2011 New Years Resolution is to play with a new ingredient every week in my cooking. Criteria is as follows - I must not have used the ingredient before, no recipe is to be used more than once, the recipe can reflect inspiration from another but must be my own work, and the end product must be edible!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Ingredient 40 - Cherries

Cherries are truly seasonal fruits, featuring on kitchen tables mostly from November to January.

The cherry tree will produce its first crop after 6-8 years and will continue to produce edible fruits for up to 100 years. Cherries are picked with care, as they will not ripen post-picking. The stem is also keep intact to the fruit until eating time to prolong its life.

Cherries are a great source of Vitamin C as well as containing many valuable antioxidants to help keep the body healthy. They are also a great nutritional snack with 100g providing only 210kJ.

A simple yet scrumptious Christmas salad!

Roasted Cherry and Goats Cheese Salad

700g cherries
70g pine nuts
1 packet baby spinach leaves
100g goats cheese
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp light olive oil
1 tsp sugar

  • Preheat oven to 140°.
  • Gently remove seeds from cherries by firstly slicing into hemispheres and then popping out seed with a knife.
  • Lay on a baking tray, drizzle with 1 tbsp red wine vinegar and roast in slow oven for 15min.
  • Remove the cherries and allow to cool slightly.
  • Toast pine nuts in oven for approx. 7min or until golden.
  • To make dressing whisk vinegar, oil and sugar together.
  • Place the spinach leaves in large shallow bowl, top with cherries, scatter the pine nuts and crumble the goats cheese on top. Drizzle over dressing and toss well to combine.


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