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bonne F\u00eate Nationale: In France, July 14 is La F\u00eate Nationale<\/em><\/span> or commonly known as Bastille Day<\/em><\/span>. It is a national celebration, much like our July 4th, with military demonstrations, concerts, fireworks, and food. Using the colors of the French flag as our inspiration, this week our<\/span> simple pleasure<\/span><\/span><\/em>is the celebration of Bastille Day with a summer dessert: <\/span>eau de-vie <\/span><\/em>marinated cherries with blueberry sorbet and cherry brandy whipped cream<\/em><\/span>.<\/em><\/span> Bonne F\u00eate Nationale !<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Summer fruit is delicious by itself but like a wardrobe of beautiful clothes sometimes you need a different accessory or new way of belting that little black dress to breathe newness into your something wonderful.<\/span><\/p>\n This week bing cherries, rainier cherries and blueberries get that breath of newness from <\/span>eau-de-vie <\/span><\/em>and blue agave nectar. This dessert is composed of three parts: the marinated cherries; the blueberry sorbet; and whipped cream. All are easy to make and can be prepared in advance. Although inspired by Bastille day, the dessert can be enjoyed all summer long.<\/span><\/p>\n Eau-de-vie<\/span>, <\/span><\/em>French for “water of life”, is a liqueur distilled from plants, herbs, or fruit. It is an<\/span> alcool blanc <\/span><\/em>(white alcohol) commonly referred as \u201cfruit brandy\u201d and is made from fruits such as pears, apples, raspberries, and cherries to name a few. Fruit brandy is enjoyed after dinner (with the exception of <\/span>le trou normand<\/span><\/em>) and the high alcohol content (27-45 percent) makes it something served in the smallest of cordial glasses or dessert wine glasses, often over ice. Fruit brandy is useful in cooking and can be used for deglazing, included in sauces or to bump-up the flavor in soups, stews or braises. Desserts are one of the most obvious places for the inclusion of fruit brandy and used to add flavor to pastry cremes, chocolate, soft cheeses, sorbets and\/or ice cream. In France, it is common to have fruit sorbet topped with <\/span>eau-de-vie<\/span> <\/span><\/em>for dessert.<\/span><\/p>\n France is not alone when it comes to enjoying the collaboration between dessert and brandy. In fact my first introduction to the combination was here in the States as a child. I was sitting down to enjoy some ice cream with my father (from whom I inherited my sweet-tooth). We made ice cream with our new ice cream maker — the old school variety replete with dry ice and a crank — and it was quite a production. My father thought the manual labor called for a special celebration and added a topping of fresh blueberries to our ice cream and to his he also added a little brandy. At the first moment of distraction, I snuck my spoon into his ice cream bowl and when he was not looking and took a taste. I coughed and sputtered and my face turned as blue as the blueberries laying in the shallow brandy pool clouded by the melting ice cream. I was caught. “Not really what you expected?” my father said, as he chuckled. It wasn’t.<\/span><\/p>\n Because of the high alcohol content, a little<\/span> eau-de-vi<\/span><\/span>e <\/span><\/span><\/em>can go a long way. Sometimes the brandy is purposely the predominent taste as is the case with<\/span>les fruits du vieux gar\u00e7on<\/span><\/em>(old bachelor\u2019s fruit) where the fruit is soaked in brandy and sugar for about three months until the preserved fruit is \u201cready\u201dto eat (with the then fruit-infused brandy). This is not the case here.<\/span><\/p>\n In our recipe, the cherries are macerated overnight in a very small amount of cherry brandy and sugar. The liquid is then strained and cooked to a syrup consistency. It takes only about 5 minutes but the result is a nice, slightly sweet syrup in which to toss the cherries. The brandy is used more to withdraw the moisture from the cherries than to alter their character and the alcohol is largely cooked out when you are reducing the liquid. If you do not want to use cherry brandy, you can use cherry juice as a substitute. The whipped cream, too, is infused with a nominal amount of<\/span> eau-de-vie <\/span><\/span><\/em>and a little sugar but cherry or vanilla extract can be used as a substitute.<\/span><\/p>\n The blueberry sorbet also has minimal embellishment and takes about 30 minutes to prepare, most of which is churning time in the sorbet maker. The sorbet is primarily sweetened with blue agave nectar.<\/span><\/p>\n The combination of the syrupy cherries with the icy sorbet and smooth creme is a refreshing, light twist on ingredients we already know and love. I hope you enjoy your “new” little black dress (or trousers, as the case may be).<\/span><\/p>\n Je vous souhaite un bon app\u00e9tit<\/span> et tr\u00e8s bonne F\u00eate Nationale<\/span> <\/span><\/em>to my friends in France !<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n LM<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n marinated cherries with blueberry sorbet stats:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n serves 4-6<\/span><\/p>\n what you need:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n sorbet<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 6 ounces blueberries cherries<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 10 ounces bing cherries (or other sweet, red cherries), stems and pits removed whipped cream<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 1 cup heavy cream how to:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n sorbet<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n whipped cream<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n cherries<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n bonne F\u00eate Nationale: celebrating La F\u00eate Nationale with the colors of summer fruit (and a little eau-de-vie) In France, July 14 is La F\u00eate Nationale or commonly known as Bastille Day. It is a national celebration, much like our July 4th, with military demonstrations, concerts, fireworks, and food. Using the colors of the French […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[342,18],"tags":[518,520,522,521,519,523,524],"class_list":["post-2662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-desserts","category-recipes","tag-bing-cherries","tag-blueberry-sorbet","tag-cherry-brandy","tag-eau-de-vie","tag-rainier-cherries","tag-simple-fruit-desserts","tag-summer-fruit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2662"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2790,"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662\/revisions\/2790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong><\/span>celebrating La F\u00eate Nationale with the colors of summer fruit
\n<\/strong><\/span>(and a little <\/strong><\/span>eau-de-vie<\/strong><\/span><\/em>)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n![\"cherries](\"http:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/chery-and-bottle-350x262.jpg\" "\\"cherries")
\n<\/span><\/p>\n![\"marinated](\"http:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/P1130886-350x262.jpg\" "\\"marinated")
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\n<\/strong><\/span><\/span>and <\/strong><\/span>cherry brandy whipped cream<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>3 ounces blue agave nectar<\/span>
\n<\/span>4 ounces water
\n<\/span>1 tablespoon superfine sugar
\n<\/span>1\/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>6 ounces rainier cherries, stems and pits removed
\n<\/span>1\/4 cup superfine sugar
\n<\/span>3 tablespoons <\/span>eau-de-vie de fruits<\/span><\/em> (cherry brandy<\/span>, kirsch or Mirabelle plum brandy)<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>2 teaspoons powdered sugar
\n<\/span>1\/2 teaspoon <\/span>eau-de-vie de fruits <\/span><\/em>(cherry brandy, kirsch or Mirabelle plum brandy)<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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