Saturday, July 17, 2021

Bon Appétit: Triple-Cherries Jubilee


When you think about old-timey, 1950's-ish era desserts, I think one of the images that comes to mind is a saucepan on a rolling cart, with blue flames licking the sides, and a beautiful syrup of cherries in the bottom.  I have literally never had this at a restaurant, but that's still the image that comes to my mind.  So of course I had to see what the fuss was about.  Much like Bananas Foster, this dessert comes together pretty quickly and actually makes a pretty not-too-sweet topping for ice cream or pound cake or angel food cake or whatever dessert item you want to spread it on.  Plus, it's dessert with a show.

Note: I used Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream as my base.  I recommend you do, too.

Triple-Cherries Jubilee
From Bon Appétit magazine, September 1999

1 (1-pound) bag frozen dark sweet cherries, thawed
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon cherry juice, divided use
½ cup dried tart cherries
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
¼ cup thin matchstick-size strips orange peel (orange part only)
⅓ cup kirsch
1 quart vanilla or cherry-vanilla-swirl ice cream

Place sieve over bowl. Add thawed cherries; let drain. Pour drained juices into heavy medium skillet; set cherries aside.

Mix 2 cups cherry juice, dried cherries, and sugar into the skillet with the drained juice. Scrape in seeds from the vanilla bean; add bean. Boil sauce until reduced to 1½ cups, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes. Mix arrowroot with remaining 1 tablespoon cherry juice in a small bowl. Whisk into sauce. Boil until thickened, about 1 minute. Discard vanilla bean. Mix in drained cherries and orange peel.

Heat kirsch in skillet over low heat. Remove from heat. Carefully ignite kirsch with match. Carefully pour flaming kirsch into sauce. Scoop ice cream into bowls. Spoon sauce over.

Makes 6 servings

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