Lamb Chops with Dried Cherries and Port

This was a delicious sauce. And so quick and easy. Not overly sweet, even though I used sweet cherries.  The original recipe called for pan juices but we grilled the lamb chops instead and the sauce still had great flavor. I wouldn't change a thing except I'd give the dried tart cherries a try next time. Definitely a keeper, it was great with chicken the next day, too!

Lamb Chops with Dried Cherries and Port

adapted by There's Always Thyme to Cook
source: Bon Appétit, April 2008 - Bon Appétit Test Kitchen

Printable Recipe

6 lamb chops, sprinkled with salt and pepper and grilled

2 teaspoons olive oil
2 chopped shallots, fine dice
3/4 cup ruby Port
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup dried tart cherries (I used sweet dried Bing cherries)
3 tablespoons cherry jam
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
salt and pepper, to taste
chopped fresh parsley

Heat oil in heavy medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots to skillet; sauté 1 -2 minutes to soften. Add Port, broth, cherries, jam, vinegar, and cardamom; boil until cherries plump and liquid is syrupy, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon sauce over lamb. Sprinkle with parsley.

Joining 

Beth at Beth Fish Reads for her fun Weekend Cooking Party. Every weekend. It's open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share! Go on over and see some fun posts.
 

and

 Food on Friday at Carole's Chatter 

 

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If you have the time...

try making your own Cherry Butter. It's so good. All you is need patience and about 4 hours! Well, we all know how much patience I have, but the good thing is you don't really have to do anything but stir every 30 minutes. Not a bad thing. You can get stuff done around the house. I did laundry. Big deal, there will be more tomorrow.

We love cherries, fresh, cooked, in a pie, in a preserve, in a BBQ sauce. So why not try making Cherry Butter. It's not easy to find around here at the store, Apple and Pumpkin seems to be easier to find.I had to be home all day so I figured, why not? I used frozen cherries. Not finding fresh here in the month of March, and no way was I pitting hundreds of them. I'm a bit lazy. Frozen works perfectly. I've used frozen before making Cherry jam. It's fine.

I tried finding a Cherry butter recipe online, not many out there to make, but tons to buy. So instead I found a couple of recipes to give me an idea of what to do, then found some Apple butter recipes to get some more ideas. I wasn't going to can it for long time storage. I'm just keeping it in the refrigerator, it'll be all gone before we even know it anyway!

Basically it's just a couple of ingredients and some spices if you like. All you need is time, time to stir and stir and stir. After about three or four hours at medium-low heat, it gets thick and spreadable. It's done. Be careful to stir at least every thirty minutes and keep the heat low. Your patience will be rewarded well. Cherry butter is a smooth and sweet treat. You taste the fruit, the cherry flavor really comes out when it's slowly cooked down. It's fantastic on toast, pancakes, crackers, or even drizzled on top of some ice cream. Try spreading it on a slice of toasted pound cake, or as a filling for cookies. Endless possibilities, all delicious.

It gets thick by reducing and reducing and reducing. Nothing in it but cherries, some sugar, use more or less what you like, and any spices you want, I used cinnamon and nutmeg. You can add allspice or cloves if you like, or nothing at all. A little squeeze of lemon juice brightens the flavor. And I found out from a friend that I can skip the stove top altogether and just put the whole concoction in the oven at 350°F and let it simmer away for a while. Stir it occasionally. No scorching, no burning. That's my kind of recipe. Definitely next time!

A while back I was in a canning phase, and made a few different types of jam. Cherry Jam was at the top of the list. It's so good. The Cherry Butter is a little different from the jam. They call it butter but there's no butter in it, it's just a spread.  A smooth, silky spread, and to me, a little easier than making jam. And next time it's going in the oven, I like taking the easy way out! And it beats getting splattered :)

Cherry Butter
recipe by Carol @  There's No Thyme to Cook
Printable Recipe
yield: more or less, about 2 pints

2 lbs cherries, fresh or frozen, pitted (I used 4 12-ounce bags of frozen dark, pitted cherries)
1 1/2 cups sugar
big squeeze of fresh lemon juice, about 1 tablespoon
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 vanilla bean, split

Put the cherries in a large dutch oven on medium-high heat and cook, covered for about an hour. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir, cover, but prop open the lid so the steam can escape. Bring back to a boil; reduce heat to medium, and stir the pot every 30 minutes. After another hour, pour the cherry mixture through a food mill and then return it to the pot. Heat on medium-low for a few more hours until the cherries have reduced and become very thick, stirring every 30 minutes or so. If it starts to stick, lower the heat a little more and keep stirring. Keep the lid on but not tight, so that the steam can escape. When it's reduced and very thick, take it off heat. Pour into sterilized jars and store in the refrigerator. Mine got very thick when it completely cooled in the frig. Don't overcook!

Note: You can also simmer it in the oven at 350°F for a few hours, stirring occasionally, remove when it gets really thick.

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Joining Suzy from Kitchen Bouquet for another Flashback Friday!

Joining Beth at Beth Fish Reads for her fun Weekend Cooking Party. Every weekend. It's open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share!

Joining in on the fun at Sweet as Sugar Cookies for Sweets for a Saturday!

Joining Mary at the Little Red House for Mosaic Monday. Stop by the Little Red House to see more mosaics!

 

and joining Debbie from Dining with Debbie for What's On the Menu Wednesday!

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Wings and things...

FRIED WINGS! 

Two ways - Cherry Chipotle and Buffalo! 

Extra saucy!

Buffalo Wings
Source: Cindy5_NY
Printable Recipe

4 lbs chicken wings
flour for dredging
optional: cayenne pepper, salt
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup Frank's hot sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vinegar (I omitted)

Separate wings at joints, snip off wing tip. Dredge in flour (mix in optional cayenne or salt) and choose method of browning:

*deep fry in 2" oil, 10-12 minutes  (I used a bit more! and needed to cook a little longer, I crowded the pot, not a good idea)
*brown in skillet, 5 minutes each side
*bake at 425 for 35 minutes on sprayed sheet, turn once
*grill, until browned and crispy all over

Meanwhile, combine sauce ingredients, simmer until slightly thickened, coat browned wings with sauce.

Serve with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing. 

And for the Cherry Chipotle Wings, I just used half of the wings I was frying and mixed them up with our favorite sauce...

Cherry Chipotle Sauce
Source: Food and Wine Magazine, June 2005
recipe by Grace Parisi
Printable Recipe

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped (I just sliced the onions, it'll get whizzed up when you use the stick blender or food processor)
8 ounces cherry preserves (3/4 cup) (I use a bit more!)
1/4 cup minced seeded chipotle chile in adobo sauce (I use 2 – 3 chipotle's, and leave them whole – it’ll get pureed when you put it in the processor or blender. I use an immersion stick blender)
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup cider vinegar

In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Add the onion and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until bubbling, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer the mixture to a food processor and process until fairly smooth. Transfer to a bowl and let cool before using. The glaze can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

NOTES : Use this spicy, smoky, sweet barbecue sauce to glaze grilled meat or poultry in the last few minutes of cooking. It can also be served on the side.

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It's been a very busy few days at our house, we have a new, very unexpected addition! 

And puppy makes three...

This is Frankie! He's part Rottweiler, part your guess is as good as mine!

Maybe Lab, maybe not! But he stole our hearts. And now he is keeping our other two dogs very busy, not to mention me :)

Joining Mary's Mosaic Monday. For more mosaic's stop by the Little Red House!

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Hot Hot Hot Cranberry Sauce

I love fresh cranberry sauce, and don't get me wrong, I love the jellied kind in the can, too! Cranberry sauce is the one thing I can fool around with the recipe on the holidays to change things up! So this time I looked and found one made with cherries and cranberries. It sounded very good. Like a jam recipe I used to make, except this had the addition of ginger. I left out the ginger! Then there was one with jalapeno's that looked good to me. I love the combination of sweet and hot. So why not? I played around with the recipe and ended up not using ginger and adding a half of a jalapeno. It turned out to be the hottest jalapeno I ever tasted. Yeah, you guessed it. I rubbed my eyes. I scratched my nose. All with jalapeno hands! OUCH! This would have killed Grandma for sure. Good thing we warned her ahead of time!  This time anyway :)

At first I thought, this is pretty disgusting tasting, the amaretto together with the really hot jalapeno, but I kept tasting it, and it grew on me. The big kid liked but it was too hot, the picky one didn't even try.  The Griller can't have cranberries but I know if he could he would have liked it but with a lot less heat. Wouldn't even offer it to Grandma. So I packed it up to schlep it to our friend's Thanksgiving feast! Too hot for most, but whoever had it, found it somewhat addicting. Not sure why, but we ended up finished the whole batch. I'll make it again. But I would check the jalapeno first!

Cherry-Cranberry Sauce
Source: original recipe SELF - November 2010 by Jennifer Iserloh
adapted There's Always Thyme to Cook
Printable Recipe

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 bag (15 ounces) frozen or fresh cranberries
1 bag (10 ounces) frozen cherries
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup orange juice
some fresh orange or clementine slices
1/4 cup amaretto (next time I'll try it without it!)
1/2 -1 jalapeno, minced (depending how much heat you like!) I used a frozen jalapeno and grated it with a microplane

Heat butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook cinnamon, stirring, about a minute. If using, carefully add the amaretto and cook until liquid thickens and reduces by half, about 1 minute. Add cranberries, cherries, sugar, 1/4 cup water and a 1/2 cup orange juice. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, add some clementine slices and simmer until cranberries break apart and sauce thickens, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 1 week.

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Baked Apples

One of my favorite desserts has always been baked apples. Didn't matter what the season, I just love them. So when my niece came back from apple picking over the weekend with her daughter and brought us back a bag of Jonagolds, I knew exactly what some of them were going to be...BAKED!

I found what looked like a really nice recipe at epicurious. But I did change it a little. I omitted the figs, used walnuts instead of pecans and almonds and used apple juice instead of apple cider. I didn't baste all that much, but I did a couple of times. It's a super recipe. Loved it. Can't wait for leftovers tomorrow! It said unpeeled but I peeled one anyway. Still came out good.

 

Joining Mary's Mosaic Monday. For more mosaic's stop by the Little Red House!

Maple Baked Apples with Dried Cherries and Walnuts

Source: Epicurious, January 2002 – recipe by Claudia Fleming with Melissa Clark

Adapted by There's Always Thyme to Cook

Printable Recipe

1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

4 tablespoons roughly chopped dried cherries (I used dried Bings)

4 tablespoons roughly chopped walnuts

6 large, firm baking apples, such as Cortlands, cored but not peeled (I used Jonagolds)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces

1/2 cup apple cider or apple juice

2 tablespoons maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, dried fruit, and nuts.

Place the apples in a baking pan or casserole dish and stuff the cavities with the cherry and nut mixture. Place a small piece of butter on top of the stuffing. Pour the apple juice and maple syrup on the bottom of the baking pan, and drizzle a little on top of the apples. Bake the apples, until they are tender, about 30 - 35 minutes, making sure to baste every ten minutes.

When the apples are tender, transfer them to a serving dish and cover with foil to keep warm. Pour the pan juices into a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Simmer the mixture and reduce it until it becomes a syrupy sauce, about 10 minutes. Serve over the apples.

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Flashback Friday: Ribs and a thank you!

Just wanted to say thank you to Pam of Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner for a really great giveaway!
I never win anything, except once, a really long time ago. A pink tablecloth at a charity luncheon my mother dragged me to when I was eight. You could imagine my excitement at that!  So I was kind of shocked when I saw the post who the winner was! ME! I was pretty excited, it must be my lucky day! Of course I went right out and bought a lottery ticket. Sweet Millions!  Did you hear my name mentioned on the news? Nah, well, I didn't either :) But still my lucky day because I won a $60 coupon code to spend at CSN stores on anything Le Creuset! Thank you, Pam, for hosting such a fun giveaway!

I ordered a Cherry Red Le Creuset Tart Tatin Pan and got a free baking dish on the deal as well!

I'm looking forward to using this pan, I see tart tatin just in time for apple season, a frittata, there are so many possibilities!

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I'm just too excited from winning to cook anything, so I'm joining Suzy from Kitchen Bouquet for Flashback Friday! I'm bringing back the Cherry Cola ribs that my friend, San, had raved about and I've posted about before here. They've become a favorite in this house as well!

Grilled Cherry Cola Spareribs
Source: San, original recipe from Bon Appétit - July 2002
Printable Recipe

4 12-ounce cans cherry cola (flat)
2 cups cherry jam or preserves
2/3 cup Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce (or more to taste!)

7 1/4 to 7 1/2 pounds well-trimmed pork spareribs

Boil cherry cola in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat until reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 45 minutes. Stir in next 5 ingredients. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until mixture is reduced to 2 1/2 cups, stirring occasionally, about 35 minutes. Transfer glaze to large bowl. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Cover; chill. Bring to room temperature before using.)

Position racks in top and bottom thirds of oven and preheat to 325°F. Sprinkle ribs with salt and pepper. Wrap each rib rack tightly in foil, enclosing completely. Divide foil packets between 2 rimmed baking sheets. Bake until ribs are very tender. Cool ribs slightly in foil. Pour off any fat from foil packets. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Keep covered in foil packets and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature for about an hour before continuing.)

Prepare barbecue (medium-low heat). Cut each rib rack between bones into individual ribs. Set aside 1 cup glaze. Add ribs to bowl with remaining glaze and toss to coat. Grill ribs until brown and glazed, turning to prevent burning, about 5 minutes total. Serve, passing reserved glaze separately

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