Sour Grapes...and Pudding!

I wasn't going to toss out the bag of too-sour Green grapes I'd paid too much for anyway. Instead, I made a compote, and then (because that was kinda plain for dessert) I made a vanilla cornstarch pudding to pour it over. That was good call.

To Rescue Sour Grapes:

Make a syrup of 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. Add whatever spices you like-a vanilla bean would be great if you have an old used one lying about, or star anise, or cinnamon stick, etc. I used cinnamon, fresh ginger, and cloves. Make a syrup by boiling the hell out of it until it reduces by 1/3. Add the grapes, lower the temperature to a simmer and cook, just until some of the grapes pop.Remove grapes to a dish, remove spices, and cover with syrup. Cool, then chill. You won't know they were the same inedible sour grapes you started with. After poaching the grapes, look around the kitchen for other things to poach in the syrup. I did pink grapefruit segments which turned out delicious. If you have any syrup left, store it tightly covered in a jar in the fridge and use for flavouring sodas, tea, or just over yoghurt. Or you can make pudding-the recipe that follows is pretty good.

Cornstarch Pudding:

2 cups milk
2 teaspoons cornstarch (cornflour)
1/4-1/2 cup sugar (to taste)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter

In a medium saucepan, combine cornstarch, sugar, salt, egg yolks, and slowly whisk in the milk. Over medium heat, whisking constantly to prevent scorching, cook until the mixture comes to a boil. Cook one minute longer. Remove from heat, beat in butter and vanilla. Pour into a bowl and cover with a round of waxed paper. Cool in fridge. Whip well before serving.

Spiced Grape Compote

Over vanilla ice cream, this was the perfect dessert after a spicy tofu and red curry dinner.

You Will Need:

About a pound of grapes cut in half-I mixed red and green
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cinnamon stick
3 star anise
6 whole cloves
12 whole peppercorns

Over high heat, whisk the sugar and water together until it is dissolved and comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, add spices and simmer until syrup thickens and coats the spoon (about ten minutes.

Remove from heat, strain out spices through a fine sieve. Place grapes in a heatproof dish and pour the syrup over. Cool slightly, then chill several hours or overnight before serving.

Apricot And Fig Compote With Wine

The light in here is not helping my crummy camera any, but it is waaaay too cold to take it outside into natural light for a photo. Brrrr. Midwestern winter.



Sometimes I'm at my best using up what I have. In this case, it was some dried fruit lurking in the back of the fridge, an open bottle of red wine, tangerines and herbs. As I was juicing the tangerines this morning I didn't really have anything in mind other than drinking it-sometimes ideas just present themselves, and that's what happened here. I'm going to serve this with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

You Will Need:

10 dried figs
10 dried apricots
1 cup tangerine juice
1 tablespoon chopped crystalised ginger
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
salt to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon)
1/2 cup dry red wine

bring everything to a boil in a non-reactive pan and cook until the alcohol burns off (a few minutes). Reduce heat and simmer until thickened and syrupy. Don't cook all the liquid out as it will soak up more as it sits and cools. At some point in the cooking, give the figs a gentle poke with a wooden spoon to release some of their insides and let the liquid permeate. You don't need to chop the fruit, or mash it-just a small bit of pressure will do.

Chill, but bring to room temperature before serving.