Red Hot Cranberry Jam

Fresh cranberries are not common in India and I hadn't tasted any till recently.  All the cranberry desserts in blogosphere were making me curious so I got home a bag  last week and after tasting the first one, thought that they somewhat resembled Kul or Jujube Fruit. Having eaten enough sweets already, my family wasn't in the mood for another one so I decided on a cranberry jam instead... a hot one because that last jalapeno had to be used right away and the combination of tart cranberry with hot jalapeno felt just right... 

Spicy Onion Pear Jam

Todays recipe is adapted from La Mia Cucina, the blog that belonged to the original Daring Baker,  Lisa Cifelli. She recently passed away and in her memory many Daring Bakers and old time bloggers posted gorgeous bakes soon after...  I did not know her personally or even otherwise but was led to her space and this particular Onion-Pear Jam several times in the past few weeks. It looked too interesting to pass off. So I adjusted today's menu and decided to give it a try..

It turned out even more gorgeous than I had imagined.

Chicken Breast with Garlic-Rosemary Butter # French Fridays with Dorie

This week the Doristas were scheduled to make Veal Chops with Rosemary Butter for French Fridays with Dorie. But since Veal is expensive and my picky husband couldn't assure that he would taste a veal-dish, I had first decided to skip FFwD for thrice in a row. then remembering how amazing the Lucinda 's recipe of Veal Piccatta had tasted when replaced by Chicken Breasts I decided to try the recipe with chicken. and I am so glad that I did. it tasted really good... specially the butter. it was lovely.

since i was already deviating from the actual recipe by cooking chicken instead of veal, i decided that a little more addition or subtraction of  spices wouldn't harm. so i added a clove of garlic to the marinade along with olive oil and the herbs and also added some grated garlic into the herbed butter. not sure if it was because of the extra garlic or it was just the rosemary and thyme that made the butter so delicious. and with time the butter seems to have acquired more flavor. tonight i sauteed some steamed green beans in some of the remaining butter and served it to my son. to my surprise he had his portion and then asked for more. so yes. the butter was a winner as our place and i'll definitely be making it a lot irrespective of whether I make the chicken or not..

Herbed Butter  Adapted from Around the French Table (Pg 268)

ingredients 4 tbsp of unsalted butter at room temperature 1/2 tsp dried rosemary 1/4 tsp dried thyme 1 clove of garlic, grated generous pinch of Mediterranean salt  -   the method beat the butter in a bowl until smooth and creamy. stir in the remaining ingredients and turn the butter out onto a piece of plastic wrap. using the plastic shape the butter to a log. wrap it and chill for at least 2 hours. well wrapped, the butter can be refrigerated for a a week or frozen for upto 3 months.

saute some steamed green beans in this butter or serve it with roasted corn and be prepared to be impressed ! have a great weekend !

Visit here to know what the other members of french fridays with Dorie have to say. For many more delicious recipes such as this one order your copies of Around the French Table from Amazon or from The Book Depository and join us as we cook our way through the book