Framboise Marthe Food

FRAMBOISE

Steps:

• Pick over raspberries and discard any soft ones. Place berries in a clean 4-quart glass jar. Add the vodka, cover with a lid, and let steep for about 2 months in a cool, dark place. Stir every few weeks.
• Line a large strainer with a triple layer of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Strain the mixture through it. Bring the corners of the cheesecloth together to make a bag. Twist the ends and squeeze to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the pulp.
• Wash the jar and return the liquid to it. Let stand for about 2 hours. If there is sediment at the bottom of the jar, pour off all the clear liquid into a clean container and filter the remaining cloudy liquid through a coffee filter, changing the filter occasionally to speed up the filtering process.
• Combine the sugar and the water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil, stirring, for 2 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature.
• Add about 1 3/4 cups of the sugar syrup to the liqueur and taste. If necessary, add more, about a 1/4 cup at a time, until you arrive at a satisfactory sweetness. The amount of sugar syrup will depend on your taste buds and the sweetness of the raspberries. I like it less sweet, so this step is important to me.
• Pour the liqueur into clean, dry bottles, and cork them.
• Drink within a year before the color and flavor fade. Best stored in a cool, dark place.
• (I like to wax my bottles. Get a clean tin can and put in a small pan of boiling water, then add about 1/4 block of household paraffin wax. Turn off the heat. Add a colored crayon or two, broken into pieces, and stir with a plastic spoon or a popsicle stick, until everything is melted. Place everything on several thicknesses of newspaper. Check the color of your wax on the newspaper, add more crayons if needed to get the color you want.
• Immerse the top of the firmly corked bottle so that the wax covers the first 2 inches, remove it and allow to cool for a few seconds, then dip it several more times, always allowing it to cool between coatings, until you can no longer see the cork through the wax. Let wax set until firm. (Sometimes I sprinkle glitter into the outside layers of the wax, it adds an even more festive touch!). Then add a homemade label, ribbons, rafia, whatever!

EASY RASPBERRY PASTRIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Unfold puff pastry onto a cutting board; cut crosswise into 5 equal strips.
• Spread 4 strips with raspberry jam, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar. Stack coated strips; top with remaining strip. Freeze until firm, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. With a serrated knife slice stack crosswise 1/4-inch-thick placing slices on baking sheets as you work, 4 inches apart. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.
• Bake until puffed and golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool slightly on baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

TARTE FLAMBEE

Steps:

• Make the dough: In a medium bowl, whisk yeast and sugar into warm water to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add flour and salt and stir with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough is formed. Knead on a lightly floured work surface until dough is slightly tacky. Be careful not to incorporate too much flour while kneading.
• Lightly oil a large bowl. Transfer dough to bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let stand in a warm place until nearly doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Place a pizza stone on floor of a gas oven (remove racks) or bottom rack of an electric oven. Preheat oven to 475 degrees for at least 45 minutes.
• Make the topping: Place bacon in a medium skillet and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until lightly browned and crispy, about 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.
• Drain all but 1 tablespoon bacon fat and place skillet over medium-low heat. Add onions and season with salt and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 12 minutes. Remove onions from heat and set aside to cool.
• In a small bowl, mix together creme fraiche, egg, and coriander; season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
• Punch down dough to deflate; divide into 4 equal pieces. Working with one piece of dough at a time (keeping remaining dough pieces lightly covered with plastic), roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface into a rectangle about 10 inches by 8 inches, stretching with fingers if necessary. Using a pizza cutter trim a scant 1/8 inch from edges to make even.
• Transfer dough to a lightly floured pizza peel or the back of a baking sheet. Using an offset spatula, spread one-quarter of the creme fraiche mixture evenly over dough, spreading as close to the edge as possible. Top with one-quarter of the bacon, onions, cheese, and thyme.
• Gently shake pizza on peel to ensure that pizza will slide easily onto pizza stone. Open oven door and align the front of the peel with the back of the stone; swiftly jerk peel backward to release pizza onto one side of the stone. Bake, rotating with a large spatula halfway through, until crust is crispy and golden, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Remove pizza from oven and top with additional creme fraiche and thyme leaves. Repeat process with remaining pieces of dough. Cut into squares and serve immediately.

HOMEMADE FRAMBOISE

Steps:

• Place raspberry concentrate, vodka, sugar and orange juice in a clean jar with a tight fitting lid.
• Seal tightly and shake jar until sugar is blended.
• Let stand at room temperature for a least 2 weeks for flavors to blend.
• Shake jar occasionally.