Cherry Recipes

[SJwith2girls]

Alright ladies I need some good sweet cherry recipes.....my Cherry tree is getting ready to drop 30+ lbs of cherries any day now.

2 years ago (didn't get any last year) I made 7 pies, a batch of regular and a batch of freezer jam. (and froze 20 cups) And to be honest I wasn't impressed with the recipes I used. I froze the pies and baked them when I was ready to use them. They were really liquidy.....there was no added water in the recipe. I'm assuming it was just the cherry juice and maybe the defrosting?

I used certo recipes for the jam. The regular was way too sugary (They don't have a certo light recipe for cherries) and the freezer jam required 1/4 cup lemon juice and all I could taste was the lemon. Perhaps I'd be better with another brand of pectin???

Also any thoughts on what to make with the cherries I freeze??

TIA,

[cblurose]

Wish I lived near you.

Here are a bunch listed here...

http://homecooking.about.com/library...e/blfruit1.htm

Not sure about this next one...

Main-Dish Cherry Quinoa

1/2 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbs. vegetable oil
One 14-oz. can chicken broth
1 cup quinoa, rinsed, drained
2 Tbs. chopped mild green chilies (canned)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. milled pepper
2 cups pitted fresh sweet cherries
8 oz. cooked pork tenderloin, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Prepared salsa (see note)

Saute onion and garlic in oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir often. Add broth, the well-rinsed quinoa, mild green chilies, salt and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 12 to 18 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Fluff mixture with a fork and gently stir in the pitted cherries, pork and parsley. Serve with salsa, if desired.

Use a half-pound or so of leftover roast pork loin, grilled pork chops or pork tenderloin. To quickly prepare the tenderloin, slice thickly and pound to flatten. Quickly saute the slices in a small amount of oil in a large skillet, about a minute on each side. Avoid overcooking or the lean pork will toughen. Let slices cool, then cut into strips or bite-size pieces and toss into the quinoa pilaf with the sweet cherries and fresh parsley.

Note: Recipe tested with Paul Newman's new peach-tomato salsa. A pineapple salsa would pair well with this dish, too.

Yield: 6 servings
Preparation time: 25 minutes if pork is already cooked
************************************************** *

This one sounds delish...

Baked French Toast, Cherry Topping

1-1/2 cups milk
6 eggs
1/3 cup maple syrup
3 Tbs. sugar, divided
1 Tbs. grated orange peel
1/8 tsp. salt
8 slices French bread (4-1/2"x3-1/2"x1/2")
4 cups pitted fresh sweet cherries, halved
1/2 cup orange juice
Vanilla yogurt

Combine milk, eggs, maple syrup, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, orange peel and salt. Pour half of the mixture into each of two 9-inch square baking dishes. Dip both sides of each slice of bread in milk mixture. Arrange in the same baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Marinate halved cherries in orange juice and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar overnight in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature for best flavor next day, an hour before serving. About a half-hour before ready to serve, preheat oven to 400 degrees, rack set in center.

Carefully transfer the soaked French bread slices to a nonstick, buttered baking sheet using a large spatula. Allow excess liquid to drip into pan used for soaking. Bake in a preheated 400-degree oven for 15-18 minutes. Turn slices over halfway through baking time. Top each slice with 1/2 cup of the orange-marinated cherries and a dollop of vanilla yogurt.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Preparation time: Marinate overnight

************************************************** ***

Sweet Cherry Ice Cream

2 C. very ripe sweet cherries
1 1/4 C. sugar
1/4 C. water
1 large egg
1 C. half and half
1 t. vanilla extract
3 C. heavy cream

Place the cherries, sugar and water in the top of a double boiler. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, to allow the fruit to soften. Take out 1/2 C. of the cherries and drain the juices back into the pan. Puree the rest of the cherries. Roughly chop the 1/2 C. of cherries and mix back into the puree. Chill.

Add the half and half and egg to a blender and blend until smooth. Whisk in chilled cherry mixture. Add the heavy cream and vanilla. Blend well. Chill.

Transfer mixture to your ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

Makes slightly more than 1 quart.

[CheaperByTheDozen]

Can I be your best friend. LOL! I would just flash freeze them and take them out of the freezer when needed. Especially for things like smoothies. I could live on those... just some yogurt (homemade of course) and 2 or 3 kids of fruit, flax seed, and ice cubes and I am set. YUM....

[SJwith2girls]

Yeah it is too bad I couldn't ship them.....I could start my own fruit stand. (at the end of the summer I'll have raspberries coming out my ears)

I have pitted and frozen quite a few. (In fact if I dug deep enough in my freezer I might find a couple of bags from the last harvest) I hadn't thought of the smoothies....that's a good idea. The kids would love them.

Well I went out and bought some Quinoa. I've never tried it before....in fact I hadn't heard about it until a week ago when I was reading about it in another thread. So I think we are going to give it a try for dinner in the next couple days....

I'll let you know how it goes....