Lazy Girl Bar-le-Duc

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white_currantsI owe this post and my new obsession with Bar-le-Duc jelly to my favorite farm stand and my 2 year old daughter.  This morning, as I stood sweating in the farm stand while the 2-year-old threw a tantrum which sent an entire container of white currants on the ground, I never could have imagined the day could end with this revelation.  And yet, here we are.  Let’s back up a little bit.

We made an unscheduled trip to the farm stand this morning after Facebook told us that the first crop of corn was fresh off the tractor.  How could we not?  My intention was to do a quick trip to get the corn and be home in time for lunch.    After a visit to the chickens and goats, a quick ride on the toy tractor, and a stroll through the perennials, I had finally convinced my travel companion that we should check out the farm stand.  As I made my way to the corn, I saw her, out of the corner of my eye, grab her own shopping basket and proceed to walk around the stand.  I should mention that, for whatever reason, all of the shelves in the farm stand are at toddler height.  So, really, whatever looks good to her, she can reach (yay).  Apparently, today, white currants looked pretty good to her.  She had no sooner put them in her basket and they tipped over onto the floor and, well, we were going to be buying them.

I had no idea what to do with them once we got home though.  While white currants, in particular, are often used raw in salads and other dishes, I found them a bit too tart for our family.  After a little googling, I found the story of Bar-le-Duc jelly and I was in love.  With the idea anyway.  Basically, there is one town in France that has made jelly with white and red currants since something like forever and it’s an insanely expensive delicacy.  Because these women remove all of the seeds.  By hand.  With goose quills.  I cannot even imagine having the time to do that, so this recipe includes seeds.  It’s so amazingly good that it doesn’t even matter that much.  I still need to buy a jar of the real stuff someday.  Just because.

If you don’t like liquor, substitute more water for the Grand Marnier.  I wouldn’t advise it though.  In fact, my next batch I’m planning to use wine.  Can you even imagine?  I can hardly wait.  I wish it were cheesecake season for me because this would be so amazing over an almost savory cheesecake.  In a pinch, over cream cheese with crackers should do just fine though.

Lazy Girl Bar-le-Duc
 
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Serves: 2 half pint jars
Ingredients
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • ½ cup water
  • ¼ cup Grand Marnier
  • 1 cup white or red currants, stems removed
Instructions
  1. Combine sugar, water and Grand Marnier in a small saucepan over medium heat
  2. Cook until sugar dissolves, 5-8 minutes, stirring frequently
  3. Add currants and let simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring almost continuously
  4. Immediately pour into jars
  5. If jars have been prepared for canning, cool and store as you normally would. If cans have not been prepared for canning, place in refrigerator immediately

 

Watermelon, Watermelon Everywhere

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watermelonI’ve never been watermelon’s biggest fan.  In fact, I might have gone a few summers without ever having it in my house–until babies and toddlers entered my life.  They love this stuff.  I mean, can’t get enough.  To the point that, not only do I buy it every week, but we sometimes run out before the next grocery run.  And it isn’t pretty when that happens.  So, I’ve taken to buying a whole one each week.  The kind you need a big scary knife to cut into.  The first week it came in with the groceries, the engineer was appalled at how much watermelon there was.  He didn’t think we could possibly eat it all in one week (we could).  It did seem like an overwhelming amount though, so we sliced one half for the fridge, and made the other half into watermelon popsicles.  I can’t figure out why I didn’t think of this sooner.  If you don’t have popsicle sticks, just cut them into big triangles and freeze them that way instead.  When I have popsicle sticks handy now, I cut the watermelon into roughly 2 in x 5 in pieces, insert the stick, and stick them in the freezer on a wax paper lined sheet pan until they harden (about 30 minutes).  Then I transfer them to quart size ziploc bags until we’re ready to eat them.  Easy to do and makes you look super cool at your next barbecue!

Strawberry Lemonade

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strawberry_lemonadeAre there any two things more quintessentially summer than strawberries and lemonade?  Well, ok, there’s watermelon, tomatoes, blueberries, pale ales, ice cream, not to mention anything grilled.  Fine.  There are other just as ‘summery’ things.  But, right now, there are loads of strawberries at the local farms and my fridge is full of lemonade.  And, really, strawberry season is over so quickly that I need to embrace every sweet juicy berry that I can before I’m back to having to buy them from the grocery store shipped from California (or someplace even further away).  So, while I can, I’m going to make lemonade.  Well, strawberry lemonade.  Well, actually, my kids are still sick and I don’t have time to make lemonade from scratch, so store bought will work just as well.  Here you go, friends.  Easy, refreshing and sure tastes like summer.

Strawberry Lemonade
 
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Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • 2 medium sized strawberries + 1 to garnish the glass
  • 8 ounces lemonade
  • ice
Instructions
  1. Remove stems from strawberries and place them in glass (or pitcher if making for a crowd!)
  2. Muddle (fancy word for squish around) the strawberries with a pestle (or spoon or whatever is handy)
  3. Fill glass with ice.
  4. Top off with lemonade
  5. Place a ripe strawberry on the glass rim for garnish

 

Strawberry Popsicles

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strawberryIt’s one of the first beautiful weeks of summer and it started off great.  On a warm, dry sunny Monday, the kids and I set out to go strawberry picking.  From my teen years, I remember my best friend Heather’s mom going strawberry picking and making jars and jars of beautiful, sweet, sticky strawberry jam.  I would beg, barter and plead my way to as many jars of it as I could manage.  The jar rarely lasted more than a few days for me.  Ever since, I’ve wanted to make my own strawberry picking pilgrimage.  Not necessarily to make the jam, because I’m just not sure I have the time or patience for that task right now.  But just to get out there.  And then have gobs of strawberries to eat or make into strawberry shortcake or whatever.  Surely, it would live up to my childhood daydreams about it anyway.  Well, the strawberry picking itself was pretty good.  Let’s just say all my plans for doing magical things with the strawberries, not so much.  Kiddos got sick the next day and by the time I got back to those beautiful strawberries, well, they weren’t quite as pretty.  As it turns out though, they were still just perfect for a few things.  And this was one of them.

My strawberries were so sweet that sugar would have been overkill.  You can add sugar or honey depending on the sweetness of your strawberries and lemonade.  I always have lemonade in my fridge, but if you don’t, use water with a squeeze of lemon or lime.  For denser popsicles, use closer to 4 cups of strawberries and less lemonade.  This recipe made just enough for my set of six large Tovolo popsicle molds, but I certainly would not frown upon using any leftovers as a rum mixer.  Adapted from Martha Stewart.

Strawberry Popsicles
 
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Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 2-4 cups fresh strawberries
  • 1-2 cups lemonade
Instructions
  1. Remove stems from strawberries
  2. Add strawberries and lemonade to a blender or food processor.
  3. Blend or pulse until the desired consistency is reached (blend more for smooth popsicles, less for chunk popsicles)
  4. Immediately poor mixture into popsicle molds and place in freezer
  5. Freeze overnight
  6. To remove from mold, run popsicle briefly under warm water and then gently pull/wiggle to remove the mold from popsicle