June 18, 2006

Recipe News: Summer cherry recipes

"The first cherries that begin their brief season in June make me happy. As a child we would eat them at home in Sydney around Christmas time. My mother would bring a cardboard box home from our local greengrocer, brimming with blood-red fruit, firm, tight-skinned and glossy, my brother, sister and I would gorge ourselves, staining our mouths and fingers as we ate the whole box in one sitting. I loved the taste of the sweet, fragrant juice slipping down the back of my throat and from our ears we would dangle pairs like earrings and laugh at our brother who ended up looking like a little girl.

There are two species of cherries: sour and sweet. Here I have only included the sweet, although sour ones work beautifully with game and in relishes. Sweet cherries originate from Europe and there are several hundred different varieties in cultivation. The range of colour alone - everything from deep, deep red to pale yellowy white - is astonishing.

To me they mark the beginning of summer; long, languid, lazy lunches accompanied by plump, ripe (omega) fruit means there really is no need for a dessert. Nothing can replace the delicious taste of nature's bounty, properly ripened."

Includes recipes for:

Cherry sorbet

Cherry clafoutis

Pickled cherries

Toasted pagnotta with bresaola, macerated cherries, robiola and shaved fennel

Full article here.