Having trouble feeling the Christmas spirit? Go into your pantry, grab your bottle of Star Anise. Open the top, place your nose close to the opening and inhale deeply………. Christmas in a bottle!
Call me crazy, but I’ve been dreaming about Cherries over the last few weeks. I don’t know exactly why but I’m sure it has to do with some coagulation of yearning for Summer fruits, my red obsession that occurs for only, and I do mean only 1 month a year, and the idea of sweet, juicy Summertime, as they are having right now in Australia and other locales on the other side of the equator. And, the other day I saw a few bags of fresh cherries in Eataly, I think it was. I was perplexed by this but it stuck in my mind, as things like this are known to do.
got these this am in Whole Foods – they are now cheering my kitchen counter in wait
One of human nature’s great truisms is that when the best fruits of Summer are abundant and at peak flavor in the markets we don’t appreciate them as much as we should. They’re there and somehow we don’t think of the time when they are long gone, the ground is frozen and there are 6 long months until they return. Heavy sigh….. If you don’t quite get this, take a look at this morning’s photo from Matters of the Belly from Australia:
I’m jealous!
This morning I went looking around for some star anise recipes as I feel like I haven’t quite exhausted this year’s experimentation with the beautiful spice. I looked around at panettone recipes, hoping to find or make a recipe which incorporated the spice that has intrigued me for many weeks now.
It was this quote that stopped me:
“If you’re having problems with deciding on gifts, a two-kilogram box of the largest, juiciest cherries, wrapped in festive paper and placed under the tree on Christmas morning is sure to surprise and delight.” Absolutely! I get that! I would be surprised and delighted!!!!! (not to mention that if I awoke on Sunday morning and it was Summer – I’d be veeerrrryyyy delighted!) Ugh, I digress.
That this post comes from Australia didn’t deter me – as it probably would have most people. I decided this was totally appropriate for the day. It satisfied my yearning for cherries and star anise and panettone – all together with gelato, I mean, what could be better? I know it is a little far-fetched, but it can be done. If you can not find any fresh cherries, then you can most likely find some great ones, like Morello Cherries, probably in syrup in your specialty food market. Whole Foods usually has them – and you can certainly get them online.
Right about now, I’m eyeing every single purveyor of the best Italian Panettones. I confess to having a yearning for hoarding them. I also imagine myself baking them, toque at the ready and flipping them upside down in their required manner. I find this entire process and the aromas of them baking totally transporting. I do indeed have some panettone wrappers downstairs – if I have some extra time, I just might make one for Christmas breakfast.
In the meantime however, here is a quick and easy dessert that you can serve – and I don’t think anyone would be disappointed – at all! While you are out today, grab a panettone from your local grocery store.
Morello cherries – photo courtesy Gourmet Food World
photo courtesy goodfood.au
CHERRIES IN RED WINE WITH PANETTONE AND GELATO – recipe courtesy goodfood.au
500 g cherries, pitted*
750 ml red wine
1 cup sugar
1 star anise
2 peppercorns
8 slices panettone, 4 cm thick and cut to fit into individual serving bowls (toast if you’d like)
8 scoops vanilla gelato or ice cream
Place half the cherries, red wine, sugar, star anise and peppercorns in a pot and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for an hour. *If you are using bottled cherries, do not simmer them for an hour – bring the mixture to a boil and turn off the stove – let them steep for 1 hour.
Strain liquid, discarding the star anise and peppercorns. Press the juice from cooked cherries and chop up. Reduce the liquid by 1/3 and pour, hot, over the remaining pitted cherries. Cool before using. The cherries will keep in the refrigerator, in a sealed container, for two weeks.
To serve, arrange pieces of panettone into the bottom of individual serving dishes. Place some chopped cherries on the panettone. Place a scoop of gelato on top. Spoon some of the whole cherries and their reduced syrup over the gelato and panettone. Serve immediately.
ENJOY!