can jam 2010 - april

This month's challenge was all about herbs and in the end brought together two odd bedfellows.

A basic recipe from the book of Small Batch Preserves  had me dreaming of pear wine and chives.  I was able to find local chives and pear wine.  I chose the flavors for a reason.  It was all about the cheese.

I took a big Costco brie, slathered the Pear WIne Jelly with Chives all over it, wrapped it in puff pastry and baked it off.

OMG.  It was better than I had imagined. So good that I almost forgot to stop eating and take a picture. Four people ate almost the entire thing.  We could not stop talking about how perfect the flavors combined.

Before I began cooking I knew I would ge giving three jars away.  I made a double batch and am looking forward to many more culinary adventures.  Glazing a roast chicken....spreading on fruit tarts...thumbprint cookies...more cheese...

Basic Herb Wine Jelly

1 3/4 cups dry white or red wine

1/4 cup white or red wine vinegar

3 tbsp fresh herb leaves or 1 tsp dried (I used more)

3 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 pouch liquid fruit pectin

1. Combine wine, vinegar and herb leaves in a large stainless steel or enamel saucepan.  Bring mixture to a boil:  remove from heat.  Cover and allow to steep for 30 minutes to extract flavor.

2. Strain mixture through a lined sieve;  discard leaves.  (I did not strain, just lifted all the herbs from the pot)  Return liquid to saucepan and stir in sugar.  Bring to a boil over high heat and boil rapidly for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in pectin.

3.  Ladle into hot jars and process for 10 minutes in hot water bath.

 

Comments

[kate]

Yum! And I bet different herbs would totally play with the flavour.

[knittingkitty]

OMG that sounds amazing.

[moiraeknittoo]

Hungry now! :9

[Daisy Driver]

The brie looks great!

[meg]

Looks so good! The brie....the puff pastry....the pear wine. Yum!

[Talia]

Yum! I love brie, pastry, jam combos. I made it w/ apricot jam for years, and recently w/ my onion jam from the can jam. this sounds like a winning combo too! I'm hungry for it now!!