Raspberry Puree

Raspberry puree - It comes off as fancy, but like so many of my other tricks, it couldn't be simpler. It's a wonderful compliment to many things; as a coulis under a slice of flourless chocolate torte, drizzled over pound cake, or vanilla ice cream. I have put it in an ice cream machine before, and it magically turns into the best raspberry sorbet - smooth and tangy. To be honest my favorite way to eat it is straight out of the bowl, right off the spoon. In this morning's brunch, we layered it in a yogurt granola parfait. For a great granola recipe, check out this prior posting.

I love to use frozen raspberries in this recipe because it creates a frothy texture in the final product that wouldn't happen if you used fresh or thawed.



Raspberry Puree:
(this recipe can be doubled)

In the food processor combine one large bag (10-12 oz) of frozen raspberries with 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, and 1/8 cup water. Pulse until the mixture has the appearance of a sorbet. If it gets very stiff, add a few more tablespoons of water and pulse again. At this point, taste the mixture - you might need to add more sugar. If needed, add two tablespoons at a time, pulsing again, and tasting after each addition. You can always add more, but you can't take it out. Each batch of raspberries will have a different degree of tartness - so there really isn't a static amount of sugar for this recipe.

Pour this mixture into a fine sieve over a bowl. With the back of a large soup spoon, push the mixture through. The sieve will catch the seeds and the puree will go through into the bowl. This is probably the most difficult and surely the most time consuming part of this recipe.

Kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator, this puree will last at least a week.

Granola.

Granola is something I've been making for a while now. My father-in-law loves the stuff, but he's particular about not liking it with dried fruit. So I searched and searched for an easy recipe, one with few steps, that does not call for fruit. A few years ago Fine Cooking had a piece about making granola for the holidays. I think they even suggested packaging it up for cute little gifts. It's been a hit ever since I made the first batch.



Granola
(based on Fine cooking, Dec 2005)
Toss 1 cup chopped pecans with 3 cups oats. (as mentioned in a previous post, I would highly suggest McCann's or another stone ground oatmeal) Add 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp cinnamon to the dry mixture.

Bring 1/2 cup brown sugar to a boil with 1/4 cup water. When brown sugar has dissolved, add 2T vegetable oil and 1 t vanilla to the sugar syrup.

Pour liquid mixture over the dry. Toss until coated. Bake at 300degrees for 25 minutes. Toss after 15 minutes. Warm granola will come out of the oven slightly soft. It will harden as it cools.

varieties:
*if you like it sweet, you might want to increase the syrup proportions by 50%.
*add 1/4 sesame seeds, flax seeds or other grain that you'd prefer
*add 1 cup dried cherries (just don't tell John)
*add 2 T maple syrup to the simple syrup
*add 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

uses:
*sure, breakfast
*toss in your yogurt in the morning or if you're ambitious, yogurt parfaits
*pour over vanilla ice cream with homemade toffee sauce (Nigella's recipe here is to die for)