Archive for June, 2011
Chef Merrick Schoenfeld’s Cherry Guanabana Smoothie Recipe
Posted by: | CommentsHappy Summer Solstice! Today we are sharing our friend Chef Merrick Schoenfeld’s deliciously exotic frozen Cherry Guanabana Smoothie recipe!
What is guanabana? Also known as soursop, guanabana is a fruit indigenous to Central America and also grown in Southeast Asia. It’s flavor? Additively tart, with notes of lime or citrus, strawberries, and bananas. Sadly, guanabana is rarely imported to the US, but the frozen pulp or the nectar juice may be purchased at a Latino grocery store or an Asian market. In a Latin market you can look for frozen Goya Guanabana Puree, and Chef Merrick says you may substitute Goya or Jumex Nectar juice by simply freezing beforehand. If you are shopping an Asian market, it will be in the frozen section as Soursop puree.
For more from Chef Merrick, consider purchasing his cookbook Jungle Fusion, which features modern recipes using healthy fruits and vegetables while celebrating the culture of Costa Rica. We’ve made several of his recipes and they are consistently simple to follow and truly amazing.
Cherry Guanabana Fruit Smoothie
Total Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 2
Ingredients
- 1 cup guanabana or soursop frozen puree
- 2 cups pitted and frozen cherries (Merrick likes Ranier)
- 2 cups ice
- 1.5 cups water
Cooking Directions
- Blend the guanabana puree and the frozen cherries together. Pour, add straws, and enjoy!
Chef Schoenfeld (far right) at the James Beard House
Cherry Love: Chef Michael Symon’s Pickled Cherries
Posted by: | Comments
Chef Michael Symon loves to pickle things. In his cookbook “Live to Cook”, he devotes an entire chapter to it, with recipes for pickled ramps, chilis, onions, tomatoes, kraut and more. The chef says “what began at Lola as a way to preserve the best food we could find became part of the defining style of our dishes. It’s not only allowed us to deliver dynamic flavor, but also has enhanced and deepened our relationships with local farmers by making it possible to buy more of their produce during their growing season and use it throughout the year.”
Michael recommends serving these refrigerator pickled cherries as a sweet and sour condiment with duck, pork belly, foie gras, or a blue veined cheese and bread. Another option would be to dice the cherries, add chicken broth and reduce via simmer for a saucier topping for poultry or pork. Note that the cherries may be kept in the fridge for up to a month, they may have a touch of color fade or wrinkling, but will still taste delicious.
Buy the book here (check the rave reviews!), and follow Michael on Twitter here.
Pickled Cherries
Chef Michael Symon
Makes about 2 quarts
Ingredients:
2 pounds bing cherries
2 cups red wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 strips orange zest, removed with a vegetable peeler
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 bay leaf
Instructions:
Prick each cherry with a fork several times and put them in a nonreactive jar or container.
Mix the vinegar, sugar, salt, orange zest, black peppercorns, cinnamon sticks, coriander seeds, and bay leaf in a nonreactive saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat so the liquid simmer, and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cook for 10 minutes.
Pour the liquid over the cherries (they should be completely submerged). When the concoction is completely cool, seal or cover the cherries, and refrigerate for up to 1 month.
Craving more cherry recipes? Check out Chef Bugher’s Cherry Basil Pasta recipe, and Chef Ben Davis’s Cherries with Chianti recipe.
Cherry Love: Chef Bugher’s Cherry Basil Pasta
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s a winner! For day 2 of our Cherry Love Fest we bring you a very quick summer recipe from Chef Chris Bugher, Special Events Chef at The Cooking and Culinary Institute in Huntington WV. Chris’s orzo pasta recipe with cherries, basil and feta won first place in the Cherry Marketing Institute’s “Powered by Red” contest this Spring.
Cherry Basil Orzo Pasta
Chef Chris Bugher
Ingredients:
1 cup fresh or frozen tart cherries
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup dried pitted chopped dates
4 ounces feta cheese
1/2 pound orzo pasta
1/4 cup fresh basil chiffonade (chiffonade is basically a cutting technique for herbs that is simple. Stack the leaves, roll them, and then cut them to produce fine strips.)
Salt to taste
Directions:
Mix together cherries, dates, and garlic in a small sauce pan on low and heat until dates are rehydrated.
Meanwhile boil orzo pasta in salted water for 8-10 minutes.
Drain pasta, stir in cherry mixture and feta cheese.
Season with salt and garnish with fresh basil.
Serves 6-8
Continue on with the superfruit cherry chef recipes! Part one features a to die for delicious Tuscan dessert recipe, Cherries with Chianti.
