Tag Archives: cherry

Cherry Balsamic Vinaigrette

17 Sunday Jul 2011

Posted by in Salads

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My husband brought home some cherries yesterday and they were SO sweet! I decided to add them to my favorite salad dressing and the result was delicious.

Here’s what I used:

30 pitted cherries (If you don’t have cherries, use strawberries instead)
2 Tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tablespoon of Honey
Salt & Pepper
1/4-1/2 Cup of Olive Oil (The amount varies depending on how aged your vinegar is)

In a blender, mix the cherries, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper. Mix until the cherries are invisible.
Then slowly add your oil. I would start out with a 1/4 cup and then taste it. This is when you decide if you need more oil or honey.
If you have added a 1/2 cup of oil and the vinegar taste is too strong, add more honey.
At that point, if you continue to add more oil, you risk losing the cherry flavor.

I put this over mixed greens, goat cheese and toasted walnuts. YUM!

Enjoy!
Joy

Clafoutis or Migourin?

06 Monday Jun 2011

Posted by in Desserts

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I made a clafoutis the other evening with some of the cherries I brought back from France.  It’s a very simple dessert to make and is pretty healthy as there’s no sugar or butter.

What you will need:

Cherries (enough to cover the bottom of your oven dish)
1 cup of flour
1 cup of milk or red wine
2 eggs
1 tsp of baking powder 

Place the cherries at the bottom of a buttered baking dish. As there’s no sugar in this dessert the  more cherries the better in my opinion.

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. In a large bowl whisk the flour, milk, eggs and baking powder. Pour the mixture over the cherries and place the dish in the oven for about 45mins or until golden.

For something a little different:

My French grandmother always replaces the milk with some red wine to make a migourin, a speciality from the Loire region in France.  

Now get cooking, it’s cherry season!

Mel

Balsamic tuna with cherry tomatoes and rocket

18 Wednesday May 2011

Posted by in Seafood

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Only have 20mins to prepare a meal? Then this one is perfect and super yummy! I treated myself to a tuna steak this evening and it was definitely worth every penny. I had it as a light meal but if you want something more substantial I’d eat it with new potatoes. This feeds one so just multiply everything by the number of people you are cooking for.

What you will need:

 1 tuna steak
10 cherry tomatoes
2 handful of rocket
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Chilli flakes
Salt and pepper

Cherry tomatoes

Heat your oven to 180C. In a bowl mix a spoon of vinegar for two spoons of oil. Place the cherry tomatoes in an oven proof dish and cover with the ‘vinaigrette’ add salt and pepper to taste. Once the oven is hot put the tomatoes in; they should take no more than 15mins.

 Tuna steak

You should start this about 5mins before the tomatoes are done. Heat a pan, add oil (not much about 2 tablespoons worth), chilli flakes to taste, salt and pepper and add the tuna. Cook for 2mins on each side.

Rocket and ta-da

Place the tuna, the cherry tomatoes and rocket on a plate. Add about a tablespoon of vinegar to the hot pan, mix, and pour over the tuna, rocket and tomatoes. If you want more ‘vinaigrette’ you can also use some from the tomatoes.  

Mel