sugar, which means that the jam cooks relatively quickly.
3 pounds (1.35 kg) fresh figs, hard stems removed, and quartered
½ cup (125 ml) water
3 cups (600 g) sugar
¼ cup (60 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
Place the figs in a large pot or a Dutch oven and add the water. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then decrease the heat to medium-low to maintin a gentle simmer. Cook until the figs are completely soft and tender, about 15 minutes.
In a food processor fitted with the metal blade or in a blender, purée the figs and their cooking liquid (if using a blender, don’t fill the jar more than halfway, as the hot liquid might burst through the top when the blender is turned on). Or, pass the figs through a food mill.
Return the purée to the pot. Stir in the sugar and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from burning on the bottom, until the jam is thick appears slightly jelled. (Because figs are low in pectin, the
wrinkle test
won’t work with this jam.)
Ladle the jam into clean jars. Cover tightly, let cool, and refrigerate.
STORAGE:
The jam will keep for at least 6 months in the refrigerator.
VARIATION:
Before ladling into jars, stir in ½ cup (80 g) coarsely chopped
Soft-Candied Citrus Peel
made with lemons.
MAKES ABOUT 3 CUPS (900 G)
This is one of the most beautiful marmalades I know of. As the delicate shreds of quince cook, they turn brilliant red and intensify in color as the fruit reduces to a fragrant, shimmering jelly.
This preserve is terrific at breakfast or as a filling for
Easy Marmalade Tart
. It’s also great paired with slices of Manchego or Cheddar cheese, served with a glass of sherry. This marmalade was inspired by a recipe from Helen Witty’s book
Fancy Pantry.
4 cups (1 liter) water
3 cups (600 g) sugar
3 large quinces (about 1 pound/450 g), peeled, quartered, cored, and seeded
½ lemon, preferably organic
In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile, in a food processor fitted with a coarse grating disk or on the largest holes of a box grater, shred the quince.
Add the grated quince and the lemon half to the boiling sugar mixture. Decrease the heat to medium and cook at a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thick. Use the
wrinkle test
to judge when the marmalade is done.
Remove and discard the lemon half. Ladle the marmalade into clean jars. Cover tightly, let cool, and refrigerate.
STORAGE:
The marmalade will keep for at least 6 months in the refrigerator.
TIP:
Quince tend to turn brown as soon as they’re cut. With cooking, any minor discoloration will fade away. But do try to get them into the hot syrup as soon as possible after they’re grated.
MAKES 2 CUPS (600 G)
This jam is the filling for the Rosemary Cookies with
Tomato Jam
. I often serve a small pot of it to accompany a sumptuous platter of perfectly ripened cheeses, one of my favorite desserts of all.
2¼ pounds (1 kg) ripe tomatoes (about 5 large)
2¼ cups (450 g) sugar
2 or 3 grinds of black pepper
Big pinch of salt
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Using a paring knife, cut out the stem end of each tomato, then slice a shallow X in the bottom.
Plunge the tomatoes into the boiling water until their skins loosen, about 30 seconds. Remove them with a slotted spoon and let cool. When cool enough to handle, slip off their skins. Discard the water, but save the saucepan for cooking the jam.
Halve the tomatoes at their equator and gently squeeze out the seeds and juice. Cut the tomatoes into ½-inch (1.5-cm) pieces.
Return the tomatoes to the saucepan and stir in the sugar, pepper, and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently to ensure that the mixture is cooking evenly, until most of the liquid has cooked off. If foam occasionally rises to the top, skim it off with a large spoon. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice.
Ladle the jam into clean jars. Cover tightly, let cool, and refrigerate.
STORAGE:
The jam will keep for at least 6 months in the refrigerator.
TIP:
I don’t use the
wrinkle test
for this jam. If you wish to use a candy thermometer to gauge doneness, when ready, the temperature of the jam should register 220°F (105°C) degrees.
MAKES ABOUT 6 CUPS (1.5 LITERS)
I often serve small glasses of
vin d’orange
as a warm-weather aperitif. Anyone who enjoys Lillet is likely to enjoy this fruity and slightly bitter fortified wine. But be careful—it’s quite potent.
To stay true to its humble Provencal roots, I use very inexpensive vodka and dry white wine. I’ve even made it with wine from a box—with excellent results!
⅔ cup (130 g) sugar
5 cups (1.25 liters) white wine
1 cup (250 ml) vodka
3 Seville or sour oranges (1 pound/450 g), preferably organic, quartered
1 lemon, preferably organic, quartered
½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise
In a large glass jar, mix together the sugar, white wine, and vodka until the sugar dissolves. Add the orange and lemon quarters. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add them to the jar, then drop in the pod. Cover, and let stand undisturbed for 1 month in a cool, dark place.
After 1 month, remove and discard the fruit; remove the
vanilla pod
it can rinsed, dried, and used for another purpose). Pour the mixture through a mesh strainer lined with a double thickness of cheesecloth or a coffee filter, then funnel the
vin d’orange
into clean bottles. Cork tightly and refrigerate.
SERVING:
Serve over ice in small glasses with a twist of orange or lemon zest.
STORAGE:
Vin d’orange
will keep for at least 6 months in the refrigerator.
VARIATION:
Although
vin d’orange
is usually made with sour oranges, if you can find only regular oranges, try this version, which is also quicker: In a large glass jar, mix together ½ cup (100 g) sugar; ½ cup (125 ml) vodka; one bottle (750 ml) rosé wine; ½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise; and 1 cinnamon stick. Add 2 navel oranges and 1 lemon, each quartered. Cover and let stand in a cool, dark place for up to 2 weeks, shaking every few days. Strain through cheesecloth and funnel into clean bottles.
MAKES 4 CUPS (1 LITER)
My friends who live in the countryside were surprised one morning to wake up and see me climbing their walnut tree in my pajamas, swiping the rock-hard, unripe green orbs off the branches. Once I’d picked enough, I climbed down and confessed that I could barely sleep the night before in anticipation of collecting enough of them to make a batch of
nocino,
an Italian liqueur made from unripe walnuts. It took a while for them to figure out what I was talking about. When I returned a few months later with a tub of
Vanilla Ice Cream
and drizzled inky-brown
nocino
over each scoop, no one questioned my early-morning motives.
If you know someone with a walnut tree, give this liqueur a try. And be sure to give them a bottle as a thank you, so you’ll get invited back to gather more green walnuts the following year.
30 green walnuts, rinsed and dried
2 cinnamon sticks
5 whole cloves
4 strips lemon zest, each about 1 inch (3 cm) wide
2½ cups (500 g) sugar
½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 quart (1 liter) vodka
Using a chef’s knife or cleaver, quarter each walnut. (Use caution, as the husks are tough to cut through. I press a cleaver gently into the skin, then, holding my hands far away from the blade, crack the nut in half on a cutting board.)
Put the quartered walnuts in a large glass container along with the cinnamon, cloves, lemon zest, and sugar. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add them to the container, then drop in the pod. Add the vodka. Cover and let stand 6 to 8 weeks at room temperature, agitating the container daily.
When ready to bottle, using a slotted spoon, remove and discard the walnuts and remove the
vanilla pod
(it can be rinsed, dried, and used for another purpose). Pour the mixture through a mesh strainer lined with a double thickness of cheesecloth or a coffee filter, then funnel the
nocino
into clean bottles and cork tightly.
STORAGE:
Nocino
will keep for several years stored in a cool, dry place or in the refrigerator.
VARIATION:
To make
NOCINO
CUSTARDS,
in a medium saucepan, warm 2 cups (500 ml) heavy cream, 1 cup (250 ml) half-and-half, and 9 tablespoons (135 g) sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar; remove from the heat. In a medium bowl, whisk 6 large egg yolks, then gradually whisk in the warmed cream mixture along with ⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract. Pour the mixture through a mesh strainer into a large measuring cup, then stir in ½ cup (125 ml)
nocino.
Divide the mixture among eight 4- to 6-ounce (125- to 180-ml) ramekins or custard cups set in a roasting pan. Add enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until the custards are just barely set, about 30 minutes.
Caramelization Guidelines
Caramel frequently shows up in my recipes because it’s one of my favorite flavors. Although it’s not difficult to caramelize sugar, if you haven’t done it before, the process can be intimidating, and it might take a couple of tries before you’re comfortable taking it to the right degree of darkness: a deep amber liquid, on the edge of burnt, but still sweet in flavor.
When sugar is heated, it melts into liquid. As the sugar continues to cook, it begins to take on a bit of color, or caramelize. Because cookware and heat sources don’t always distribute heat evenly, you need to stand guard during the entire process, encouraging the sugar to cook at an even rate.
The two things to watch out for when making caramel are recrystallization—what happens when sugar crystals join together in a lumpy mass—and burning the sugar. You can avoid recrystallization by making sure that the sugar is free of impurities and that the pan used to cook the caramel is clean. If you’re making a wet caramel—one that begins with sugar and water (more on that in a bit)—limiting the amount that the mixture is stirred during cooking helps guard against recrystallization.
To avoid burning the caramel, it’s just a matter of being vigilant. The melted sugar should be cooked until it’s a deep amber color—it’s done when it starts to smoke and begins to foam just a little bit. At this point, it should be removed from the heat immediately to stop the sugar from darkening any further. Usually, a liquid is then quickly added, which also helps halt the cooking.
After making caramel, to clean the pan and dissolve any stuck-on bits, either soak it in warm water or fill the pan with water, bring it to a boil, and continue boiling until the caramel dissolves.
WET AND DRY CARAMEL
There are two kinds of caramel made in this book: wet and dry. A wet caramel is made by heating sugar and water together in the pan. Since wet caramel doesn’t get too hard when cooled, I use it for sauces and to line ramekins for flan. A dry caramel is simply sugar heated without any liquid and can handle being stirred gently.
Wet Caramel
When making caramel, especially wet caramel, your main nemesis will be the sugar’s natural tendency to recrystallize. The sugar crystals have jagged edges and, even after liquefying, want to regroup into a solid mass. Stirring a wet caramel encourages these crystals to hook up—and cause clumping.
One common technique for preventing recrystallization is to cook the sugar in a covered pot until the sugar is completely melted; the trapped condensation washes away crystals clinging to the side of the pot. Another is to use a clean brush dipped in water to wash down the sides, dissolving any crystals that may have formed. I don’t recommend the latter technique as I’ve lost a few bristles in the caramel—and found them later, when dessert was served. You can also add an interfering agent— a tiny amount of cream of tartar or lemon juice—near the beginning of cooking to help inhibit recrystallization.
To make a wet caramel, begin by sprinkling the sugar in an even layer in a heavy-bottomed skillet or saucepan. Pour water over the sugar until is it completely and evenly moistened—you don’t want any dry spots. Cook the sugar and water over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. At this point, add a pinch of cream of tartar or a few drops of lemon juice, if indicated or desired. Continue cooking, watching carefully as the
sugar begins to brown. If it starts to recrystallize, swirl the pan and continue to cook. Usually, the lumps will melt as the caramel continues to cook.
When the caramel has darkened to the point of being almost burnt—when it’s dark amber in color, smoking, and beginning to gently foam—take it off the heat and stop the cooking by pouring in the liquid called for in the recipe. Then stir or whisk the caramel over low heat until it’s smooth. If the lumps persist, you can always strain them out.
Dry Caramel
In some ways, making dry caramel is easier than making wet caramel, but it can be difficult to control the rate of caramelization because it happens much more quickly.
To make dry caramel, sprinkle an even layer of sugar in a heavy-bottomed skillet or saucepan. As you heat the sugar, the edges and bottom will melt first and start browning. With a heatproof utensil, gently push the liquefied sugar toward the center, which encourages the still-solid sugar to begin melting. Once the sugar begins to color, watch very closely because dry caramel cooks rapidly, so don’t take your eyes off it until it’s the proper color. If the recipe calls for a liquid, add it now. Then stir or whisk the caramel over low heat until smooth. If there are any small bits of sugar remaining, you can strain the caramel to remove them.
TIPS FOR CARAMEL SUCCESS
• Only refined granulated sugar can be successfully caramelized; brown sugar and powdered sugar contain impurities that inhibit caramelization. Do not use raw cane sugar.
• Have everything ready before you begin. Read the recipe thoroughly before you start so you’re not scrambling to figure out how much liquid to add if the recipe calls for it.
• Use a heavy-bottomed pan and a heatproof utensil. Be sure both are spotless because even a tiny food particle can cause your caramel to recrystallize.
• Always choose a pot or pan large enough to allow for plenty of expansion, especially if you’ll be adding cream. When liquid is added to hot caramelized sugar, the mixture sputters and bubbles up vigorously. You may wish to invert a mesh strainer over the pan and pour the liquid through it. This will disperse the liquid and partially shield you from splatters and steam.
• If you’re a beginner, use the lowest heat possible. Slowing down the process makes it easier to manage.
• Partially fill the sink or a large, wide vessel, such as a roasting pan, with ice water so that if your caramel threatens to scorch, you can immediately set the pan bottom in the ice water, which will stop the cooking quickly.
• Stay focused on the sugar during cooking. Just a few seconds can mean the difference between perfect and ruined. Hovering is recommended.
• You can protect your hands by wearing long oven mitts. If you want to be extra cautious, keep a sizable container of ice water handy. If you accidentally spill hot caramel on your hand, immediately plunge it into the ice water to stop the burn.
• Don’t be discouraged if you burn your caramel or it becomes a mess of dry, crystals. Even very experienced pastry chefs overcook caramel. I don’t like to waste food, but sugar isn’t expensive and because it’s impossible to mask the flavor of a batch that’s burnt, the only option is to start anew.
