Posts tagged ‘cherries’

May 22nd, 2010

Not Just for Salad – Olive Oil & Vinegars are for Desserts Too

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I had my precious cherries in mind today as I entered Oliviers & Co., a purveyor of olive oils from Haute-Provence. My original intention was to buy only a bottle of their Cherry Balsamic but then the Honey & Ginger Balsamic looked so good too, that I wished I had bought some earlier for the orange and sweet chili pepper salsa I made last week.

When the shop assistant noticed I was open to buying more she asked me if I have a good olive oil at home. I told her I did indeed need an olive oil, but I want the mildest flavour possible. She showed a bottle of extra virgin olive oil from Château du Vignal to me, asking, “Do you know the macaroons from Ladurée?

Cherries with Cherry Balsamic

Well they make one macaroon with olive oil and this particular oil is the one they use for their macaroon.” I’ve had that particular macaroon actually and it is delicious. She let me taste a teaspoon of the Château du Vignal which is classified as a Grand Cru Oil with the selection being limited to only 1000 liters. It was so delicate I could almost drink it. It definately belongs in desserts.

As I left the shop with my two balsamics and the olive oil I decided to use the oil and cherry balsamic to create a dessert with my remaining cherries.

Cherry Balsamic

Here is the recipe that formed in my mind as I walked back home:

1/2 cup of cherries that have been cut in half and   pitted

1 teaspoon Cherry Balsamic

1 teaspoon  olive oil (the absolutely mildest olive oil you can find) – try the Château du Vignal

1 tablespoon of orange & dark chocolate confit

1 almond wafer

Dark chocolate with orange shavings (from a bar of dark chocolate)

Toss the cherries in the olive oil and cherry balsamic. Sprinkly with white sugar. Put the dark chocolate confit on plate and insert the almond wafer (the confit should support the wafer so that it stands)

Arrange the cherries on the plate, against the wafer. Drizzle more oil and balsamic if you like. Sprinkle with shavings of dark chocolate.

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Posted in Sweet Recipes | 3 Comments »

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May 21st, 2010

I’ll Choose My Own Cherries, Thank You Very Much.

You can view this and my other food photography on Flickr - see left sidebar

I put all of my creations on Epicurious.com now. See the link below.

I’m having a picnic on the Seine with a friend tonight and decided to create my own version of couscous: Couscous with pan-seared duck breast, cherries, pine nuts and herbs. Knowing that I love photographing food as much as I do preparing and eating it, I contemplated the cherries at my local grocer with hesitation; half of the cherries looked pathetic.

When I explained to the shop-keeper, in French, that I only needed a few cherries and they must be beautiful, he smiled a “I-don’t-give-a-shit” smile and grabbed his large scoop to put some in a bag for me. “No, no!”, I stopped him. “I need to hand-pick these. Half of what you have looks rotten. I won’t pay for ugly cherries and I certainly won’t cook with them.” He refused to allow me to select the cherries of my choice. We had a “discussion” (argument).

Sir, I see you are stubborn but guess what, I’m even more stubborn – When it comes to being stubborn…this girl is EPIC.

At this point I regarded him calmly and tried to explain once more: I WANT TO CHOOSE MY OWN FUCKING CHERRIES.

“No? – OK, then. If you’re not flexible enough to allow a customer (it wasn’t the first time I shopped there) to choose the produce she wants, then I won’t buy any of the other things in my basket either.”

I shrugged my Parisian Shrug (I’m good at it), dropped everything on the counter and walked across the street to the other grocer.

Smiling and wearing my best sighing, eye-rolling “Oh, la, la” expression, I told the other grocer what an imbecile his competitor is and explained my plight.

“No, problem! That man is an idiot!” was his cheerful reply.

Pictured here is the result of my efforts . Of course, for the picnic I will place it into a Tupperware dish and it won’t look so lovely.

But what matters is: it taste delicious…and I got to choose my cherries.

I’ve put the recipe here, on Epicurious.com

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© 2010, Epicure on a Budget. All rights reserved.

Posted in Savoury Recipes | 4 Comments »

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