homemade blackberry compote

My fridge was stocked with two 6 oz. containers of Driscoll blackberries and after eating about half of one container, I decided they were a bit too tart to keep eating fresh.  The blackberries obviously needed a heap of sweetness, so I thought, why not make some blackberry compote out of this!

I've actually never made compote before and was definitely a bit concerned about how this would turn out.  Typically, blackberries require a small addition of pectin (either in powder or liquid form or from another fruit that's high in pectin) to reach a gelatinous state, but I had read somewhere a while back that sour or under ripe blackberries contained more pectin than sweet blackberries.  With this knowledge, I thought I'd proceed and hoped that the tartness of my berries was an indication of high pectin levels.  I also figured, if all else fails, I'll just throw the compote mixture into a blender and make a fruit smoothie.

The recipe is pretty straightforward:
1 cup blackberries
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp water
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of cinnamon

Directions:
1.) Place the blackberries, lemon juice, and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the berries have softened--3 to 4 minutes. 

2.) Stir in the sugar.  Increase heat to medium-high, and let the mixture return to a boil. Cook, stirring frequently, until the preserves start to thicken -- about 2 minutes.

3.) Take off the heat.  The preserves should appear quite gelatinous by now.  It can be immediately poured into a sterile jar with a tight seal and cooled to room temperature before heading to the fridge.  This will last a good 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator, but if you're anything like me, you'll gobble this up in a few days.  The recipe doesn't produce a high volume of preserves, so storing it in any clean container, preferably glass, will do.  It will be eaten before it goes bad anyway, so I just poured the preserves in a round Pyrex container and called it a day.

For those of you who want to make compote or preserves with something other than blackberries, 
here's a quick guide to some high and low pectin fruits:

High Pectin Fruits:

Apples (sour)

Blackberries (sour)

Boysenberries

Citrus fruits (especially in the peels of lemons and oranges)

Crabapples

Cranberries

Currants

Gooseberries

Grapes (Eastern Concord)

Loganberries

Plums (not Italian)

Quinces

Low Pectin Fruits:

Apricots

Blueberries

Figs

Grapes (Western Concord)

Guavas

Nectarines

Peaches

Pears

Plums (Italian)

Raspberries

Rhubarb

Strawberries

Sweet cherries

Instead of adding commercially prepared pectin to low pectin fruits as a thickening agent, you can always add apple pomace and/or citrus peels to your low pectin concoctions.  It doesn't affect the taste at all and is a natural, cost-effective solution to the problem.  Pectin is expensive!

My frugal self is also happy to say that I don't think I'll ever buy a jar of preserves again.  Who knew it could be this easy!  Have you guys ever made compote or preserves?  What are your favorite fruits to use?  Sound off in the comments below!

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classic margherita pizza

With tomato season coming to an end, I'm finding any and every excuse to incorporate this fruitable (fruit commonly mistaken for a vegetable) into all my meals.  One of my favorite quick and easy meals to make is the classic Margherita pizza.  I just love how simple and distinct the flavor profile is for this pizza.  The divine combination of tomato, basil, and garlic work wonderfully in unison to complement each other.

Though I wish I could make this totally from scratch, I just don't have time for all that during a hectic school week.  My schedule usually leaves me feeling crunched for time which always has me searching for short cuts in my cooking.

My shortcut in this case was to use store bought, ready-made thin crust cheese pizza.  It provides a blank canvas for a multitude of different ingredients.  My favorites being tomato, sweet italian basil, and garlic.

Today, I used fresh vine tomatoes from the farmer's market and home-grown sweet italian basil.  The garlic was store bought.  First, I roughly minced the garlic and sprinkled that on the cheese pizza.  Next, I sliced the tomatoes to my preferred thickness (about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch) and distributed them evenly across the pizza.  I also sprinkled the pizza with some italian seasoning here.

(pre-oven) Margherita pizza in the works...

[[TIP]] You must sandwich the garlic between the cheese and the tomatoes for two reasons: 1) The garlic oils being released during mincing and heating in the oven are purposely trapped in between to allow maximum seepage into the cheese, pizza sauce, and tomatoes. 2) It keeps the garlic from burning in the oven.  Also, if you're not a big fan of large slices of tomato, you can dice the tomatoes instead.

My thriving basil plants!

The rest of the steps are as follows:  Bake the pizza for the recommended time or close to your desired doneness.  Turn off the oven and take the pizza out.  Rough chop some sweet italian basil and sprinkle it on top of the pizza.  Drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil on the pizza as well.  I usually throw the pizza back in the warm oven for another minute or two to warm up the basil and extra virgin olive oil.  And voila, dinner is served in a matter of 15-20 minutes!  Yum!!

What are your favorite pizzas and pizza recipes?!  Sound off in the comments below!  I would love to try a new recipe :)

mànmàn chī,

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hello.

This is my first official blog post for Cutie Pie Cook, and I couldn't be more excited right now.  Take some time to read the "About" section and check out my other social media links.  I hope we can get well-acquainted with one another and become Internet friends.  Feel free to use the comments section below to sound off on anything you'd like.  Also, I would love if you share your most loved recipes with me, so don't hesitate to shoot me an email (cutiepiecook.jenn@gmail.com).

 

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