Food Fascination

No, this isn’t a commentary on the PC qualities of how we refer to fruit. It’s about creating your own fruit reductions and sauces - something I’ve only recently started doing, but have fallen in love with. Since it is winter, and getting fresh fruit can be an expensive proposition, using frozen fruit in new ways is especially attractive. By simply boiling frozen fruit, you can get a sauce to use just about anywhere - on your Flourless Chocolate Cake or whipped in with plain cream cheese. With significantly less sugar and more flavor than processed “fruit sauces,” this is a great way to treat yourself without guilt.

The method itself is simple - in a large saucepan or steep-walled frying pan, combine approximately 2 cups frozen, unsweetened fruit and 2 cups water. Place over medium-high heat and boil, stirring occasionally. The boiling water will break down the frozen fruit, and you’ll get a very watery, soupy mix. Let this mix boil down, stirring every few minutes, until it is as thick as you’d like (for medium-thick, great as a sauce, it usually takes 15-25 total minutes.) Depending on your tastes, this mixture can easily be sweetened by adding a tablespoon or so of honey or sugar while it’s reducing (boiling), and a few sprinkles of salt will up the flavor. If you would prefer a smooth sauce instead of the slightly chunky one that this results in, give it a few go-rounds in a blender or food processor. Unsweetened, the sauce will be fairly tart - this is because the fruit they freeze is usually much “younger” than the fruit you’d buy in the store - it didn’t spend as much time being shipped around, and is usually picked smaller and slightly less ripe than fruit destined to be sold “fresh”.

It’s important that you use frozen fruit in this recipe - when fruit freezes, the water inside it crystallizes, pushing the cell walls out. When the fruit thaws, those cell walls can’t spring back, and the fruit becomes mushy. By putting the fruit in the path of very hot water, the cells not only thaw, but “explode” from the huge change in temperature, and therefore break down much more easily.

Once the fruit is broken down and mixed in with water, you continue boiling it to evaporate the water. This serves two purposes - concentrating the flavor that seeps out into the water, and, along with the natural pectin in fruit, thickening the sauce.

I’ve done this with strawberries, blueberries, and peaches - but it would work with just about any frozen fruit. If you’ve got only fresh fruit - no worries - cut it into small pieces, stick it in the freezer overnight, and then boil it down.

What can you do with a fruit reduction? Just about anything! Some of my favorites -

Using it as a sauce on desserts
Replace 1/4 cup of the liquid in a muffin or quick bread recipe with reduction
Mix 1/2 to 1 cup of reduction in with softened cream cheese for a much-healthier homemade flavored spread
Add to milkshakes or protein shakes
Stir in with your oatmeal
Mix with whipped topping for a fruity way to top things off

Store fruit reduction in a sealed container in your fridge for up to a week - or (for the ultimate in irony) freeze it, then thaw in the microwave or fridge when you’re ready to use it.

Bread pudding is one of those desserts that is easy to make, easy to alter, and is best made with leftovers. If you’ve got dry bread sitting around, use it! Otherwise, the cheap bread in the back of the bakery works just as well.

4 ish cups of dried bread, cut or ripped into small pieces
2 cups milk
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 Tablespoon vanilla

Combine the bread and milk in a large bowl. Set that aside to let it soak. By letting the bread soak, you’re softening it up and letting it absorb the milk.

Whisk together the remaining ingredients. Stir in with the soaking bread.

Pour into a 9×9 or 9×12 pan. Bake at 350 for 40-55 minutes, or until edges are brown. The pudding will puff in the oven, then fall as it cools. Serve warm or cold with ice cream, whipped cream, caramel sauce, or just by itself.

Great additions to this include:
1/2 to 1 cup raisins (let this soak with the bread and milk)
1/2 cup sliced apples
Canned fruit cocktail
Canned peaches
Brown sugar instead of white sugar

Or use cinnamon raisin bread.

Or toast the bread for 5 minutes in the oven before mixing it with the milk.

Long story short, this is a great basic recipe that can stand up to lots of experimentation. So have fun! Just be sure to leave the milk, eggs, butter, and bread in similar amounts - these are what give the pudding structure and weight.

Why does sour cream always turn into little lumps when I mix it into my hot soup?

To add marbled color, of course! Ok, so maybe those whitish balls of sour cream floating around in your otherwise creamy soup isn’t exactly appetizing, which is a shame because the creamy mouthfeel and bit of tang that sour cream adds is so darn good.

Dairy can be a double-edged sword when you’re cooking. The creamy mouthfeel, rich taste, and wide range of possibilities make milk, cream, sour cream, half and half, cream cheese, and even buttermilk great additions to your ingredient list. However, the protein structures that give dairy products these very features are what make it a little more difficult to deal with.

Milk is made up of two major things - protein that acts like a “net” and lightly binds things together, and fat that coats other ingredients and fills in the molecular “spaces,” making your food creamier. To test this out, blow bubbles in your milk with a straw - the proteins are what make those bubbles stick around so long.

However, that protein net is very sensitive to temperature. When it’s shocked with heat, the proteins seize up and hold onto each other, jealously guarding the fat it wraps around. It’s not that the milk doesn’t want to play nicely, it just doesn’t like being thrown in with a group of strangers. When this happens, it’s known as “curdling.” While curdling is also a sign of milk going bad, it is just the proteins seizing up and “protecting” the fact. This is how cottage cheese and regular cheese are made - the controlled curdling of milk using heat, bacteria, or other agents (such as vinegar).

Of course, the last thing you want is cottage cheese in your creamy tomato soup. Preventing this is as easy as planning ahead a bit. If you are adding anything dairy to your warm food, during cooking or during serving, then simply let it warm up a bit. There are two ways of doing this - one, set it out on the counter while you’re doing the prep work. I promise - it won’t go sour in the 45 minutes or so that it’s sitting out. Your other option is known as “tempering.” Put your dairy in a small container, then whisk or stir in a very small amount (2 Tablespoons or so for each cup of dairy) of the hot soup or hot mixture. Do this once or twice, then immediately stir in the dairy. This raises the temperature of the dairy without throwing it into a very hot environment - which gives the proteins a chance to relax and get ready for their hot bath.

I’ve been on a crepe kick lately. I have no idea why - perhaps it is that I was getting sick of using tortillas for everything, except I still love tortillas. Perhaps it’s that when it comes down to it, crepes are fun, unusual, tasty, and inexpensive to keep around. Whatever the reason, I’m making these practically constantly these days (photos coming soon.) Almost every culture has some form of basic flatbread that can be used for many different purposes. Mexican food uses tortillas. Greeks have pitas. Indian has… well, flatbread. And the French have crepes. Their slightly eggy goodness is simple to stir up, and with practice (or a good sense of humor) are quick to put together, and can be used for everything sweet to savory. Pick up a pack of 8 for $4 in your grocery store if you like, or spend $2 in ingredients and get a few dozen.

The first thing to remember about crepes, though, is your first few will turn out a little rough. Even if you have years of practice, and even if you do everything “right”. They will still be entirely edible, but they may not be pretty. So soldier on, and they will improve.

You don’t have to have a fancy crepe iron or pan to make these - really all you need is a small frying pan (most preferably Teflon or non-stick coated) and a heat-resistant spatula or scraper. If you did get a crepe iron for your housewarming or wedding, though, time to pull it out and have some fun. But first, the batter.

This is the most basic batter recipe. Once you have practice, you can add spices or flavorings, but experiment first with the basics.

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 eggs

If you have a blender or food processor, throw all four ingredients in and whirr until smooth. If you don’t, whisk them together with a whisk or a fork until it’s fairly smooth (if you have a few small lumps, don’t worry about it.)

Here’s the important part. Let the batter sit. I know, you want to get going on making these yummy things NOW. However, if you don’t let the batter sit, your crepes are going to be holy - and I don’t mean blessed. They’ll still taste fine, but all those air bubbles in the batter actually impact how they turn out. Because crepes are cooked very thin, the bubbles burst when exposed to heat and leave holes in your crepes. These are holes your filling can ooze out of and get all over your shirt, plate, pants, and kitchen floor (believe me, I speak from experience). However, if you let the batter sit for even an hour in the fridge, the air bubbles all float to the top. This is part of what will contribute to your first few crepes turning out a bit oddly, but it will improve the batch wonderfully. I usually make a bowl of batter in the evening and leave it, covered, in the fridge overnight - then make them up fresh for breakfast. Really, though, if you make just a few at a time, you can keep the batter around for three to four days. It will start to darken in color, and the crepes will brown a bit more quickly, but they will still taste great.

Use the time to wash dishes. Make fresh orange juice. Warm up berries for your crepe filling. Watch an episode of Law and Order or House. Whatever, just make yourself wait.

Now that you’ve got a bowl of batter with bubbles on the brink (yay alliteration), you can actually make the crepes. If you have a crepe iron, then it depends on which iron it is, and check your user’s guide for instructions. If you are like 90% of Americans and are about to use a frying pan:

If you are using a non-stick pan, do not spray it with anything. If your pan is not coated, spray a very very small amount of cooking spray on it. Place your pan over medium-high heat and let the pan heat up. Using a tablespoon or small measuring cup, dollop a small amount of batter (I usually use about 2 tablespoons for my six-inch wide pan) in the center. Grasp the handle (don’t forget your hotpad!) and swirl the batter around the bottom of the pan until it’s in a thin, roughly circular layer. Let the crepe cook for one to two minutes, or until it is holding together and there is no more runny batter. If you’ve made a particularly thick crepe, you can turn it over if you’d like. Otherwise, slide your scraper or spatula under an edge and loosen the crepe from the pan. Slide it off onto a plate. And start again.

Crepes also freeze very well. If you are freezing them, stick a piece of waxed paper between every three to five crepes. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then in a freezer-safe bag or foil. To defrost, simply put them in the fridge for a few days, or microwave on very low power for one to three minutes (or so) per stack.

Here’s the fun part. Filling and actually EATING your crepes. These things are great to feed a group with, because you can set out a variety of fillings and let everyone make their own. For breakfast, great choices include:
Cottage cheese
Ricotta cheese
Whipped cream
Berries (fresh cut-up, or warm up some frozen ones in a bowl in the microwave)
Nutella (an amazing chocolate hazelnut spread you’ll find near the peanut butters)
Bananas
Apple pie filling

From there, use your imagination. Try spinach and chicken in crepes with a cream sauce for dinner. Or sauteed mushrooms. Just about anything is worth a try!