Heights Eats

It’s been stupidly hot lately, and fresh tangy sorbet is the perfect antidote:

(or at least it helps)

We’re also in the midst of sweet cherry season, and I had to figure out how to use up the $1.99/lb cherries I got from Whole Foods.

Cherry Lime Sorbet

1 lb. pitted sweet cherries 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (from 2 limes) 1/3 cup agave nectar 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup water pinch of salt 1/2 — 1 t. kirsch (optional)

Purée everything but kirsch with with a blender, stick blender or food processor. Heat until boiling, then simmer for 5 minutes or so until cherry flavor comes through (cooking greatly intensifies it). Cool, add kirsch, and freeze in your ice cream maker.

Feel free to add a less sugar (e.g. 1/4 — 1/3 c.) if you’d like. This is a bit on the sweet side, but then again the sugar quantity makes it softer and smoother.

I’ve also picked up Jeni’s Splendid Queen City Cayenne… continue reading

Last night I had the opportunity to cook dinner, but I had no recipes in mind. So I came up with the following to add to some simple sauteed chicken breasts and kale.

Ingredients:

goat cheese or cream cheese approx. 4 oz
handful of sliced almonds or other kind of nuts chopped (optional)
handful of dried cranberries or other kind of dried fruit
last few crackers & crumbs or any kind of bread/cracker crumbs
olive oil 1–2 swishes around the pan

Directions:

mash up goat or cream cheese in a bowl with nuts & fruit
pre-heat olive oil in a medium fry pan
shape one spoonful of the mixture into a patty like shape, then roll it around in the cracker crumbs
repeat until all cheese mixture is gone
when olive oil is hot enough drop the cheese patties into the oil, cook for about 30 seconds then flip and cook another 30 seconds. Don’t cook too long because the cheese will start getting to soft.
… continue reading

On Labor Day Ben made some yummy ribs (subject of a future post) and I made a plum tart. I haven’t made a tart in forever, in fact I sent Ben on a tart pan finding mission. We tried the standard big box stores with no luck — but Williams Sonoma was open on Labor Day and of course had tart pans.

The recipe was straight forward, although it took a bit longer than I originally thought it would. Between heating/cooling and prep/rest times it wasn’t ready until after 8pm. I used the recipe for a Plum Tart with Lemon Shortbread Crust from this months Fine Cooking. I had a hard time arranging the plum slices in concentric circle in the tart pan, but over all I think it turned out good. The crust was pretty sweet, but a nice contrast to the slight sourness of the plums. Ben and I really enjoyed it, but J seemed to prefer to eat only the crust. I am looking forward … continue reading