Shrubs, not just for your garden anymore!

Refreshing Beverage of the Week
I love the way words and terms define us. I used to erase, now I delete. I used to call someone, now I ping them. I used to say "I'm not in the mood to talk about that," now I say "let's circle back to that and take it offline." (Just kidding, I never say that shit but I learned it when I worked in corporate kitchens in NYC.) I used to eat everything, I was a "good" eater and exercised whenever, now I am a senior citizen obsessed with micronutrients and strengthening my core. Currently we are obsessed with probiotics, kombucha, apple cider gummies, actually all kinds of gummies, and kraut. Life goes on.

My clients (I am a private chef) have decided to limit their alcohol intake and have asked me to make mocktails. These drinks mirror actual cocktails using non-alcoholic booze substitutes — which, frankly, taste awful and are terribly expensive. So I searched the internet for recipes and, so far, not too many were drinkable. They are unhealthy and usually full of high-sugar fruit juice.

The non-alcoholic beverage market is booming and I have tried about 5 different brands and I would say the best-tasting ones are the gin alternatives. Juniper berries are very distinctive and even in a weird herbal base that flavor reminds you of gin. I tried a non-alcoholic tequila beverage made with apple. I accidentally spilled some, and it was so vile I had to scrub down my counter with lemon juice to kill the odor. So I started looking for other options.

This brings me to the subject of shrubs. I first had a shrub at Russ & Daughters Cafe, and it was love at first sip! A shrub is a drink made with fruit- and herb-infused vinegars (usually apple cider vinegar), a sweetener, and some club soda or anything sparkly. You'll find tons of recipes out there to make the vinegar. I am going to share a great all-around method and then some recipes. There are two ways to make a shrub: cold and hot. Hot is faster, cold is better.

Basic recipe for any fruit shrub · Food52

Ingredients
1 pound chopped fruit
2 cups sugar
2 cups vinegar (usually apple cider, I also like using rice wine vinegar, coconut, or white balsamic)
optional: ginger; rosemary; thyme; cardamon; bay leaves; etc.

Procedure
Assemble your fruit (sliced or gently mashed) in a bowl, and toss it with the sugar. Let this mixture sit, covered securely with a dishtowel, on your kitchen counter for about 2 days. Stir once a day. It should start to look very juicy. After 2 days, strain the mixture into a measuring cup, discard the fruit, then combine the syrup with approximately an equal amount of vinegar (again, your choice, but apple cider vinegar is a good place to start). Do this slowly, tasting as you go, so that you get a shrub that is sharp but tasty.

That's it! Pour it into a jar and stick it in the fridge. Here are two recipes with great combo of flavors.

Mixed berry shrub · Bon Appetit

Ingredients
12 ounces berries (such as raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, or strawberries), sliced or quartered if large
1 1/2 cups (or more) granulated sugar
1 cup (or more) vinegar (such as red wine, white wine, apple cider, white balsamic, or unseasoned rice)

Procedure
Gently mash berries in a medium bowl with a fork. Transfer to jar, add sugar, and stir to combine. Seal jar and let fruit mixture sit at room temperature, shaking a couple of times, until berries are very soft and falling apart and sugar is at least mostly dissolved, about 1 day (mixture should look very juicy).

Strain fruit mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl. Line sieve with a layer of cheesecloth if you want to catch every bit of seed and fruit pulp, discard fruit. Scrape any undissolved sugar left in jar into bowl. Add vinegar to syrup and stir to combine. Taste shrub and adjust of necessary. Pour shrub into a clean jar; cover with lid and chill until flavors come together and mellow, at least 1 week.

Shrub can be made 6 months ahead. Keep chilled.

To make a drink, pour 2 Tbsp. shrub into a glass filled with ice and top off with club soda; stir gently to combine. Garnish with berries and/or herbs. Thai basil is a good choice!

Butternut Sage shrub · The Spruce Eats

Ingredients
2 cups good-quality apple cider vinegar
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups cubed butternut squash
1/2 cup fresh sage leaves, from about 8 sprigs
Cold seltzer, ginger ale, or still water, for serving

Procedure
Place the apple cider vinegar in a medium saucepan over medium heat, then stir in the sugar. Lower the heat to a simmer and continue to cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.

Add the butternut squash and sage. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the squash is softened and easily pierced with a fork, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat. Lightly smash the softened squash with a potato masher or wooden spoon in the saucepan to release more flavor. Cover and steep for 3 hours.

Strain the squash and sage from the liquid using a fine-mesh strainer. Bottle the shrub, seal, and refrigerate for 3 to 4 days before using.

To make a drink, pour 1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) of the butternut-sage shrub into a glass (over ice, if you like). Top with about 6 ounces (3/4 cup) of cold seltzer, ginger ale, or water, pouring more or less to taste. Stir well.

Strawberry Shortcake in Cake Form

When my dear friend requests a birthday cake and then says strawberry shortcake is her favorite, I get to work. There are basically three elements: a great sponge cake or genoise for the layers; a strawberry filling; and stabilized whipped cream. For the cake layers I go to my baking mentor Susan Purdy for a great recipe I'm very familiar with. It's from Pie in the Sky the high-altitude cookbook I helped her with, back when I lived in Santa Fe. (Even though it's mainly for high altitudes, the book also includes a version of every recipe for sea level — that's what I used here.) It's a foolproof recipe which requires carefully following the explicit instructions and using many bowls, but it's totally worth it. The cooked strawberry filling is pretty basic but the inclusion of a little Yuzu juice keeps it very fresh and not too sweet. The whipped cream which frosts the outside is held a bit firmer with the inclusion of folded-in melted and cooled white chocolate with a little heavy cream in it. Then you just put it all together — it's divine! Of course, this would be fabulous with a cooked peach filling and almond scented whipped cream, or cherry filling and a chocolate Genoise. The possibilities are endless!



Ingredients for genoise
1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon sifted cake flour
pinch salt
6 large room temperature eggs separated
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup plus 1/2 cup granulated sugar divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon grated citrus zest (your choice)
6 tablespoons melted and cooled unsalted butter

Procedure
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare two 9 inch cake rounds with non stick spray, line the bottom with parchment, re-spray, flour pans, and tap out excess flour.

Sift flour and sugar into small bowl and set aside. Put egg whites in bowl of electric mixer,  add cream of tartar, and whisk until foamy on medium speed. Gradually whip in 1/2 cup granulated sugar increasing mixer speed to high. Whip until stiff peaks form and when you raise up the whisk the egg white peak stands firm and tall and glossy. Carefully, with a rubber spatula, remove the egg whites into a medium size bowl and, without washing the eggy bowl, return to mixer stand and add egg yolks and remaining 1/2 cup sugar and whip until mixture thickens and lightens in color. Then add the extracts and zest and continue mixing at a high speed until it forms a ribbon as the batter drips off the whisk (which will take between 5-7 minutes, depending on your mixer). Now it's time to combine parts. Start by folding 1 cup of whipped egg whites into the yolks carefully with a good rubber spatula. Then alternately fold the flour mixture and the whites into the yolk mixture. Once everything is combined, remove 1 cup of batter and put into a small bowl. Fold the melted and cooled butter into the batter and then incorporate the batters together with yet more folding.

Using a spatula, divide batter between 2 pans and place on middle rack in oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until top is golden brown and it springs back when touched. Let cool. Can be made ahead of time and frozen.

Ingredients for strawberry filling
2 cups strawberries, cut into quarters
1/4 cup Yuzu (or lemon) juice
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch stirred in 1/4 cup cold water

Procedure
Combine the berries, sugar, and juice in a sauce pan and cook over medium heat about 10 minutes, or until the berries create a nice bit of juice and get tender. Do not overcook, you want to see the pieces. Then taste for sweetness — you can add more sugar or more juice to your taste. Mix the cornstarch with the water just to make a paste and stir it into the boiling berries. Cook another few minutes so cornstach flavor cooks out. If it's too thick, add a splash of water and then let cool.

Ingredients for whipped cream frosting
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup confectioner's sugar

Procedure
In the top of a small double boiler, melt chocolate chips with 2 tablespoons of heavy cream over low heat, stirring with a rubber spatula. When everything is melted and combined, remove from heat and set aside to cool. In bowl of electric mixer, whip heavy cream until it is soft but thick. Sprinkle in confectioner's sugar and vanilla and whip a bit more. Then add melted white chocolate mixture and mix until thick. Watch closely, as over mixing can cause it to separate. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Assembly
I like to brush the cake layers with a little simple syrup to keep them moist (this is optional). Simple syrup lives up to its name — it's just equal parts of sugar and water which is boiled a few minutes until sugar dissolves and mixture is clear. You can also add some rum or Grand Marnier if you want to add another layer of flavor ... or even coffee. So place the first cake layer on a flat plate and put some of the whipped cream in a pastry bag and pipe a tube around the edge of the cake to keep the strawberry filling in place then put half the filling on top of first layer and smooth it out. Next top it with the second cake layer. Repeat the edge piping and berries. Then take the whipped cream in a pastry bag with a star tip and make festive little stars in rows up the sides and eat all of it. Happy end of summer!

 

Winter Jams

Even though it's winter, you can still play with fruit! At my new job, I get to do all sorts of fun projects. My current new favorite task is making the jams and jellies we serve with our breakfasts. Now, this will probably get even better in the spring when my palette of seasonal ingredients expands, but for now I am finding all kinds of great recipes to explore. We use them up so fast that I do not have to get involved in the canning process so I have not included it in the instructions, but it's not that complex and you can find excellent instructions elsewhere online. Here are 4 to try at home:

Grapefruit and Campari Marmalade

Ingredients 
6 pink grapefruits (or Ugli Fruit, which I used)
2/3 cup Campari
5-6 cups sugar (the amount is based on volume of prepared fruit)
Procedure
Peel the grapefruit, remove the white pith, and cut the rinds into 2-inch pieces. Bring some water to a boil in a small pot. Drop in the rinds and boil for 1 minute. Drain and discard the water. Repeat two more times using fresh water each time.  When done drain the rinds well. Chop the peeled grapefruit flesh into chunks and pick out the seeds (or just use seedless ones, d'oh!). Discard the seeds. Place the chopped fruit and accumulated juices into a food processor fitted with a cutting blade and process for 1 minute, until the mixture is well-chopped and frothy. Measure the amount of chopped fruit and juice. Return 1 cup of the fruit to the food processor. and process with the rinds till they are in small bits. Now use the same amount of sugar as the total amount of the fruit and juice mixture. Place the sugar in the pot with the fruit. Stir the chopped rinds into the fruit and sugar mixture in the large heavy pot. Stir in the Campari. Bring to a boil, stirring, and reduce heat to maintain a constant simmer. Cook for 25 minutes, stirring gently to prevent scorching and boil-overs. The color will darken as the marmalade thickens.

If you have any doubts, you can test the marmalade: put a tablespoon on a small plate, put the plate in the freezer for three minutes. The marmalade is ready if it no longer is runny. Note: it's a traditional marmalade in the sense that it's a bit bitter — much like myself. This recipe makes about 12 half-pint jars.

Grilled Anjou Pear Butter

Ingredients
3 pounds ripe Anjou pears quartered, seeded, skin on
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1/2 cup water

Procedure
Take your quartered pears and brown them on a grill (or in the broiler). Combine the charred pears with all the ingredients in a large pot. Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until very tender. Run the mixture through a food mill, which will remove the peels (and any seeds you missed) and leave you with a lovely purée. Pour the purée into a pot and simmer on the stove till thickened, about 1 hour on a very low flame. Or you can roast in at 300 degree oven for about 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes so it won't stick, until it reaches the consistency you like.

Red Grape and Cassis Jelly

Ingredients
3 pounds (about 2 quarts) of flavorful grapes, Concord are best, but ruby red work well, too
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Cassis black currant liqueur
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons apple pectin
1/4 cup lemon juice

Procedure
Wash and stem grapes — don't worry if small stems remain on the fruit, since they will be strained out along with the seeds. In a nonreactive, heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring grapes, water, and Cassis to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer grapes, periodically stirring and crushing, until they've begun to lose their shape, you can see their color changing, and the liquid increases — about ten minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Set a food mill (with the smallest sieve in place) over a large, heatproof bowl or pitcher, and pour grapes and cooking liquid through. Mill until all that remains are the seeds, skins, and stems. You will have about 4 cups (32 ounces) of grape pulp. In the same nonreactive saucepan, stir grape pulp together with sugar, pectin, and citrus juice and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until the mixture registers 220 degrees on a candy or instant read thermometer. Turn off heat and skim any foam with a spoon. This will gel as it cools.


Strawberry and Vanilla Preserves with Balsamic Reduction

Yes, yes, I know strawberries are not a winter fruit, but they are really cheap right now, and sometimes only a berry jam will do!

Ingredients
2 pounds fresh strawberries, hulled and cut in quarters
5 cups sugar
1 tablespoon Balsamic Reduction (see below)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt

Procedure
In a pot, combine the strawberries and sugar. Bring to a rolling boil and cook, stirring frequently, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the berries start to fall apart and temperature of the mixture has reached 220 degrees, which means it will be nice and thick and set. Now stir in the balsamic reduction and the vanilla. Wasn't that was easy?

balsamic reduction

What's Balsamic reduction? Just what it sounds like, you take Balsamic vinegar and cook it down until the volume is reduced, and the flavor is concentrated. In a medium-sized, nonreactive saucepan bring 1 cup of vinegar to a simmer over medium-high heat, and then turn down to low. Simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes to thicken and reduce. Keep an eye on it — you don't want it to burn. When it coats the back of a spoon, you're good to go.

What do you do with less-than-perfect fruit?

Fix your fruit!
Lately I have noticed the fruit I have been buying is not so great. No flavor, bad texture, and hard as a rock. I shop in the local supermarket of the people and it seems like the fruit I bring home was harvested a month ago. Sometimes all you need to do is leave it on the counter for a week and magically the flavor emerges, but sometimes it goes from hard to mealy and mushy with no reason. So I have found some recipes to use this sub-par product and make it tasty and delicious.

Let's talk about melons. When choosing a melon, use your nose. A melon should smell like a melon and have a little give when you push on the skin. As cantaloupe ripens, the skin starts to dimple a little bit. At that point I usually put it in the fridge. If I don't think I am going to eat it soon I sometimes clean and cube the melon and put it into Ziploc bags in the freezer. Then you take it out of the freezer, let it thaw for 5 minutes, put it into the food processor and whip it till it's smooth. You will have a delicious sorbet-like dessert! Sometimes I add a little fresh mint, lime juice and honey. It's best to then put the mixture back in the freezer for 15 minutes to firm it up, but you also can eat it right out of the Cuisinart container—it feels a little naughty that way!

Another cool thing to do with melon is to roast it. I recently read about this at Food52 and I decided to explore some options. They used cantaloupe, but I had Honeydew, so that's what I used. I cut it into cubes and tossed it with cardamon, lime juice, vanilla and some sugar. Then I put it on a parchment-lined sheet pan in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. It shrunk a little but when it came out it was sweet and tender and fantastic. Use it in a fresh green salad or in cereal or yogurt.

pickled strawberries

One thing you can do with under-ripe or under-sweet fruit is pickle it. Some of you might have tried the pickled grape recipe from the archives, and now I have found and tried a recipe for pickled strawberries. This is really a quick recipe.



Ingredients
1 cup water
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1 cup sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
1 vanilla bean
6-8 whole peppercorns
2-3 sprigs of fresh mint
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
2 lbs. fresh strawberries

Procedure
First, remove the strawberry tops and slice in half or 3 pieces for the larger strawberries. Place in a large glass container, or multiple smaller glass containers. Add the cinnamon sticks, peppercorns and mint to the strawberries. In a saucepan combine the water, vinegar, sugar and vanilla beans (scraped from the pod). Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat and pour the hot liquid over the strawberries. Cover and allow this to sit for 4-8 hours in the fridge. You could also process into jars to make them shelf stable.

So, what do you do with sub-par fruit? Is it me, or was it a bad fruit year this summer?

Guest Monica Meehan: Green Smoothies

Refreshing Beverage of the Week
It's spring! It's Saint Patrick's Day tomorrow! KSFR needs your cash money! What do all these things have in common? Why, the color green, of course.

Plus, you've slacked off on your "healthy eating" New Year's resolutions, haven't you? Don't lie. And don't fret! Because here are some variations on green smoothies that are delicious and nutritious! Well, more nutritious than that diet cola you're drinking.

All of these make 2 servings. The procedure is the same: throw everything in a blender (or use an immersion blender) and whiz until you like the consistency. And of course, feel free to experiment!

Green Smoothie

via Two Peas & Their Pod
Ingredients
1 large orange, peeled and segmented
half a large banana, cut into chunks
6 large strawberries
2 cups spinach
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 cup cracked ice

Green Machine Smoothie

via Martha Stewart's Whole Living
Ingredients
6 romaine leaves, chopped
4 kale leaves, chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley sprigs
1/2 cup chopped pineapple
1/2 cup chopped mango
1 inch chunk of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 cups water

Pear and Arugula Smoothie With Ginger and Walnuts

via The New York Times
Ingredients
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 cups arugula, tightly packed
2 tablespoons walnuts
1 ripe pear, cored and peeled
1 inch chunk of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
4 to 8 tablespoons plain yogurt, to taste
6 ice cubes

Strawberry Lemon Sorbet

The Altitude Adjustment Section
I was wandering around the Internet yesterday and I stopped at Food52, which is always full of great ideas. They have started this new section called genius recipes (that might be a slight exaggeration) but this is a pretty unique recipe so I had to try it, and it's really good. It’s from the River Café in London (where Jamie Oliver got his start, but try not to hold that against them). Strawberry lemon and sugar, that’s all you need.

Ingredients
2 lemons, 1 seeded and roughly chopped and the other juiced
2 cups sugar
2 pounds strawberries, hulled

Procedure
Place the chopped lemon and sugar in a food processor, and pulse until combined. Add the strawberries and juice of 1 lemon and pulse till smooth. Taste and add more lemon if you want it tarter. Now put in your ice cream freezer and process as directed or just freeze it in a metal pan. Take out of freezer let soften a little bit, then refreeze and serve.
Note: I have also tried it with a mixture of strawberry and raspberry, lemon and lime.

Frozen Strawberry Margarita Pie

The Altitude Adjustment Section
Once again, you don’t need to heat up your kitchen to make this yummy little treat. All you have to do is prepare it at least 5 hours before you plan to serve it. Make it while you are having breakfast. Talk about multitasking! And I love this fun and easy crust!

Ingredients for crust
1 1/4 cups finely crushed pretzels
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted

Procedure for crust
In small bowl, combine all crust ingredients; mix well. Press mixture firmly into bottom of ungreased 8- or 9-inch springform pan or pie pan. Refrigerate while preparing filling.

Ingredients for filling
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons tequila
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier
10 ounces strawberry puree
1 cup whipped cream

Procedure for filling
In large bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, tequila and liqueur; beat until smooth. Add strawberry puree beat at low speed until well blended. Fold in whipped cream. Pour over crust. Freeze at least 5 hours or until firm. To serve, let stand at room temperature about 15 minutes. Store in the freezer.

The Voila

Refreshing Beverage of the Week
It's strawberry season, I think. It's hard to tell because most of the imported, available-year-round berries are totally tasteless. But maybe you bought some delicious local berries at the market and were looking for a creative beverage to use them in? It's your lucky day! Let's make a drink called The Voila, a strawberry cocktail with an adult edge, black pepper, how nouvelle! This delicious drink was created by Chef Cedric Tovar of the Peacock Alley Restaurant at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.

Ingredients
2 ounces fresh strawberry puree
2 ounces vodka
3 mint leaves
3 black peppercorns
1 strip lime zest
5 drops of lime juice

Procedure
Using a a muddler, crush the pepper and the mint in a glass. Combine all the ingredients in a shaker with ice cubes and shake well. Pour into a chilled rocks glass and garnish with a slice of fresh strawberry.

Strawberry and Rhubarb Betty

The Altitude Adjustment Section
Let's get old fashioned, shall we? This is a recipe for a dessert called a Betty -- ever hear of Apple Brown Betty? A Betty is a thrifty dessert made with fresh ripe fruit and sweetened, usually old and stale, buttered breadcrumbs or cubes. It is thought to date back to Colonial times. It is usually served with a lemon sauce or whipped cream. The most familiar version is the Apple Brown Betty, made with sliced apples and brown sugar. So why not make one with strawberries and rhubarb?

Ingredients
3 cups sliced fresh strawberries
2 cups sliced fresh rhubarb, cut into thin slices
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups bread cubes-Brioche, challah, or whole-wheat bread, you choose
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter

Procedure
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the berries and the rhubarb. Gently toss together and let sit till the mixture starts to get juicy. To make the topping, put bread cubes in a big bowl and drizzle with the melted butter and toss till well coated. You can add a bit more butter if you think it's necessary. Transfer half the buttered bread cubes to an ungreased 1 1/2 quart glass casserole dish. Pour fruit mixture over the top and then add the remaining bread cubes over the fruit. Bake in a 375 oven for 25-30 minutes or until fruit feels tender and juices are bubbling and bread is golden brown on top. Serve warm with whipped cream, custard or ice cream. So many yummy options — so little time!