Category: Fruits

No. 602Recipe Card Posted on by — Leave a comment

French Strawberry Preserves

French Strawberry Preserves | Bijouxs Little Jewels

More and more, we all wonder as we cruise the vast supermarket aisles, “Where did this food come from and what’s really in it?” Food labels are akin to reading hieroglyphics. Consider this simple, classic everyday beauty, French Strawberry Preserves – just a few ingredients with loads of fresh flavor.

FRENCH PRESERVES

This recipe is adapted from Mes Confitures: The Jams and Jellies of Christine Ferber, real French preserves. The difference I can see is the technique for making the preserves, it is a very easy 3-day procedure, and it produces the best jam I have made thus far.

French Strawberry Preserves | Bijouxs Little Jewels from the Kitchen

FRAISES DE BOIS STRAWBERRIES

This variety of smaller, more delicate strawberry is also referred to as Alpine Strawberry in English. I had grown them at my cherished Spanish Bungalow, now so close to the sea, berries are more difficult to grow without ample sun. Lucky they are grown in the drier inland commercial farms near me. I used them here in the French Preserves.

TOAST AND JAM

French Strawberry Preserves | Bijouxs Little Jewels

Always a comfort toast & jam and a cup of tea, savor French Strawberry Preserves No. 602 from the Collection.

 

 

No. 598Recipe Card Posted on by — Leave a comment

Mixed Berry Flaugnarde

Mixed Berry Flaurarde | Bijouxs Little Jewels

Gorgeous fruits are making their appearance everywhere you look, yes, summer is almost here. Mixed Berry Flaugnarde, with a puffy light outer crust with creamy custard filling, could not be simpler – Bijouxs Summer Recipe Collection is here.

SUMMER BERRIES

When summer fruit become the cuisine de rigueur, it’s time for recipes that honor the fruit and are summer easy. These lovely fruits came from the Santa Barbara Farmers Market.

Mixed Berry Flaugnarde | Bijouxs Little Jewels

 

RUSTIC FRENCH DESSERT

A tried and true Bijouxs summer recipe is Mixed Berry Flaugnarde, and the best thing it is easier than pie. Many of you may already be familiar with classic clafouti, the delicate French baked custard dessert traditionally made with cherries, but a clafouti is a very flexible dessert. The simple custard mixture also very lovingly envelops other fruits but then it is referred to as a flaugnarde.

Mixed Berry Flaugnarde | Bijouxs Little Jewels
Simple on-hand batter ingredients such as eggs, sugar, milk and flour make a summer fruit find at the farmers market a great dessert in quick time. An easy traveler, the rustic flaugnarde can make its way with you to an event.

MIXED BERRY FLAUGNARDE

Mixed Berry Flaugnarde | Bijouxs Little Jewels

Mixed Berry Flaugnarde | Bijouxs Little Jewels
Bake in traditional round tart/pie pan, a small ovenproof skillet or in square/rectangular tart pans. Served carved into little bites or thin slices, then accompany with or without a scoop of vanilla ice cream or fruit sorbet.

Mixed Berry Flaugnarde – a simple summer dessert for summer’s bounty of fruits a new recipe in the Membership Collection. Join for access to all 598 recipes. Cheers.

 

 

No. 590Recipe Card Posted on by — Leave a comment

Avocado Olive Cake

Avocado Olive Cake | Bijouxs Little Jewels

Yes, we really do need another avocado oil cake recipe. Avocado Olive Cake, always a Little Jewel.

VENTURA AVOCADOS

As the avocados ripen here along the Coast, it’s time to savor the season. Once they become available locally I have one almost everyday. My neighbor has a stellar tree and I await the brown bag by my door filled with avocados. The groves fill our Ventura hillsides and some of the best avocados are right here in our own town. Many of the roadside fruit stands carry our local fruits. Avocado is a fruit you know. I like to shop local and support our local farmers.

Avocado Oil Cake | Bijouxs Little Jewels

AVOCADO OIL CAKE

One of my favorite cakes is made with avocado oil, not olive oil. When it comes to avocado oil, it pays to buy the best, purity is a factor. Check the date and ingredients to make sure you are getting PURE avacado oil. There are many brands to sample, I have used this Extra-Virgin one and found it quite good., easy order on Amazon. The cake is best made with a lighter avocado oil then finished with a richer extra-virgin olive oil, either way the cake is wonderful  I enjoy topping this tender cake with a dollop of crème fraîche.

Avocado Olive Cake | Bijouxs Little Jewels

Avocado Olive Cake | Bijouxs Little Jewels

 

 

No. 562Recipe Card Posted on by — Leave a comment

Lemon-Glazed Persimmon Bars

Lemon-Glazed Persimmon Bars | Bijouxs Little Jewels

Autumn is here and with the season arrive persimmons, a perennial favorite in the Bijouxs Kitchen here with a new recipe. Lemon-Glazed Persimmon Bars made with a little gleaning, always a little jewel in the kitchen.

GLEANING FRUITS & VEGETABLES

Let’s start with the gleaning of the persimmons. Gleaning is new term to me, defined as the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers’ fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. Turns out I have been gleaning for years.

Lemon-Glazed Persimmon Bars | Bijouxs Little Jewels

 

Along my neighborhood walks I find crops of fruit and vegetables that have fallen to the ground, soon to be food for the critters. I’m careful not to encroach, but lemons, avocados, and persimmons which all thrive in the beach-influenced climate fall off the tree, often sitting for a days are perfect candidates for gleaning. I know my neighbors and they have give me clear reign to collect fallen fruit.

PERSIMMONS IN FALL

Persimmons have a storied place in my blog. Some of my very first posts way back in 2012, with my recipe for Persimmon Pudding, which is the crown jewel recipe for the season. I also have made wonderful cookies which were shared by a dear friend.  I only had a small gleaning of 4 persimmons which I had used in a “punk ikebana” floral workshop with the amazing Ojai artist Louesa Roebuck. I love her works are her books are amazing, so beautiful check them out here.

PERSIMMON BARS

I was seeking a new way to use persimmons, and with only four I had some limits. It is a natural jump from cookies to bars, which is where my mind went, sort of a persimmon bar like a brownie. Seems there are a plethera of persimmon bar recipes, so I had some choices. This recipe is one of the minimalist recipes, close to a cookie but thicker and softer with a crackling lemon glaze.

Now, my four ‘gleaned’ persimmons may appear a bit sad, however, I ripened them in a paper bag along with an apple. Although they had not visually changed they were soft and ripe, perfect to cook with.

This bar recipe is very easy. I used my stand mixer to complete the final mix of the batter, but you can do it by hand. I found that if the baked bars are covered, they are even better the next day, with the crackling lemon glaze.

Lemon-Glazed Persimmon Bars |Bijouxs Little Jewels

Lemon-Glazed Persimmon Bars | Bijouxs Little Jewels

Lemon-Glazed Persimmon Bars | Bijouxs Little Jewels

Lemon-Glazed Persimmon Bars | Bijouxs Little Jewels

Persimmons are fall’s little jewels.

 

 

No. 561Recipe Card Posted on by — Leave a comment

Italian Prune Plum Torte

Italian Prune Plum Torte | Bijouxs Little Jewels

Italian Prune Plums are in season, but savor them now in this classic Italian Prune Plum Torte, the newest Little Jewel from the Bijouxs Collection.

ELUSIVE ITALIAN PRUNE PLUMS

I wait every year for this time, scouring the markets for the elusive Italian prune plums. Then one day on a walk through the market, there they are. Usually they set off to the side in smaller crates alongside the other plums. I grab my shopping bag and purchase a generous amount enough for the torte and a small batch of jam.

Italian Prune Plum Tart | Bijouxs Little JewelsItalian Prune Plum Torte | Bijouxs Little Jewels

TORTE VS TART

So, what is the difference between a torte and a tart? A torte, from the Italian word torta means “cake.” So, a torte has a batter base, more like a cake. A tart like this one is baked on a crust like this one on my classic Plum Tart. Once you look at them both the difference becomes apparent.

ITALIAN PLUM TORTE

This cake or torte is very easy to prepare. This recipe originated from Marion Burros. 40 years ago and The New York Times published Marian Burros’s recipe for this Plum Torte every September from 1983 until 1995. A very iconic recipe.

A simple batter is topped with the plum halves, sprinkled with sugar and baked until the plums are bursting.

Italian Prune Plum Torte | Bijouxs Little Jewels

Italian Prune Plum Torte \ Bijouxs Little Jewels

My grandmother had an extensive garden and grew this variety of plums, as well as a couple others. She mainly ‘put up’ jam and preserves with the stone fruits.

I have been baking this torte since 2012 since I first became aware of Prune Plums for my original Plum Tart post. So moved, I posted my favorite poem from Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle, “This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams. This is just to say…

Still Hungry?