Fruit Poached And Marinated Food

PERFECT POACHED FRUIT

Steps:

• Place the vin santo, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla bean, and zests in a large, shallow saucepan with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Peel the pears, leaving the stems intact, and scoop out the seeds from the bottom with an apple corer or melon baller. Lay half the pears on their sides in the poaching liquid and simmer for 20 minutes, carefully turning the pears once with a spoon. Remove with a slotted spoon. Poach the remaining pears in the same liquid. Snip off the hard stems from the figs with scissors. Add the figs, apricots, prunes, and the first batch of poached pears and simmer 5 to 10 more minutes, until the pears and the dried fruit are all tender.
• Chill the pears, dried fruit, zests, and poaching liquid. Remove the cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla bean before serving if you like.

FRUIT, POACHED AND MARINATED

Steps:

• Pour chardonnay into a medium saucepan. Using the tip of a paring knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean halves into wine and add pods. Add honey, cinnamon stick, raisins or currants, and dried apples and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, fill a bowl with water and add lemon juice. Peel bananas; cut them in half lengthwise and then in 2-inch pieces, and immediately place in the acidulated water. (This prevents bananas from discoloring.)
• Drain bananas and add to simmering wine. Add nutmeg. Returnmixture to a simmer, cover and simmer 5 more minutes. Remove from heat. Add almonds. Remove cinnamon stick and if you wish, add a little more nutmeg. Serve warm, topped with whipped cream or plain yogurt if desired.

POACHED FRUIT

Steps:

• Peel and dice fruit. Place Riesling in saucepan, add sugar, basil and fruit. Simmer slowly until fruit is tender. Cool and serve over ice cream.

CITRUS MARINATED FRUIT

Steps:

• Place the fruit in a large bowl, toss gently to combine. Set fruit mixture aside.
• Combine the orange juice, wine, lemon juice, and sugar. Stir well.
• Pour orange juice mixture over the fruit mixture; toss gently. Cover and chill for 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Garnish, if desired.

POACHED FRUIT

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, combine wine, sugar, cinnamon sticks, lemon peel, and 5 cups water. Place over medium heat, and stir until sugar is dissolved. Gently place nectarines in the liquid. Add more water if needed to cover nectarines. Place a square of cheesecloth over the fruit, and top with a small plate to keep fruit submerged.
• Increase heat to high, and bring liquid to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook until nectarines are tender but not soft, about 5 minutes. Remove nectarines from liquid, and allow to cool
• Return liquid to a boil, and cook until reduced to a syrup that will coat the back of spoon, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat, and cool.
• Cut nectarines in half, and remove pit. Place two halves on serving plate. Drizzle with syrup. Top each half with a dollop of creme fraiche and a sprig of mint.

FRESH FRUIT MARINADE

Steps:

• Cut fresh fruit into bite sized pieces (I use melon, peaches, apples, plums, grapes, etc).
• Mix the orange juice and Splenda together until the Splenda is well dissolved.
• Pour the orange juice mixture over the fruit, cover and chill for several hours.
• This is great for fruit that isn't quite as sweet as you like it, and is very refreshing for an addition to any meal.

DRIED FRUIT POACHED IN PORT

Steps:

• Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to very low and cover. Cook for about 30 minutes, at which point most of the port will have been absorbed.
• If the fruit is tender, it's done. If not, add 1/2 cup water, bring to a boil again, cover, and cook for another 15 minutes. Repeat once more if necessary.
• Remove the fruit with a slotted spoon, then strain the liquid to remove the spices. Serve a portion of the fruit warm, cold, or at room temperature with a spoonful or two of its juice.
• Substitute almost any sweet or neutral liquid for the port: water, oloroso sherry, red wine (add a tablespoon of sugar), sweet white wine, orange juice, and so on.
• If you prefer less-than-sweet results, add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice at the end of cooking.
• Vary the spices. Try a tiny grating of nutmeg in place of the allspice, peppercorns, and star anise, for example. Some coriander seeds are also nice.
• Since the preparation of this dish is absolutely foolproof, the challenge (and most of the fun) lies entirely in the shopping, especially since there is an incredible variety of dried fruits available, much of it of superhigh quality. In the course of fine-tuning this recipe, I tried not only the obvious prunes, figs, apricots, peaches, and pears, but also cherries, blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, and even banana. I tend toward the traditional but really enjoyed the tartness that dried pineapple added to the mixture and encourage you to experiment and find the mix of fruits that suits you best.

FRUIT BBQ MARINADE

Steps:

• Brown onions, and red peppers in olive oil. Add brown sugar, garlic, mustard, and cider vinegar. Cook for one minute on high or until bubbly. Add pineapple juice.
• Marinade meat of choice overnight or up to 24 hours.
• Cook on barbecue and baste frequently with the marinade. Near the end of the cooking, add preserves to top and allow to brown slightly.

MARINATED FRUIT SALAD

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine the cantaloupe, honeydew and kiwi. Add juice concentrate; toss to coat. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Serve with a slotted spoon.