Fruit Confit Food

FRUIT CONFIT

Steps:

• using a vegetable peeler peel off grapefruit rind in strips.
• using a sharp knife cut grapefruit into sections over a bowl to catch the juice.
• add grapefruit sections, rind, juice, and all ingredients to a saucepan.
• bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer, partially cover and cook 30-40 minutes.
• spoon into small jars, cover tightly and refrigerate.
• this keeps for a month or more.

CONFIT OF CITRUS FRUITS

Steps:

• Cut lime, orange, lemon and grapefruit into thin slices. Then cut each slice of the lime, orange and lemon into 4 quarters. Cut the grapefruit slices into eighths.
• Make a syrup by boiling sugar, water and lime zest for 15 minutes. Strain. Cool, then steep citrus fruits overnight in the syrup.

CLEMENTINE CONFIT

Steps:

• Heat oven to 275 degrees.
• Arrange the clementines in a single layer in a small baking dish that fits them snugly. Heat sugar and 1/2 cup/120 milliliters water in a small saucepan and simmer until the sugar is dissolved. Pour over the clementines, stirring gently to coat.
• Bake, stirring every 45 minutes or so, until the segments are slightly translucent and tinged brown on the edges, 2 1/4 to 3 hours. Cool completely. Use immediately or cover and store in the syrup. The clementine confit will last for a week at room temperature.

GARLIC CONFIT

Steps:

• Cut the tops off the garlic bulbs, place on a clean working surface, and press down firmly with the flat part of a large knife to separate the cloves from the bulb. Remove the skins and discard.
• Pour oil into a very small pot; add garlic cloves and thyme.
• Turn heat to medium and cook until bubbles start to form. Lower the heat to the lowest possible setting and cook until garlic is soft but not brown, 20 to 25 minutes, depending on the size of the cloves.
• Place garlic cloves and oil in an ice cube tray and freeze until firm, 2 to 3 hours. Remove frozen cubes from the tray and store in a freezer bag.

CONFIT OF WINTER FRUITS

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients except grapefruit in heavy large nonreactive pot. Using vegetable peeler, remove peel from grapefruit in strips. Cut peel into matchstick-size strips. Using small sharp knife, cut all white pith from grapefruit. Working over bowl to catch juices, cut between membranes to release segments of grapefruit and squeeze juices into bowl; discard seeds. Add peel strips, grapefruit segments, and collected grapefruit juice to pot. Bring confit to boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover pot, and simmer confit until fruit is tender, stirring occasionally, about 40 minutes. Cool completely.
• Spoon confit into small (1- to 2-cup) jars. Cover tightly and chill overnight. (Can be made 1 month ahead. Keep chilled.)