Have you ever bought a few too many pluots, peaches, nectarines, or plums (AKA stone fruit)? They look and smell so delicious when I'm at the farmers market. In addition to washing, slicing and freezing for future use in smoothies, I'll incorporate them in with a few apples to make sauce. Sauce for what? Yogurt, pork chops, turkey - this sauce can be paired with savory or sweet. And it freezes beautifully. I'm also not a fan of including lemon juice in my fruit sauce. Instead, I use oranges and limes.
Here's what you'll need - use organic ingredients if you can:
- 1 orange, juiced plus approximately 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1-2 limes, juiced plus approximately 1 teaspoon lime zest
- 1/4 cup maple syrup or more depending on your taste
- 3-4 pieces of stone fruit washed, seeded, and sliced (green pluots and plums or nectarines or peaches)
- pinch of kosher salt
- 2-3 assorted or the same apple varieties washed, roughly peeled, seeded, and sliced
- 1 heaping teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup filtered water
- 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- optional pinch of ground cloves
Place on the stovetop in a sauce pan and cover partially so some steam can escape. Cook on medium for 20-40 minutes until the fruit is very tender. Turn off the heat and remove from the stove. Be careful since this is hot. Using a hand mixer or emulsifier, puree. Place in glass jars and cool overnight in your refrigerator before freezing so the jars don't crack.
Please be flexible and bold = add more fruit, water, spices, maple syrup to uniquely meet your taste buds and desired consistency. You really cannot screw this up and you'll be proud of your creation. I promise.
With local/regional stone fruit coming into season soon, I hope you'll enjoy this recipe I created. Bon appetite!
