With snow and freezing rain outside, it has felt like the beginning of mulled cider season. I decided to make a spiced fruit reduction for ice cream as an alternative to the hot fudge NDM is addicted to.
I picked up some nice Bosc pears, which I love to nosh on, although in retrospect a softer pear would have been a better fit. I wanted to throw in plums or peaches, but we're in a seasonal gap between California and Chile right now, so I settled for a Fuji apple.
2 cored and sliced pears, 1 cored and sliced apple, both with skins intact, went into a large sauce pan filled with about two parts apple cider to one part Lirac. I also threw in some star anise, cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and half of a vanilla bean.
I held the mixture just below a boil until it had almost fully reduced, then pulled out the fruit and popped them in the fridge. After removing the whole spices, I ended up with a very full shot glass full of my reduction.
Served over ice cream, it was quite good. Mellow, not sweet like chocolate, with heavy spices that mixed very nicely with the plain ice cream. The peels on the pieces of fruit made them a little difficult to eat with a spoon, and probably should have been removed.
NDM's study partner EKT was in town this weekend, so while the two of them were furiously studying for boards I decided to make a winter stew with a slew of root vegetables that we don't cook with frequently. Together with some fresh beer bread it made a nice warming meal, and I've put the recipe up on the Kitchenarium.
I got to make use of some of the yummy turkey stock that NDM made after Thanksgiving, which made the dish only pseudo-vegetarian, but it could just have easily been made with vegetable stock if the diners were pickier.
