Cherry Butter

I love cherries.  When they are in season I eat loads fresh, and I make cherry pies.  This year I decided to make cherry butter, same idea as apple butter.  There is no butter involved, but the texture is thick and smooth.  I made three batches; the first was an experiment.  I used cherries, a bit of brown sugar, some maple syrup, red wine vinegar, lemon, and a bit of water.  After hours of cooking on low heat, the mixture shrunk to about 25% of the original volume.  I then used an immersion blender to smooth it out.  Since this was an experimental batch, I didn't use much, so I didn't end up canning it, just put it in a jar and fridge.  I've been using it on rye toast when I have a hankering for something sweet.

The next batch I made with 8 cups of frozen cherries I had from last year.  I pitted and froze them, measured out for what I need per pie.  Since I didn't use those two bags (4 cups each), I made cherry butter.  I like pies made out of fresh fruit much better anyway, but homemade cherry pie, even when the fruit is frozen, is still way better than any store bought pie.  This batch I made with red wine, a merlot, and some brown sugar, no maple syrup.  It has a slightly different taste.  Eight cups of cherries yielded 2 236ml jars of cherry butter.

The third batch was made with bourbon and lime juice instead of lemon.  I made 2 x 236 ml, and one 125 ml jar.  Bourbon and cherries  are awesome together, though the merlot, as well as the red wine vinegar turned out well too.

I don't have measurements, because I didn't measure anything.  Those 8 cups of cherries were pre-measured for pies.  Amounts aren't all that important for these cherry butters, just taste while it's cooking, and adjust flavours to your liking.  Can in a hot water bath, as you would any preserves, for bout 10 minutes, then wait for the lids to pop.

This is definitely worth the time and effort.

Saffron Scallops

I love scallops, they're probably my fave seafood, followed by oysters.  I miss the East Coast for the tasty fresh sea treats.

If you know me, you'll know that I don't do diets.  I probably don't work out as much as I should; I walk as much as I can, and bike when the weather permits.  I do yoga each morning, and sometimes some weights or cardio.  Thing is I love fat, and I probably eat more than I burn, so recently I was told about a two-consecutive-days-carb-free "diet".  I don't do diets, and even when I try it ends up like me following a recipe, where I have to change stuff up and make it my own.  So the idea is to not eat carbs for two consecutive days, easy enough, since I don't eat processed simple carbs, the pastries are debatable.

I tried this "diet" last week and this week, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Apparently I was supposed to lose nine pounds.  I lost two, and gained it all back as soon as carb free days were over last week, this week so far I haven't gained the two pounds back.  Thing with this "diet" is that during those carb free days, you're also supposed to consume mainly "low fats" (whaa?!), like turkey, lean fish, and olive oil - not gonna happen, no potatoes - fine, and more veg than fruit - also fine.  It's the low fat business that's the issue.

Anyway, the carbs I consume on any average day are rye, oats, quinoa, millet, barley, buckwheat, spelt, wheat berries, rice (brown, wild, basmati, short grained for risotto; I recently discovered short grained brown rice, which takes close to an hour to cook).  I do eat egg noodles.  Point is I don't eat the kind of carbs that this "diet" is wanting to eliminate and my guess is that if I only could eat less of the good high fats and get more cardio in, I'd be fine.  By no means am I over weight, but Id' like to be more toned, without having to purposely "exercise".

All right, so the scallops I used were from Nova Scotia; actually Digby, NS is supposed to have the world's best scallops, or at least one of the best; I had them at two different restaurants, and they were amazing.  PEI has the same situation, but with oysters, from Malpeque Bay - also delicious, and they have annual oyster festivals, chowder and shucking competitions, all loads of fun.

Scallops are best pan fired in butter, obviously  :)
I also like them with saffron and butter.
These scallops were frozen, so I defrosted them before they went in the hot pan.  I was told by a fisherman that scallops are always frozen, even when they are sold "fresh" at the supermarket.  I think they are frozen right away on the fishing boats to preserve freshness.

So, the scallops still had a lot of liquid in them, they probably could've sat in the colander a bit longer, and when I use saffron, I like to fry them longer than usual.  You don't want to fry them too long, just until they turn opaque white, flip them over so both sides get seared.  If they are cooked too long, they shrink a lot and become hard(er).

Melt butter, add saffron, make sure the pan is hot, add scallops, stand them vertically, on the ends where you can see fibbers/ rods, you want to sear them.  My scallops had lots of liquid, so I could've taken them out once they turned white, but I wanted the liquid to boil down and get thick.

You can see the liquid evaporating.

As it boils down it thickens quite a bit: 

And we get a lovely, delicious thick sauce:

Since I made these on carb free day, I served the scallops with asparagus and green and yellow beans.
I normally roast/ bake the asparagus, but this time I made it in a pan with butter.  Once they are on the plate I sprinkle them with salt and pepper, grate parm cheese, and squeeze some lemon juice.  There are days in the summer where that's my meal on it's own.  The beans were also done in a pan with butter and a sprinkle of sea salt.

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