Agave Spiced Plum Butter

I get many requests for recipes using Agave Nectar, so I thought I would offer this little, small batch of a barely spiced, Plum Butter.  I have an event tomorrow in which I wanted to add a drizzle of something "plumy" over small wedges of lemon scented ricotta pound cake.  I loved the idea of a spiced plum butter, however most "butters" tend to be very thick, dry and a little dull when it comes to presentation.  I wanted something with a bit of shine, color and the consistency of a saucy, fruity, syrupy jam.  I can think of many many applications for this Plum Butter in it's syrupy form: add it to yogurt, oatmeal, or sweetened ricotta.  You can use this a base for sauces for pork, duck or chicken....it's even great to sweeten hot tea!

For this particular application I used Agave Nectar instead of sugar, and I did not reduce the mixture as long as a traditional butter requires. But feel free to cook the fruit longer for a thicker, spreadable condiment.

Agave Spiced Plum Butter

10-15 Plums, cleaned, pitted and roughly chopped 

1 cup water

Agave Nectar ( see note**) or sugar

1/2 teaspoon good quality cinnamon

2 pinches cloves

1 pinch fresh ground nutmeg

Place plums and water in a medium saucepan and bring to boil over high heat, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes until fruit is tender. You many need to stir it occasionally. Remove from heat.

Process plums in a food processor or blender ( I use a Vitamix) until mixture is almost smooth, (I made mine completely smooth). Be careful when processing, mixture is hot!

**Measure the mixture, and add 1/2-3/4 cup Agave Nectar for each cup of Fruit puree. 

Or Add 1 cup - 1 1/4 cup of sugar for each cup of fruit puree.  (the amount of agave nectar you use will be determined by how sweet/ripe your fruit is at the time).

Return mixture and sweetener to the saucepan, add cinnamon and cloves and return to a gentle boil, until mixture is the desired consistency. Stir often, as it will have a tendency to stick and could burn if unattended.  Skim the foam/scum that floats to the top. ~ A mere,  1/4 teaspoon of butter, will keep foam at a minimum.

Thin sauce: 30-35 minutes

Thick spread: 50-55 minutes

Once the desired consistency is achieved add nutmeg.

You can ladle hot mixture into sterilized canning jars, and process according to manufacturers instructions.  For Colorado's altitude, I would process for 20 minutes,  for everyone else below 1000 ft., it's 10 minutes.

Or....

The butter can be store in your fridge for approximately 2 weeks or in your freezer for a year.

 Enjoy!

See you at the Market !

Saturday: Longmont Farmer's Market

Sunday: Ft Collins Farmer's Market (Harmony & Lamay)

Chef Deb

                

Oven Dried Zucchini Chips

Zucchini.

We grill it, saute it, chop it, pickle it, sweeten it for muffins and cakes, and give tons of it away.

Honestly, I'm just as tired of it as everyone else.  You grow it because it's easy, you buy it because you feel you have to and you throw it away because you simply can't take it anymore.

I get more requests for zucchini recipes then any other vegetable, and it's always...."what ELSE can I do with Zucchini?" Then comes the sigh and the look of total boredom.  I fee your pain, I feel your pain.

I recently decided to "oven dry" zucchini after reading a blurb by chef/instructor John Ash, where he discusses the idea of oven drying vegetables the way we do summer tomatoes.  He suggests drying them (in addition to cauliflower, beets, carrots, even olives) to a nice concentrated chewy consistency of 70-80% dry.  It sounded good to me, so I gave it a try.

My first batch worked well, and it had a nice chewy texture. My second batch, well, I forgot them and they came out as chips.  I promptly tasted them and ate all three sheet pans (3 whole zucchini!).  Love these!! Well, as much as one can love a zucchini.....

Oven Dried Zucchini Chips

2-3 Zucchini, green or golden, washed and sliced thinly (about the thickness of a quarter)

Olive oil

Salt or seasoned salt (Savory Spice shop has some great ones)

Pepper

Line a few sheet pans with Parchment paper (not waxed paper)

Preheat oven to 250 Degrees F.

Line parchment with Zucchini coins, and lightly (very very lightly) brush or mist One side of the vegetables with Olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt and fresh ground pepper.  

Place sheet pan in the oven for approximately, 30-45 minutes, then rotate the pan, and continue to dry for an additional 30-45 minutes, until your zucchini is crisp. Taste, and adjust your seasonings.

Note: your oven my cook these faster or they may take longer.. It's okay to pull the ones that dry more quickly, out before the rest are done. The chips do not store very well. ( But then we keep eating them  all straight out of the oven, so you may have to let me know if they CAN be stored.) 

Enjoy and see you at the Market!

Chef Deb