It can be Summer all Year for you and your Food
Monday, May 5th, 2008
If you have a year-round farmers’ market, ask if the seller dries their own produce and fruits. Natural-foods stores and farm stands are a lace to find dried fruits, but most commercially dried fruit is treated with sulphur dioxide to help preserve the fruit’s original and natural looking color. So stay way from those.
You can pretty much add dried fruits to anything you like. Adding some thinly sliced dried nectarines, dried cherries, dried currants, dried apricots, or even dried figs to salads, oat meals, and stews and cooked meats, such as roast or turkey at holidays to add a special and tasteful pop to the dish.
Try this dried fruits recipe:
Fruit and Honey Compote
Serves: 4 to 6
1 1/2 cups dried apricot halves
1/2 cup dried pear halves
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup currants
Zest of 1 lemon
1 cinnamon stick
3 tbs. honey
1 cup orange juice
1. Cover the apricots, pears and cherries with warm water and soak for 4 hours or overnight.
2. Drain and transfer the fruit to a 2-quart baking dish with the currants, lemon zest and cinnamon stick.
3. Mix the honey with the orange juice and pour over the fruits.
4. Cover and bake at 375°F for 20 minutes. Remove the cover and bake another 15 minutes. Serve warm or even at room temperature.
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Earthly Eating Recipe
Savory Ribbons with Creamy Sauce
Serves: 4
1 package noodle saffron ribbons
2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 med. red bell pepper, diced
1 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup unbleached white flour
2 cups soymilk unsweetened
1 tsp. mirin
1 tsp. sea salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced into thin half-sliced
2 tbs. fresh parsley, minced
Cooke the pasta as the package directs. Drain and set them aside. To make the sauce, heat the oil in a medium skillet and sauté the garlic and peppers for 1 minute. Combine flour, vegetable broth and soymilk. Mix to dissolve the flour. Slowly add the soymilk mixture to the skillet, whisking constantly until the sauce thickens, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the mirin, salt and pepper. Simmer 1 minute. Turn off the heat, add the avocado and gently toss in the pasta. Garnish with parsley and serve.
Happy Eating!
