Recently I have spent a lot of time canning jams and preserves. I have always wanted to do it in the past but never got around to it. This year I decided not to slack off and I have invested a lot of time in learning how to prepare the fruit and how to can it to preserve it for the months to come. In reality, this is not hard at all, just a bit time consuming getting all the jars sterilized. I started with a very basic recipe...strawberry preserves. I decided to cut the sugar in half because of how much it required. in the middle of it all I was reading up on the technique of making jams without added pectin and I realized that there is a science to it. You really need all that sugar to make sure it gels up. How dumb of me not to follow directions! Oh well, I decided to proceed since it was too late.
Fortunately the fruit did gel up for me and the jam came out delicious! It is very spreadable and it works just like any other jam. I am not sure what experts would say about this, all I know is that both Tony and I loved it! I spread some of this jam on a slice of homemade brioche...the thought of this combination makes my mouth water! I have made other recipes as well and I will post them soon. Just to tease you here is a preview of a few: fig, orange and rosemary jam; vanilla spiced pear butter; and spiced peach jam.
I had some leftover strawberries and I decided to use it to make a strawberry and apple galette for my reunion with some members of The Scholar Ship. Quick summary, back in 2007 I traveled on a cruise around the world with 200 international students for one semester. I met a lot of great people on this trip and I am fortunate to now have friends all over the world. Every once in a while I meet up with a few of them and it is such a special treat. I think the bond that we created on the boat is so strong that we will continue to keep it as we grow old. It is now 2011 and we are still meeting up across the world. I have been fortunate to meet up with many here in the Bay Area, in New York, Paris, London and soon in the Dominican Republic.
This time around it was Jarin and her lovely parents who came to visit us and of course we showed her a great Bay Area time! I hosted the lunch at my place and we ate Tony's amazing paella (I love this dish and it feeds a lot of people!) This day was truly an amazing one...I really love my TSS buddies!
I prepared my burnt milk with toasted coconut ice cream (recipe to come soon) the day before our reunion as I knew it would compliment the strawberry and apple galette. It sure did! Viewing all my friends eat this dessert made me feel warm and fuzzy as I could tell in their face that they loved every bite! Hope you enjoy this recipe and the one for the strawberry preserves!
Whole Strawberry Preserves
1.5 lbs fresh, medium sized and perfectly ripe strawberries
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
Remove stems from strawberries and place in a large bowl and cover with 1.5 cups of sugar. Toss to coat and set the strawberries aside for 2-3 hours until the sugar starts to dissolve and the strawberries start to juice.
Place the berries in a colander over a large saucepan. Leave the juices in the pot and set the berries aside. Add the remaining 1/5 cup of sugar to the pot and bring to a boil, stirring constantly until dissolved. Add the berries into the pot and simmer for 10 minutes.
Take off the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Transfer the berries to a large shallow dish and allow the berries to cool. Cover and leave overnight.
The next day return the berries to a large pot, bring to a boil and simmer until it reaches 230 F.
Ladle the preserves into sterilized jars, cool and cover. Store the preserves in the fridge for 2-3 months or seal and process the jars to store the jam for up to a year.
Makes two 8oz jars
Strawberry and Apple Galette
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut in pieces
2 eggs
2 cups of strawberries, sliced
2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
powdered sugar
Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor, and process for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds. Add one egg and process for no more than 30 seconds.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface. Roll dough into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. Press down to flatten the dough, into a disk. Refrigerate at least 3 hours before using.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface. Roll dough into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. Press down to flatten the dough, into a disk. Refrigerate at least 3 hours before using.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut large circles of dough with a cookie cutter or make one galette. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place some apples on top, then strawberries. Sprinkle with a bit of sugar. Fold edge of dough over fruit. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Brush crust with egg wash and sprinkle galette with sugar. Bake until crust is golden and underside is cooked through, about 20 minutes for small galette and around one hour for a large one (make sure to check galettes as they cook to ensure you don't burn them). Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.
Makes one large galette or 5 small ones.
Makes one large galette or 5 small ones.
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