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SUPPER: More hot cherry action
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
SUPPER: More hot cherry action
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| Photo l Felicia D'Ambrosio |
| Hot. |
Last week Meal Ticket experimented with pitting some seriously juicy cherries without a cherry pitter, all in the service of a classic clafouti.� This Chowhound thread made some suggestions, including using a bobby pin, a paperclip, a chopstick or the metal tip of a pastry bag.� Two Chowhound McGyvers shared their more elaborate methods, one involving hammering a (clean) nail into a (clean) board, and another that presses an eraser-gutted No. 2 pencil and an empty beer bottle into service.
Then, City Paper restaurant critic Trey Popp hit us with this eye-opening email.
In the wake of your clafouti piece, I have to share a tip on the best and cheapest cherry-pitting tool ever: a pair of scissor tweezers, like this $1.58 job.� The suggestion came from my mother-in-law.� You can pit 10 cherries a minute this way, with so little mess (or lost juice) that rinsing your hands at the end is more a matter of etiquette than necessity.� Truly, it's the best non-kitchen kitchen gadget I've discovered in ages.
Inspired by Trey's mother-in-law to pit even more cherries even faster and cleaner than before, I offer up this super-reduced cherry sauce, equally tasty on toast, ice cream, duck spring rolls, as a filling for chocolate cupcakes and seared stuffed pork loin.� Scope the technique after the jump.
RELATED: TREAT: Cherry Clafoutis [01Jul09]
If you find yourself with an excess of cherries too soft to eat out of hand, make good use of their over-the-top sweetness and intensity by making a multi-purpose cherry sauce.� Pitting the cherries with a scissor tweezer� retains the beautiful whole shape and juicy bite, but if you prefer a smoother-textured finished product, you can always puree the reduced sauce.
Sweet Cherry Sauce
(for ice cream, toast, cupcake filling, etc.)
Go Get This:
Two quarts cherries, pitted
Four Tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 cup red wine, port, dark beer or other liquid of your choice (water works too)
Now Do This:
In a small, heavy saucepan, combine the liquid and cherries over medium heat.� When warm, add the sugar and stir to combine.
Allow to bubble, uncovered, until reduced to your desired thickness.
Savory Cherry Sauce
(for stuffing a pork loin, dipping duck spring rolls or otherwise non-sweet objectives)
Make the sauce exactly as above, but reduce sugar to one Tablespoon to help things come together.� Add a sprig of fresh herbs: rosemary, thyme, a sage leaf or two.�� Select a non-sweet liquid to add flavor: try chicken or vegetable stock, dry wine, beer or even herbal tea.
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