Cherries in February?
This years Valentine’s Day coincided in Midcoast Maine with election day, albeit a very limited election. However, both have to do with choices personal and political and we always hope we make the right decisions in these matters. Valentines Day at our house is always quite traditional with hearts and flowers and some reasonably priced champagne for dinner. As a rule, I’m not a great chocolate fan, but I do confess to liking chocolate covered cherries.
Which brings me to the topic of “cherries in February”. A most unlikely time of the year to feature such fruit, but blame the association to George Washington and the proverbial tale of the maltreated cherry tree. Before we started celebrating both George Washington’s and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays together on the generic sounding Presidents Day, my family always used to look forward to having a cherry pie on February 22 in honor of George Washington. This year that gets complicated, since February 22 is also Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. So maybe I’ll stick to the official President’s Day and make something with cherries for that occasion. If you want to start with breakfast here are some healthy and tasty scones.
Oatmeal, cherry and candied ginger scones.
In a food processor stir together 1 ½ cups flour, 1 Tblsp. baking powder, ¾ tsp. baking soda, 1/3 cup sugar, ½ tsp. salt and 1 1/3 cup old fashioned oats. Pulse 15 times. Add ¾ cup unsalted butter cut in slices and pulse again until the mixture retains only small lumps. Transfer to a bowl.
Toss oat mixture with ½ cup chopped dried cherries and ½ cup chopped dried candied ginger. Stir together 2/3 cup buttermilk with ½ tsp. ground ginger and zest of a large lemon. Stir buttermilk mix into the flour mix until moistened. Turn out on a floured surface and knead 6 to 7 times. Pat dough into a 1 inch thick round. Cut out scones with a small glass and transfer to a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush each with some buttermilk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 16-18 minutes until lightly browned. Remove to a rack to cool and serve warm or cold with preserves of choice. Clotted cream would be ‘de rigeur’ across the ‘pond’, but is not a common commodity in my refrigerator.
Another way to include dried cherries in a meal would be to add them and toasted pecans to a butter lettuce salad with chopped pear or orange slices and a sherry vinaigrette. Having indulged in cherry pies all these years in the past, I think that I will try for cherry turnovers in puff pastry as a time saver. Puff pastry is found in the frozen foods section of the grocery and is a real gift to busy cooks.
Cherry-almond turnovers in puff pastry
Thaw the puff pastry according to package directions. Take each puff pastry sheet and roll out on a lightly floured surface into a 12x12 inch rectangle. With a sharp knife divide the pastry in nine 4x4 inch squares. Prepare turnovers by placing a Tblsp. of cherry pie filling mix in the center of each square, sprinkle with 1 tsp. slivered almonds, moisten the edges of the pastry with water, then fold the pastry in a triangle and seal moistened edges together with your fingers. Place the turnovers on a baking sheet lined with parchment, brush lightly with beaten egg and bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Cool on a rack.
Cherries in February remind us that spring and summer will eventually come and with them those incomparable fresh cherries, to be eaten fresh or served up in a creamy clafoutis.
(I. Winicov Harrington lives in Waldoboro and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)
