Easy Summer Fruit Dessert

Need an easy summer dessert?

This simple dish -- cut up fruit steeped in a seasoned, sweetened syrup -- is the perfect ending to a meal on a hot summer day, especially when you want a dairy-free dessert.

Of course you could always top the fruit with ice cream or whipped cream. Sorbet would be fine too.

I like it plain, as-is, with a small amount of boiled-down, thickened syrup.

SOAKED SUMMER FRUIT

• 2 pounds stone fruit (peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots), approximately

• 3 cups water

• 1/4 cup honey

• 1 vanilla bean, broken

• 2 orange slices, about 1/4-inch thick

• 4-5 slices crystallized ginger

Cut the fruit in half and remove the pits. Cut the fruit into bite-size chunks and place in a dish deep enough to hold the pieces plus liquid. In a saucepan, combine the water, honey, vanilla bean, orange slices and crystallized ginger and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Pour the contents of the saucepan through a strainer over the fruit. Let soak for at least 2 hours. Serve as-is or strain the fluids, boil the fluids for 6-8 minutes or until thickened, and pour over the fruit (or let cool first).

Makes 8 servings

Stewed Dried Fruit Redux

I have a gastronomic fascination with stewed, dried fruit — what my grandmother called kumput (which she made with mostly prunes and sometimes dried apricots).

I’ve written a sort of love letter to this iconic, Ashkenazi Jewish dish.

I’ve played with the recipe and made several different versions.

I like them all.

The recipe below has become my favorite. The sweet white wine makes a difference for sure, and also the larger pieces of crystallized ginger (some of my recipes include chopped crystallized ginger).

This isn’t at all like my grandma’s version and yet I think of her every time I made any version of this recipe. She was the inspiration, after all.

STEWED DRIED FRUIT with GINGER

• 1-1/2 cups water 

• 1-1/2 cups sweet white wine

• 1 cup orange juice

• 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey

• 1 3” vanilla bean split open

• 1 2” piece cinnamon stick

• 8 whole cloves

• 6 cardamom pods, optional

• 1/4 cup crystallized ginger pieces

• 8 whole dried figs

• 8 pitted Medjool dates

• 1 cup cut up dried apricots, peaches or nectarines

• 10-12 prunes

• 1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries or cherries

Place the water, wine, juice, maple syrup, vanilla bean, cinnamon stick, cloves and optional cardamom pods in a saucepan large enough to hold all the dried fruit. Bring to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the fruit and simmer another 20-25 minutes or until the fruit is soft. Let the fruit cool in the pan. Discard the cinnamon stick and vanilla bean. Let cool. Serve with the poaching liquid. 

Makes 8 servings