Elderflower and Prosecco Gelée with Fruit

This isn't the first time I've posted a wine gelée. I'm crazy about them. I had an old Jamie Oliver recipe for an Elderflower/Prosecco gelée sitting on my desktop for ages and then while recently reading through Deborah Madison's dessert book, lo and behold there was a gelée and fruit recipe. I loved the way she presented it.... such a light and summery looking dessert. But I also preferred Jamie's idea of using elderflower liqueur (mainly because I have a lovely bottle of St~Germain) and Prosecco so I combined the two recipes. Whether that makes this my invention I have no idea, so  consider them both credited for this recipe.

Let's talk a bit about elderflower liqueur. I splurged on a bottle originally because it was an ingredient in a very special mixed drink I was making for a luncheon. I've since been won over: try an Elderflower Martini; and Elderflower liqueur is lovely to sip by itself, but with a splash of champagne or club soda, yum. It's also wonderful poured over sorbet or vanilla ice cream. So many drinks, so little time. LOL.

There's an interesting story behind this particular liqueur. Please note that most of this information and the quaint photos are from the St~Germain website.

St~Germain is the first liqueur in the world created in the artisanal French manner from freshly handpicked elderflower blossoms. These fragile flowers begin to lose their delicate fragrance and flavor very quickly.

When the delicate, white elderflower blossoms are at their peak, men gather sacks of them from the foothills of the Alps. There is only a 2 to 3 week window of blossoming.

French farmers are organized to deliver sacks of the elderflower blossoms to local depots, some using specially rigged bicycles.

The flowers are sent to the distillery quickly and macerated—steeped in alcohol to absorb almost all of the aroma, flavor and color—in order to maximize freshness and flavor. The manufacturing process is secret, but involves eau de vie, distillation and the addition of citrus and cane sugar. Take a whiff and a lychee aroma hits you right away. Then there’s a bit of peach, some orange that evolves to grapefruit, and maybe some pear. Really, sheer heaven.

With this recipe, you'll find elderflower liqueur makes the wine gelée very special. I've made port wine gelées, white wine gelées, but until I came across Jamie's recipe, I had never thought of an elderflower and Prosecco combition. The Prosecco bubbles actually stay in the gelée and fizzes a bit in your mouth when you eat it. But what sold me on combining  this with Deborah's idea was her cubing of the gelée. Brilliant idea. Larger molds are always pretty, but the fruit is forever popping to the top, unless you are extra cautious about not adding them until the gelée is nearly set. And then you have to worry about unmolding. An unmolded wine gelée has to be perfect. This is not rocket science, but Deborah's method is so much easier. And a tad more casual.

I sprayed a 9" square pan with Pam and then poured in the gelée mixture, covered and refrigerated it overnight. The next day, I took a sharp knife, cut around the pan and then cut the gelée in small cubes. I used a spatula to release them. You can use whatever fruits you like and as many as you like. And I liked the increased amount of sugar in Deborah's recipe...don't worry, it's still not that sweet. In fact, I really prefer a dollop of sweetened whipped cream on top of mine.

Elderflower and Prosecco Gelée With Fruit

Ingredients:
1-1/2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin (1-1/2 tablespoons)
1/4 pint of elderflower liqueur
1-3/4 cups Prosecco

1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3  cup superfine sugar
Fresh fruit (I used mango, blackberries, raspberries, kiwi and blueberries)

Method:

Sprinkle the gelatin over 1/4 cup cold water to soften. Heat the liqueur and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Add the softened gelatin mixture and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat for a minute or so and then add the Prosecco. Immediately pour into a 9" square pan, cover and refrigerate overnight. The next day, use a knife to cut the gelée into squares and layer with fruits of your choice. Serve cold. Garnish with mint or a dollop of whipped cream.

Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherry Clafoutis

Oh my. You're gonna love this. And it's an amazingly quick and easy dessert too. Especially when those heavenly dark cherries appear in the market or, if you're lucky enough to be in Michigan, at one of those delightful roadside stands. My daughter and I would drive along Michigan's M31 on the way to Petoskey, stop and buy cherries and spit the seeds out the window. (Now we'd probably be arrested for littering.) Anyway, I wasn't sure I'd have enough left to make this I was so busy snacking on them.

Deb at Smitten Kitchen came up with this recipe in July of 2007. She used the Ceres & Bacchus’s Plum Clafoutis recipe which, oddly enough, had question marks for some of the ingredient amounts. I had to scroll down and read all the comments before I found the numbers. Basically, it's a Yorkshire Pudding recipe. With fruit. Sort of. It puffs up and ends up looking like a cross between a custard and a cake.

Smitten Kitchen says: "Larousse Gastronomique and other traditionalists insist that the pits impart an almond flavor when baked within the custard, something no authentic clafoutis should be deprived of." 
So I did. I left the pits in (oh so much easier on the chef) and just warned everyone so there weren't any unexpected trips to the dentist.

Calfoutis are considered one of the glories of the French peasant table. It's best served warm and eaten the day it's made, but Deb also suggested trying it for breakfast the next morning with yogurt, something I couldn't do 'cause there wasn't a speck left. If you're thinking it would be too sweet, you're wrong. It's really not an overly sweet dessert at all.
 

And here's a surprise: clafoutis are always made with cherries. If you use other fruit (and please do.... use any fruit you like) it's called a Flognarde. (pronounced flow  nyard)

I'll try not to post too many cherry recipes ( I also found some Rainier cherries in the same market) in the next few weeks, but will space them out here and there. Rather like my rhubarb recipes. I do apologize for getting on these obsessive fruit kicks. But I did make something really healthy last post, right?

Cherry Clafoutis
From Smitten Kitchen, July 2007

Ingredients:
2 cups black cherries
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup flour
1 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons rum (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 400°. Butter a glass pie pan, round baking dish, large cake pan or oven proof skillet. Scatter the cherries (with or without pits) evenly over the bottom.

Beat the eggs and sugar with a whisk until lighter in color. Gradually add the melted butter, beating to incorporate. Add the flour all at once and whisk until the batter is well mixed. Slowly add the milk a little at a time. Then the vanilla and the rum, if using. The batter should be smooth and very shiny.

Pour the batter slowly over the cherries and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until slightly browned and almost set in the middle. Allow to cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

           Happy Memorial Day to everyone!

A Quinoa Salad

Before we talk recipes, let's get down to some quinoa basics. It's pronounced keen-wa and I've been seeing it all over the food blog world. But this is the first time I've ever made anything with it.  It's referred to as a grain, but technically it's not. It's actually a seed of the Chenopodium or Goosefoot plant. It's used as a grain and substituted for grains because it cooks like a grain. The plant grows from 4 to 6 feet high and the flower heads are branched and when in seed have large clusters of seeds at the end of a stalk.

Beets, spinach and Swiss chard are all relatives of quinoa. I was surprised to see how small the seeds are, not much bigger than the head of a pin.

I like to know a little history about anything new, don't you? If you'd rather not, skip the next few paragraphs.......

Quinoa has been cultivated in in the lush Andes mountains of South America since at least 3,000 B.C. and has been a staple food of millions of native inhabitants. It was known by the ancient Incas as the mother grain and was revered as sacred. Quinoa was so sacred for the Incans they broke the ground with a golden tipped shovel at its first planting to show respect. This grain was also part of their religious ceremonies.

In 1532, Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish explorer, reached the Andes with a small army and in one year's time destroyed the quinoa fields, killed the god-king Atahualpa, and forced the Inca culture into submission.


Under Pizarro's rule they were forbidden to practice any ceremonial rituals that centered on quinoa. Fortunately, quinoa still grew wild in the higher altitudes where it could be hidden from the Spaniards. Small amounts were consumed in secret. Still, the culture of the Incas had been changed forever. For centuries quinoa fell into obscurity until the revival of interest in the 1980's.

At this point quinoa made its way north of the Equator to the United States and Canada and has grown in popularity since then. Two entrepreneurs from Colorado learned of this seed/grain from a Bolivian. They developed test plots in the central Rockies and began test marketing in 1985. However, most quinoa sold in the United States is imported from South America and it can be found in most natural food stores in the U.S. Many countries have now begun to recognize the importance quinoa could play in providing a healthy and sustainable food source for centuries to come. It's been referred to as the "Supergrain of the Future."

The quinoa seed contains an almost perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids needed for tissue development in humans, contains more protein than any other grain, some varities more than 20%! The seeds are also gluten-free, light, tasty, easy to digest and a rich and balanced source of other nutrients. It's still not a common item in our pantries, but if the food blogs are any indication, it soon will be. You can also use quinoa flour to make pasta and a variety of baked goods like pancakes, bread, muffins, and crackers.

When I'm looking for information about healthy eating and grains, I always turn to Heidi at 101 Cookbooks. Don't we all? So I searched her site for quinoa recipes and look what I found:  Big Delicious Bowl; Lemon-scented Quinoa Salad; Warm and Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa; and Quinoa and Grilled Zucchini. She's obviously sold on quinoa! 

When you're ready to start cooking with quinoa, be sure to rinse the seeds to remove their bitter resin-like coating, which is called saponin. Quinoa is rinsed before it is packaged and sold, but it's best to rinse again before using. I just put quinoa in a strainer and rinsed it well with cold water, swishing it around. The seeds cook in only 15 minutes. I found quinoa to have a fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and a somewhat nutty flavor when cooked.

Due to the relatively high oil and fat content of quinoa, the grains and flour should be stored in glass jars in the refrigerator. Use the grains within a year and flour within 3 months.

Now, on to my recipe. It's a quinoa salad, which looked so pretty in the photo (and had bacon on top...while not exactly healthy, certainly pushed me over the edge.  LOL. Don't worry, it's optional.) that I just had to try it. It's quite similar to a pasta salad I make which is what attracted me I suppose. I found this gem of a recipe in Florida Table Magazine, which I love and have blogged about before. BTW: this particular issue features Florida's Top Chefs, one of which, Michael Schwartz, chef/owner of Michael's Genuine in Miami, is a favorite of mine and has just won the James Beard award for Best Chef, South!  Well deserved I might add.  And his pastry chef, Hedy Goldsmith, was a semi-finalist! It's a "don't miss" restaurant if you're ever down Miami way. And you really should subscribe to this quarterly magazine, people. It's a gem.

Anyway, if you've been debating about trying quinoa, this is a great way to start.

Quinoa with Black Beans, Corn, Tomatoes and Basil
Adapted from Florida Table Magazine, Summer 2010 Isssue

Ingredients for salad:
1 cup quinoa
4 ears fresh corn, roasted and kernels cut from cob
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
3 scallions, finely sliced (my addition)

Ingredients for dressing:
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup washed and dried basil leaves (I made a chiffonade with them)
1/4 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper to taste
Bacon crumbles (optional)
Fresh basil for garnish

Method:
Soak quinoa in water, covered, for 30 minutes. Drain and rinse well with cold water. Put into a stockpot with 1-1/3 cups water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer and cook, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork and allow to cool.

Roast corn and cut the kernels off. (I drizzled some olive oil on the corn and roasted it, turning once in a while, in a 400° oven for about 20 minutes or until it turned golden. It would be delicious done on a grill.)
  
Toss the quinoa with the corn, black beans and tomatoes. Make the dressing by blending the olive oil, vinegar, basil and cumin together. Season to taste.Dress the salad with about half the dressing (more if you like) and garnish with basil leaves and crumbled bacon. Keep chilled, but remove from fridge about 30 minutes before serving.
Serves 4.

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