"cherry" news and stories

Cherries Jublie is one of those foods that I've heard of but never had, like Baked Alaska or Pig's Feet or Mutton. Is Cherries Jubilee something that you set on fire, or is it the name of a stripper from some movie or TV show I once saw?

It's something you set on fire! Flambeed, to be exact. A cherries and liqueur dessert that is often served over vanilla ice cream. Here's a recipe from WhatsCookingInAmerica.net, and here's another variation from CooksRecipes.com.

Well, I told you about the cherry smoothie I made from the summer cherries I put into the freezer for safe-keeping. A lot of good those will be to me in the fall since I subsequently used them all for a liquid breakfast every morning thereafter until they were.

What I didn't tell you is what I did with the cherries I kept fresh on the counter. You, my Slashfood faithful friends, suggested clafouti to spare my fingers the chore of pitting cherries, as well as a multitude of recommendations for what I should do with the result of my gluttonous run at the market. I took the advice of a few and made...

...cherry sauce.

Remember when I asked all you, my favorite Slashfoodies, for some suggestions for what to do with a glut of cherries back in July? There were some great suggestions in the comments, with quite a few cheers for clafouti (because I bemoaned having to pit them), cherries jubilee, and among a bunch of other ideas.

Well, I took some of your ideas over the last month and made some stuff, which I'll be sharing with you this week. First up, it's a cherry smoothie, which I realize is pretty boring, but it had to be done because 1) life for the last month required speed eating which often translates into liquid lunch, and 2) with that many cherries, I had to put at least half of them in the freezer. Of course, I pitted the entire basket first (using a knife - very painstaking), spread them onto a tray, then placed them into the freezer. The next morning, I was so excited about having frozen cherries, I blended them into a smoothie so I could enjoy them right away.

There's no real recipe here, but I'll let you know what I put into mine because I felt like a million bucks after drinking it. Blend together: ½ c. nonfat yogurt, 1 c. frozen cherries (pitted, duh), and enough pomegranate juice to make it the consistency you want (I used about ½ cup). I don't add any sugar, though a friend suggested a drizzle of honey. Pour into a tall glass, drink up, and you'll feel like a superhero.

Stay tuned for slightly more exciting things I did with the cherries!

Several days ago, I asked you, my beloved Slashfood readers, for help on what to do with about a bazillion cherries I had picked up. One of the overwhelming responses was for a cherry clafouti - the French dessert-t thing that's made with a pancake batter and fruit. I am not yet telling you what I am doing with the cherries -- it may or may not be a cherry clafouti -- but until I post that, here are eight cherry clafoutis from around the food web for your viewing, reading, and perhaps eating, pleasure:

1. Noshtalgia is cheery about cherries
2. Amy does Julia Child's recipe
3. 28Cooks uses sour cherries
4. You might get a muffin top if you eat the clafouti from MuffinTop
5. Mahanandi is the one in the picture
6. Clafouti from Becks N Posh is not for the Frenchman
7. Lucullian Delights adds a little spice
8. Smitten Kitchen's clafouti is a cliche come true

My Slashfoodie friends, I am at a loss.

I have about a bazillion (yeah, so I exaggerated when I said "gazillion") cherries sitting on my countertop, and I have no idea what to do with them besides wash them and just eat them straight out of the bowl. I have used dried cherries in baking and during the autumn, and lately, I have been throwing frozen cherries into my morning smoothies. However, I have never used fresh cherries in cooking.

The reason I have yet to cook with fresh cherries, I think, is that the idea of standing in my kitchen squirting cherry red juice all over my kitchen floor and my clothes, possibly knicking my fingers on a fruit knife, and basically staining my fingers a lovely shade of red for days to come -- pitting fresh cherries -- does not appeal to me. If I'm going to go to all that effort to take out the stones, I'd just as soon pop that cherry into my mouth standing right there.

So Slashfoodies, I am asking for your help. Share with me, your favorite recipe using fresh cherries that will most definitely make my time and sanity pitting cherries in the kitchen worthwhile, will you? Breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert -- anything!