Cooked fruit needn’t just be baby food. While stewed apple and pear is usually fed to infants, there’s a whole range of dishes for the adult palate that use cooked fruit. Techniques like poaching or making compote (fruit sauce) have been employed by both chefs and home cooks. Cooking fruit gives it a more intense flavour than normal and also adds a different texture.
Here are four dishes that use cooked fruit:
Poached pears
Popular on menus at European restaurants, poached pears have slowly replaced heavier desserts like cakes. They can be made by first boiling wine, sugar and spices in a saucepan and then leaving the pears to cook in the solution for a few minutes. Once tender, the pears can be removed from the pan and served with toppings like chocolate sauce.
Strawberry galette
Nearly everyone’s favourite fruit, strawberries are as delicious cooked as they are raw. To make strawberry galette, knead some dough for the pastry crust. Coat some strawberries in sugar and leave aside for them to release their juices. Roll out the dough and arrange the sticky strawberries in the middle of it. Brush with egg wash for a glaze, bake and enjoy.
Apple crumble
An old-fashioned dessert that’s still around, apple crumble occupies space in the recipe books of every grandmother. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, apple crumble can be made by mixing sliced or mashed apples with caster sugar, making crumbs with flour, sugar and butter and topping the apples with it. Bake until golden and ready to eat.
Banana bread
A favourite lockdown recipe, banana bread gained even more popularity after the pandemic began. Almost cake-like, banana bread is made by preparing a mixture of flour, eggs, butter, sugar and mashed bananas. Grease a loaf tin and pour the mixture into it. Bake for half an hour and once cooked, serve after cooling for at least ten minutes.