Blackberry Pomegranate Sangria

Blackberry Pomegranate Sangria

Ingredients:
2 bottles red Spanish table wine or other dry red wine
1 cup brandy
1/2 cup triple sec
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 cup pure pomegranate juice
1/2 cup simple syrup, or more to taste (equal parts sugar and water,
heated until sugar dissolves, cooled)
Orange slices from 1 or 2 oranges
Apple slices from 2 apples
1 cup fresh blackberries
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together and let stand in a tightly sealed container or pitcher for at least 24 hours in the refrigerator before serving.

Mixed Berry Pastries

Mixed Berry Pastries

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon flour

1 (17 oz) pkg Puff Pastry, thawed

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

Zest and juice of 1 small lemon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup blueberries

1 cup raspberries

1 cup blackberries

1 to 2 tablespoons sugar, depending on tartness of berries

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400*F

Sprinkle flour on cutting board, lay out puff pastry sheets.  Cut each sheet into four squares then place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  

Fold the corners of the squares about 1 inch inward toward the center.

Whip the cream cheese, lemon zest and lemon juice and vanilla until combined.  In another bowl, combine berries, then toss with granulated sugar.  Spoon 1 heaping tablespoon cream cheese onto the center of each pastry square.

Bake pastries 15 to 17 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool 15 minutes.  Top each pastry square with 2 Tablespoons of berries, then sift powdered sugar on top.  

Makes 8 servings

Blackberry And Raspberry Frozen Yogurt

Blackberry And Raspberry Frozen Yogurt

2 heaping cups (340g) raspberries and blackberries

1 cup (198g) sugar, divided

4 teaspoons (35g) fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 cups (340g) 2% or whole milk yogurt, standard or Greek (not nonfat)

1/2 cup (113g) heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Directions

In a saucepan combine the berries, 1/2 cup (99g) of the sugar, and lemon juice. 

Mash the berries with a potato masher until they're broken up and juicy. 

Cook the berries over medium-high heat until the juices are thickened and jammy, 7 to 10 minutes. 

Use a rubber spatula to press the berries through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl and transfer to the refrigerator to cool completely. 

Discard the skins and seeds.

When cool, whisk in the remaining sugar, yogurt, heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt until the sugar has dissolved completely. 

Chill until completely cold, at least 2 hours, in the refrigerator then churn in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's instructions. 

Enjoy immediately as soft serve or transfer the frozen yogurt to a freezer-safe container, cover and freeze until firm.

Hazelnut Chicken Breasts With Berry Cassis Sauce

Hazelnut Chicken Breasts 

With Berry Cassis Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients
Chicken:
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves 
4 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup flour or cornstarch
2 eggs, lighten beaten with 1 T. water
1 cup coarsely ground lightly toasted hazelnuts
Sauce:
1 cup fresh or frozen blackberries 
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries 
1/4 cup chopped shallots
1/2 cup water
3 T. raspberry vinegar (not balsamic) 
3 T Crème de Cassis
2 T. sugar
2 T. unsalted butter
Directions:
1. Trim chicken and pound to an even 1/2 inch thickness. Spread 1 tsp. mustard over both sides of each breast and then sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper. Set aside for 30 minutes or cover and refrigerate 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a rack with nonstick spray and set over a baking sheet. Place flour or cornstarch in a shallow bowl. Whisk eggs and water in another bow and place hazelnuts in a third. Dredge chicken in flour, shaking off excess. Dip in egg and then coat well with hazelnuts. Transfer chicken to rack/baking sheet and bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

3. Meanwhile, for sauce, place both berries in a medium saucepan. Add the shallots, water, vinegar, Crème de Cassis and sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Lower temperature and simmer, stirring often, until mixture thickens and reduces, 10 to 15 minutes. Pour mixture through strainer, pressing on solids. Return strained liquid to saucepan and bring to a simmer. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Just before serve, reheat and then remove from heat and stir in butter. Serve sauce over chicken. 

Homemade Blackberry Cobbler

Homemade Kentucky Blackberry Cobbler

2 1/2 C Fresh blackberries, washed
1 C Sugar
1 C Flour
2 t Baking powder
1/2 t Salt
1 C Milk
1 Stick of unsalted butter, melted

First you should take care of the blackberry and sugar mixture because it needs to sit for a while. Stir together just the berries and sugar in a large bowl and let it sit out for 25-30 minutes. This will coax out the juices of the blackberries so that they can be sweetened up by the sugar, and we can taste the full spectrum of the fruit–this process is called macerating.

After about 20 minutes, you should turn on the oven to about 375º and start preparing your batter.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and milk with a wooden spoon. Next, stir in the melted butter and hand-mix it until the ingredients are well incorporated and you have few clumps.

Pick out a clean baking dish– a smaller one will do– pour in the batter and smooth it out. You can choose to line it with parchment paper or not, but don’t grease the pan (there is enough butter in there already!). Finally, pour the macerated blackberries on top with all the sugar included and evenly distribute it over the batter.

Bake this promising pan of happiness in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on how golden you prefer it to be. Let it set up for a good 15 minutes so it will hold its shape. It will be bubbling like crazy and quite hot, so be careful!

This hour goes a little like this: you can hear it bubbling through the vent behind the stove, you can smell the buttery dough caramelizing with the sugar, and you can see the dotted crown of blackberries creating that quintessential golden cobbler crust. It is a marvel to have in your oven, let me tell you!

Serve warm or room temperature with warmed cream or fresh whipped cream. You can store this at room temperature with foil over it for 2-3 days, probably longer in the fridge…but it never lasts that long for me!

Rosemary Rubbed Pork Tenderloin With Blackberry Wine Sauce

Rosemary Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

With

Blackberry Wine Sauce

***

Boursin Polenta (Monday)

***

I attended a fun cooking class with a great instructor. The title was "Wine Country Entertaining". I must say I enjoyed all of the recipes except the dessert. I am not a fan of commercial angel food cake. I will pass along the recipes from this class for you to enjoy.

Ingredients:

2 pork tenderloins

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

rosemary sprigs

***

Directions:

Trim pork of all fat and silverskin. Combine garlic, rosemary, and olive oil. Rub all over the pork and let stand for 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Can be marinated day before.

***

Wrap in plastic wrap or but use no salt in marinade as it will dehydrate meat. This marinade contains no acid to "cook" the meat.

***

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the pork. Cook only to brown on all sides 6 to 8 minutes total. The instructor said 2 minutes on each side rotating four sides. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet and roast 25 to 30 minutes or until the internal temp reaches 155 degrees. Let stand 8 minutes before slicing on the diagonal into 1/2 inch slices.

Note 155 degrees is ideal internal temp. 160 degrees is disaster zone. Always use a meat thermometer. Serves 4 to 5

***

Blackberry Wine Sauce

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries

2 cups Zinfandel wine

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsalted butter. cut into four pieces and chilled

***

Directions:

Place berries (still frozen if using), wine and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced by half. Strain sauce pressing on berries to extract as much juice as possible. Return to saucepan and bring to a boil. Whisk in butter, a piece at a time, until melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Once butter is added sauce should not boil again. Serves 4 to 5