Never throw away a fruit

I think I haven’t invented this movement but since I was young my father always made impressive jams and fruit purees. Having an orchard helped a lot as we were always left with more fruit than we could possibly eat.

For a while we were there every week end. I knew that when the apple were falling the apple puree will arrive.

The second thing I learnt is that a fruit is never dead until you decide it is. That’s why I make a jam or a puree of my almost all rotten fruits.

Apple Purée

I will describe three recipes here. I try to make good combinations with what I found in our kitchen.

Strawberries and Squash Jam:

• 4 rotting strawberries
• Part of an already cooked squash (about a quarter of it)
• Sugar (less than the total weight of your fruit/veg)

To make the jam there is a tiny preparation, just remove the stem and cut in quarters. Don’t cut any part out! Keep everything.

I first heat in a saucepan the strawberries, the squash and the sugar.

I wait 20 minutes maintaining in a low simmer.

The result did not need to go through a blender or a chopper.

I put in a sterilised jam jar (you have to boil the jar and lid separately for 10 minutes)

The taste is interesting and new. Sweet and tangy, very smooth. I eat it for breakfast on a buttered baguette.

Pears and Orange Jam:

• 2 very ripe or rotting pears
• 1 very ripe or rotting orange
• Sugar (half of the total weight of your fruits)

Same procedure, heat everything in a saucepan. Wait 20 minutes and put in a sterilised jar.

Pears and Orange Jam

Apple and Sugar Water, not really a jam much more a Purée:

I used water in which R soaked dates for a homemade Nutella. She was about to pour it down the sink when I stopped her in extremis. I improvised the following:

• 300 ml of sugar date water
• 2 great apple
• 2 tsp of sugar
• 1 tsp of cinnamon powder

To create the water you need to put 15 dates (cut in half) in a cold water bowl. After two hours, take the dates for their initial use (the homemade Nutella, more of this below). The dates release their aroma and sweetness in the bowl. If you taste the water it will be sweet.

Cut the apple in dice; keep the skin but not the core.

In a saucepan boil the water; add the apples, the sugar, and the cinnamon. Wait until the water disappear and looks like a syrup.

Put in a sterilize jar.

I eat this puree with plain yoghurt.

Stay tuned in for the homemade Nutella recipe, it’s delicious, healthy and completely addictive!

M.

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Swiss Meringue

  Sometimes a good recipe can end quite different from what you would expect. With one of our friends (C), we decided to prepare some chocolate éclair. However, we never managed to make the pate a chou properly. They were not good and stayed as flat as when we put them in the oven.

Instead of losing all the eggs white I decided to try the meringue. The ingredients are sugar and eggs white, easy enough. We don’t (yet!) have an electric whisk so all by hand. I found a variant of the universal meringue. The Swiss one. You have to beat the eggs in a bain-marie.

Ingredients:

• ·         4 egg whites
• ·         250 g of white sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 130°C or 250°F (th 4).

Create your bain-marie by heating a pan full of water (50°C) and put a mixing bowl over it. Start by whipping the egg-whites to a light mousse. Then incorporate the sugar little by little (1 or 2 table spoon each time) wait 5 seconds and reincorporate sugar. Remove from the warm water and beat for 5 more minutes. 

Don’t over beat it.

Stop when the mousse is strong and shiny.

Dress a baking sheet for the oven.

Create small piles of meringues by using a pastry bag or two large spoons.

Put in the oven for 1h. It as to be crispy on the outside with a little yellow colour and soft and sticky inside.

You can eat after 30 minutes or keep in a box for maximum two weeks.

M&R