Showing posts with label Fruit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fruit. Show all posts
This is a fabulous recipe that really goes together quickly and that your family will love. You can serve this either for breakfast spooned over some yogurt or cereal, or even pancakes. Or on it's own with a dollop of yogurt on top or a muffin on the side.
It makes an excellent side dish if you are having people over for brunch. Simple, colourful and very tasty!
Its basically just a mix of various fruits marinated in their own juices with some lemon juice, water and a touch of sugar.
If you really wanted to get fancy you could use a lemon lime soda, which would make it a bit fizzy. Children love that.
It takes two ripe bananas. I don't like to use them when they are over-ripe. I tend to err on the side of a bit more green than ripe. Peel and cut into slices.
You will need one ripe peach or nectarine. Again, don't have it too ripe. You may want to peel the peach. (Just dip in some boiling water for about 30 seconds and then peel. Easy peasy.)
Cut that into bite sized pieces. I used a nectarine today . . .
You will also need one large orange, or naval orange. Cut both the ends off and then peel away all of the skin and outer pith.
Cut this into chunks also. (Put all the fruit into a bowl as you are cutting it.)
There is one sweet eating apple in this. I used a Pink Lady.
Cut cut in half, core and then cut into chunks. I leave the skin on for fibre and flavour. Again pop it into the bowl with everything else.
One kiwi fruit. I saw yellow ones at the shops the other day, but I bought the normal ones. Peel and cut into half moons. Add these to the bowl also.
Finally you will need 10 or so grapes. I used green, but black would be really pretty. Cut these in half and add to the bowl.
Give it all a good mix together along with the juice of one lemon and some sugar (Or honey). Just enough to make it palatable.
It all depends on how sweet or ripe your fruit is. The less ripe the fruit the more sugar you will need, but you don't want your fruit to be overly ripe either because it doesn't hold up well.
This also makes a great and healthy snack. You do need to eat it on the day, which usually isn't a problem
You could use other fruits if you wanted to. This is just the fruits that I usually use. You can vary it according to what fruit you have in the house or that you enjoy!
Macedonian Fruit Salad
Yield: 4
This fabulous fruit salad makes a great addition to breakfast or a brunch, or even as a light dessert. Its a really tasty way to get in some of your five a day.
ingredients:
- 2 bananas
- 1 ripe peach or nectarine
- 1 sweet eating apple
- 1 kiwi fruit, peeled
- 1 large orange, peeled and chopped
- 10 grapes, halved
- 120ml water (1/2 cup)
- the juice of one lemon
- 1 tsp sugar or as needed
instructions:
How to cook Macedonian Fruit Salad
- Prepare all of your fruit. Peel the banana, and orange. Cut all of the fruit into bite sized pieces. Cut the grapes in half. Put into a bowl. Pour in the water and add sugar as needed. Stir everything together. Cover and chill for an hour prior to serving.
I am sharing a really great traditional recipe with you tomorrow! Irish Tea Brack! (Its a loaf bread/cake.) It uses a mix of dried vine fruits (raisins, sultanas and currants) and some cold tea. You are going to love it!
If you wanted to get the fruit ready today, you will need 350g mixed dried fruit (2 1/2 cups) and 300ml cold tea.(1 1/4 cups). Just mix the fruit together with the tea tonight before you go to bed and you will be ready to bake it in the morning. I'll have the recipe posted by then!
One thing I have always loved when travelling on the Continent are the breakfasts we have been offered at most of the places we have stayed overnight.
Europeans really know how to do breakfast right . . . with freshly baked rolls, breads or croissants . . . granola or muesli . . . fresh fruits, cheeses and sliced meats . . . yogurts . . . fresh fruit compotes.
When we were staying in Austria we had these beautiful stewed plums on offer each morning. I loved them and had them along with some yogurt and granola every morning while we were there. You might think I would get bored with that option, but I just didn't.
I actually enjoy a breakfast like that much more than any other kind. While I am hungry in the mornings, I am not fond of much that is heavy or that will lay on my stomach uncomfortably. I am a person who enjoys a light breakfast for the most part, unless it is much later in the morning or a brunch. Come brunch time, watch out!
Fruit compotes are a beautiful way to start your day, and they are so very easy to make. All you need is fruit and a sweetener of some kind.
You can use fresh or frozen fruit. Actually, a compote is a wonderful way to use that supermarket fresh fruit that doesn't seem to ripen properly. With a bit of honey or maple syrup, and cooked until soft, it turns into something very beautiful indeed.
You can use it on it's own, spooned over yogurt or granola, or layered in a glass with both . . .
You can layer it in jars when you are making your overnight oats . . .
Its great served as dessert with rice pudding. We especially love a cherry compote with rice pudding.
Its incredibly delicious served warm and spooned over cold vanilla ice cream!
This one here today is an apricot compote which I made using some apricots I had frozen from last year. I wanted to use them up before the new season starts.
I sweetened them with a bit of honey . . . so it's an honeyed apricot compote . . .
Incredibly delicious served layered in a glass with some of my homemade granola and plain yogurt. I could eat this every day, no kidding!
You can also use dried fruit, bearing in mind that you will have to soak them for a while first to plump them back up again. Prunes are especially delicious done this way.
I like to stick to simple sweeteners . . . natural ones, rather than sugar. When I do that I feel like an earth mother. I know . . . its all in my mind . . .
Yield: variable
Fresh Fruit Compote
A very continental fruit compote is a beautiful way to add interest to your morning breakfast. Its also pretty fabulous spooned over scoops of vanilla bean ice cream.
ingredients:
- 450g fresh or frozen fruit
- 2 TBS honey or maple syrup
- pinch salt
Variations:
- Grated Lemon or orange zest (1/4 teaspoon added before cooking) (apples, pears, plums)
- Ground cinnamon or ginger (1/4 teaspoon added before cooking) (apples and pears)
- Vanilla extract or paste (1/2 teaspoon added after cooking) (all stone fruit goes well as does rhubarb)
- Balsamic vinegar, white or dark (1 to 2 teaspoons added after cooking) (berries love this)
- Lemon juice or orange juice (1 to 2 tablespoons added after cooking)
- Fresh mint or basil leaves (add after cooking) (great with berries)
- Freshly ground black pepper (to taste, add after cooking) (especially good with strawberries)
instructions:
- First prepare your fruit for cooking. If you are using peaches or apricots you may want to remove the skin first. To do this, make an X on the bottom and then immerse into boiling water for about 60 seconds. The skin should then just slip off.
- I like to peel apples and pears and core, discarding both the stem and bottom bits.
- For any fruit with pits such as peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, etc. you will want to halve them and dispose of the pits.
- You can keep small berries, such as currants, blackberries, raspberries, small strawberries or blueberries whole. Large berries should be cut in half.
- Cut larger fruits into slices or cubes. If you are using frozen fruit, there is no need to do this, or to defrost.
- Put the prepped fruit into a large non-reactive saucepan along with your sweetener of choice and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil over moderate heat. (This will take longer if you are using frozen fruit)
- Reduce to a simmer and cook until the compote has reached your desired consistency. I like it when i has roughly reduced in volume by half. Mash with a potato masher if you want a smoother puree. I like a mix of chunks and puree.
- Taste and adjust sweetening as desired with more syrup or honey. Cool completely and store, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.
NOTES:
Note - if you are using a really tart fruit, such as rhubarb, you will need to use appreciably more honey or syrup to make it palatable.
Created using The Recipes Generator
A fruit compote is a really delicious way to get in at least one of your five a day! Break out your Edith Piaf music, a hot pot of cocoa or coffee, some fresh croissants, yogurt and some muesli and you will feel for all the world like you are holidaying in France. True! Bon Appetit!
Before moving over to the UK, Pudding to me was something rich and creamy, milky, and rich. Like a thick custard you could eat it with a spoon, best served ice cold, and coming in flavours like butterscotch, vanilla, chocolate, lemon . . .
This was the pudding I grew up with and it came in packages that my mother added milk to and cooked on top of the stove until it thickened. She would pour it into individual bowls. We each had our own colour of bowl. My favourite part was the skin that formed on top and I loved butterscotch pudding best of all.
I remember being really surprised when I moved over here to the UK and was asked if I wanted pudding . . . expecting a choice of vanilla, chocolate, or butterscotch at the very least, of the creamy milky concoction of my younger years but was presented instead with a whole menu . . .
A menu filled with delicious sounding collations . . . such as sticky toffee pudding, roly poly pudding, bakewell pudding and the like . . . all substantial, and served warm with cream or warm custard . . . which was the only thing even remotely resembling the puddings of my childhood.
And not only that but the word "Pudding" was designed to cover a whole variety of dishes . . . "Desserts" . . . "Afters" . . . a cornucopia of wonderfully tasty delights to tempt the palate. Each one designed to make your eyes light up and your lips say howdy!
Pies and cakes and bakes . . . oh my! So I must apologise if you have come here today looking for something like jello . . . this is not that kind of pudding. This is a British pudding . . .
Rich, hearty, warming and delicious . . .
consisting of stewed summer fruits . . . berries . . . blueberry, raspberry, blackberry . . . baked at the bottom of the dish . . .
with a light blanket of cake baked on top . . . buttery and rich . . . with a moist yogurt batter . . .
sprinkled with flaked almonds . . . . the fruit stews and bubbles away in the oven while the cake puffs and the almonds toast . . .
Delicious served warm and spooned into bowls . . .
and topped by dollops of icy thick yogurt . . . or lashings of rich pouring cream if you would rather . . .
The perfect Autumnal dessert . . . for those nights when you desire an additional bit of comfort as you sit by the fire and toast your toes. Delicious!
Yield: 6-8
Mixed Berry Pudding
prep time: 10 minscook time: 45 minstotal time: 55 mins
I had some berries needed using up and so I made a type of pudding cake with them. Moist and delicious. Serve warm with some pouring cream or plain yogurt spooned on top.
ingredients:
50g butter, softened (3 1/2 TBS)
125g caster sugar (2/3 cup)
300g fresh or thawed frozen berries (3 cups)
2 medium free-range eggs
100g thick Greek yogurt (6 1/2 TBS)
125g self-raising flour, sifted (1 cup minus 2 TBS)
2 TBS flaked almonds
icing sugar to dust
Pouring cream or plain yogurt to serve
instructions:
Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*F/ gas mark3. Butter the bottom of
am 800ml (4 cup) baking dish. Mix 2 TBS of the sugar with the berries
and scatter over the bottom of the dish. Set aside.
am 800ml (4 cup) baking dish. Mix 2 TBS of the sugar with the berries
and scatter over the bottom of the dish. Set aside.
Cream
together the butter and remaining sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in
the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold in the
flour and yogurt, alternately in three batches, until smooth.
together the butter and remaining sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in
the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold in the
flour and yogurt, alternately in three batches, until smooth.
the batter over the berries and smooth out. Scatter the almonds over
top. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until the sponge is golden brown and
springs back when lightly touched. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm
with the cream or additional yogurt.
Created using The Recipes Generator
Todd really, really enjoyed this. He is a pudding fiend, and these types are his favourite kinds . . . he would actually prefer custard with his, but today he had to make do with yogurt. He was licking his chops afterwards with a deep smile of satisfaction on his face. I love it when that happens. Bon Appetit!
I adore cherries. When we lived down South in the late Spring, early summer, you would often see cherry sellers at the side of the road plying their wares. They would come over from France and set up shop on large trestle tables, selling them in 1 kilo brown paper bags. If you have ever eaten a cherry from a brown paper bag on a warm spring/summer day you have tasted a little bit of heaven.
I would always buy two bags. One to eat in the car on the way home and one for later on. They were soooooo good! None ever got made into pies. We were too busy eating them out of hand!
This recipe I am sharing today makes use of the frozen cherries you can buy in the freezer section of the shops. I usually have a container or two in the freezer. They come in very handy for things like this fabulous tray bake.
It is actually a different version of my Apple Crumble Tray Bake. (Oh so good also.) I decided to try the same recipe using cherries instead of apples, with brilliant results!
If you like apples more than cherries, by all means make the apple version, but if you are as fond of cherries as I am, you are going to fall in love with the cherry version!
You have a buttery, crumbly shortbread type of cake base . . .
Topped with a layer of raspberry jam and a sweet cherry filling . . .
With a buttery crumble topping . . . what's not to love about this!
These are fabulous. You can either drizzle with a lemon drizzle icing, or opt to dust lightly with icing sugar as I have done. Either way you are sure to enjoy!
Yield: Makes one 8-inch square pan
Cherry Crumble Tray Bake
prep time: 10 minscook time: 40 minstotal time: 50 mins
Delicious cherry bars with a shortbread type base, a layer of raspberry jam, a sweet cherry filling and a moreishly butter topping. Glaze or not as desired.
ingredients:
For the base:
187g of plain flour (1 1/3 cups)
2 TBS granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature (1/2 cup)
For the filling:
225g frozen cherries (1 cup)
5 TBS granulated sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
dash each of ground cardamom and freshly grated nutmeg
2 tsp corn flour (corn starch)
2 TBS lemon juice
2 heaped dessertspoons of raspberry jam (about 1/4 cup)
For the topping:
70g plain flour
3 TBS granulated sugar
4 TBS unsalted butter, softened
pinch each salt, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg
instructions:
Preheat
the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8 inch square baking
pan. Line with baking paper, leaving an overhang. Butter the paper.
Set aside.
the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8 inch square baking
pan. Line with baking paper, leaving an overhang. Butter the paper.
Set aside.
Sift the flour for the base into a
bowl. Whisk in the sugar and salt. Drop in the butter and rub it in
with your finger tips until you have a mixture resembling bread crumbs.
bowl. Whisk in the sugar and salt. Drop in the butter and rub it in
with your finger tips until you have a mixture resembling bread crumbs.
Press this evenly into the prepared pan, pressing down firmly. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes, until lightly brown around the edges.
To
make the filling, put the cherries into a skillet along with the sugar
and spices. Cover over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the
cherries are tender, but still holding their shape. Whisk together the
corn flour and lemon juice. Stir this into the cherry mixture. Cook
and stir until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and set aside
to cool.
make the filling, put the cherries into a skillet along with the sugar
and spices. Cover over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the
cherries are tender, but still holding their shape. Whisk together the
corn flour and lemon juice. Stir this into the cherry mixture. Cook
and stir until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and set aside
to cool.
Make the crumble topping by whisking
the flour, sugar and spices together in a small bowl. Rub the butter in
with your fingers until you get a clumpy mixture.
the flour, sugar and spices together in a small bowl. Rub the butter in
with your fingers until you get a clumpy mixture.
After
the initial baking of the crust, remove it from the oven. Loosen the
jam with a fork and then spread it evenly over the hot base. Top with
the cherry filling. (I use my hands to spread it out evenly) Top with
the crumble topping, scattering it evenly over top. Bake for 25 to 30
minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool completely in the pan before
lifting out and cutting into squares to serve.
the initial baking of the crust, remove it from the oven. Loosen the
jam with a fork and then spread it evenly over the hot base. Top with
the cherry filling. (I use my hands to spread it out evenly) Top with
the crumble topping, scattering it evenly over top. Bake for 25 to 30
minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool completely in the pan before
lifting out and cutting into squares to serve.
An
optional glaze can be made by whisking together 65g (1/2 cup) of icing
sugar and enough lemon juice to give you a smooth and drizzable mixture.
Drizzle this decoratively over top of the cherry bake and allow to set
prior to cutting.
optional glaze can be made by whisking together 65g (1/2 cup) of icing
sugar and enough lemon juice to give you a smooth and drizzable mixture.
Drizzle this decoratively over top of the cherry bake and allow to set
prior to cutting.
Note - Alternately you can just give them a light dusting of icing sugar.
Created using The Recipes Generator
Did you tune into the latest Royal Wedding yesterday? I did and thought Eugenie was a beautiful bride. She and her husband make a lovely couple and are very clearly in love with each other. I love it when that happens. I wish them many, many years of happiness together! Bon Appetit and Bon Weekend!
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