Question
Mel Dorling
I would like to make a fruit coulis to serve over desserts - do you have any guidelines please? Particularly with regard to natural fruit sugars which could be used.
Answer
I did give you a ruby recipe, but I wanted to just share with you that I make coulis all the time because I think it tastes great on oatmeal, and it tastes great on desserts. Sometimes I'll use it instead of jam with maybe some peanut butter or something. So the cautionary tale is that when you cook your fruit for a coulis, and today I used strawberries with the stems on them. I used blueberries, and I used some raspberries, and they were all near where no one in my house would eat them, but they were still healthy and delicious-looking. So you can take raw fruit and just put it in the blender and have a raw coulis, and then you would have to strain it in a double mesh strainer because you want to remove those raspberry seeds, because the raspberry seed is, I think, the only thing that a Vitamix does not take care of. So let me show you what I have here. Now, what you see in this jar of this-- look at how beautiful that color is. What you see in this little jar is actually eight strawberries, half a cup of blueberries, and a cup of raspberries. And the thing of it is, is that if you cook it over the stove, and I like to cook it because I think it lends a better flavor than if it's just fresh, you have to stand over the stove and stir it every second under a low heat. Because of the natural sugars that are in the fruit, it could burn easily, and you do not want to have a coulis that has a burnt texture to it. So, I have here, I don't know if any of you have these at home, but these are teardrop spoons or sometimes they're called a chef's sauce spoon. And I like to use this when I'm plating a dessert, for example, because it'll give you things in drops, and it'll just... See how pretty that is. And I also want to say that this tastes absolutely delicious. Keep it in the fridge. Put it in an airtight container. Use it on desserts. Eat it how you like, but don't let it burn. My key recommendation is do not let it burn, because you would ruin the flavor of your dessert, and you would also ruin the flavor of the fruit itself. So check out the ruby recipe, and remember, low and slow, and don't let it burn. And oh, you're probably saying to yourself, "Well, why did she leave the stems on?" Well, I had to strain everything anyway through the double mesh strainer, so just let those things be there. And I'm kind of like somebody who likes a good, sensible shortcut. So that's just another shortcut that you can take in the kitchen.
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