Kill two birds with one cherry stone

Cherries are in season right now which brings joy to my heart.  I love dark red Bing cherries straight up. I love soft, pink springtime cherry blossoms in Japan (sakura). I love the song Cherry Oh Baby originally sung by Eric Donaldson and later re-recorded by a particular favorite of mine - UB40.  I love the cherries jubilee I made for Valentine’s Day.  I love black cherry ice cream.  And, I especially love cherry cobbler but don’t make it for two reasons – I hate to pit cherries and I don’t think they get done enough by the time the cobbler topping is baked.

As I contemplated the pound of cherries in the sink in front of me, I had a sudden and wonderful plan. What if I precooked the cherries on the stove top and THEN popped out the pits? It seemed reasonable enough to me, so I washed and de-stemmed the cherries and put them in a pan with 1/3 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water. I let them simmer on low for 40-45 minutes until the cherries were completely soft then removed the pan from the burner. Once they were cool enough to handle, I plucked the cherries out of the dark red juice, easily extracted the stones one by one and returned them to the pan. To thicken the juice I added 1T cornstarch mixed with 2T water to the cherries and stirred over a med-high burner until bubbly and poured the perfectly cooked, pitless, nicely thickened fruity mass into a 1.5qt oval baking dish I’d sprayed with nonstick spray.

To prepare the topping, I put two cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 t baking powder into my food processor and gave them a couple quick pulses then added 6T cold, cubed butter and pulsed until the mixture resembled course cornmeal. In a separate bowl, I whisked together two eggs, 6T milk and 1t vanilla then added it to the food processor. A few quick pulses to just combine the wet and the dry, and I was ready for assembly. As I previously wrote in Cobbler, Crisp, Crunch, Crumble, a cobbler resembles a cobblestone street, so I dropped spoons of topping onto the fruit as such. I put the cobbler into a 400 degree oven (on a cookie sheet to catch any drips) for 20 minutes until the topping was a nice golden brown.

Now, all I have to do is wait for it to cool a bit and make the important decision – vanilla ice cream or not?

(Speaking of cobbler, I made Mark Bittman's savory tomato cobbler the other night for dinner and it was absolutely fabulous!  http://content.markbittman.com/node/21)

Leftovers again?

I had company this weekend which prompted me to "show off" my cooking a little.  Now, I don't mean show off like "nah nanny boo boo, see what I can do" but more like inspired to go the extra mile to make the food a little more special, a little richer, a little more...well, everything.  This resulted in making a little more than we needed which means we have a little more than a few leftovers. And, if I do say so myself, they are GREAT leftovers. 

Friday night we had Cook's Illustrated spinach lasagna that called for layers of a spinach and Béchamel sauce mixture, lasagna noodles, and three kinds of cheese: whole milk cottage cheese and freshly grated Fontina and Parmesan cheeses (My Microplane® grater made quick work of the Parmesan.  How did I ever get by without it?).  When I went to the store looking for Fontina cheese, I could only find Fontinella.  I was perplexed.  It seems to look and smell (yes, I sniff cheese) similar to Fontia, so I bought it hoping it would do.  When I got home and did a little research, I discovered it seems to be an acceptable if not entirely accurate substitute for the Alpine region specialty cheese.  Regardless, it melted well and gave the dish a wonderful texture and rich flavor. 

I also used the Barilla no-boil noodles.  I got hooked on these a few lasagnas ago.  My Cooks Illustrated recipe lists these as a favorite but recommends they be soaked in hot water for five minutes to reduce cooking time.  It did.  Amazingly, my lasagna was done in 40 minutes as opposed to the 2-3 hours it normally takes.

Saturday I made Alton Brown's Coq A Vin (the two bottles of wine dish sans pearl onions).  It was a very time consuming recipe to make but the results were way worth the trouble.  I got a little panicked about halfway though cooking when I noticed the wine had turned the chicken a delightful shade of purple and the onions edges and garlic an ink blue.  However, my worries were in vain.  By the time it finished cooking, the color had mellowed to a rich burgundy.  Served over egg noodles and paired with green peas in a cream sauce - it was a fabulous dish to behold (and eat). 

(I am no wine connoisseur - not by any means - but think the Beringer Founders Estate 2007 Pinot Noir I bought to be quite tasty.  What?  You think I would serve something without first sampling a wee bit?) 

We finished Saturday's meal with cherries jubilee.  I'd never made this simple combination of dark cherries, lemon rind and juice, sugar and rum cooked into a sauce and served hot over vanilla ice cream but found it to be the perfect finish to our Valentine's Day meal.  (PS - I didn't torch my eyebrows when I flambéd the rum - unlike the cognac and cream sauce episode.) 

While there is plenty of lasagna and Coq A Vin, there are no leftover cherries.  So, aside from any additional dessert, I don't have to cook the rest of the weekend.  My only problem is deciding which leftover to serve for dinner today.  Somehow I don't think there will be any complaints with either choice.