The Cook the Books Club recently read Alice Waters’ biography, Coming to My Senses. While I wasn’t very impressed with her printed bio, I am very impressed with the woman and her cookbooks. I decided to pull The Art of Simple Food off my shelf and revisit it.

I almost made the Winter Fruit Compote (364) then for that CTB post. That recipe just spoke to me as the summer months are waning. Waters describes this recipe as being very versatile and indeed it was.

Almost any combination of dried fruits can be refreshed this way and turned into a dessert to be served alongside a slice of cake, or with a little crème fraîche.

Waters calls for dried fruit like raisins, currants, cherries, apricots, and apples. I had only a few of these fruits on hand so I went to the pantry searching. Here is what I came up with.

Winter Fruit Compote

Based on a recipe from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters

Ingredients

• ½ c. golden raisins
• ½ c. dried cherries
• ½ c. dried plums, chopped 
• ¼ c. dried or crystalized ginger, chopped
• ½ c. dried blueberries
• 1 c. orange juice
• ¾ c. red wine 
• 1 T. orange liqueur 
• 1 three inch cinnamon stick

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer. Cook for about five minutes or until the fruits have plumped and the liquid has thickened a bit.
2. Remove from heat and discard cinnamon stick.
3. Store in the refrigerator.

Her liquid base is simply fresh orange juice, orange zest, and brown sugar. I didn’t have fresh oranges and I forgot about the brown sugar.  (The plums, though, added enough sweetness.) I really did like the “bite” the candied-dried ginger gave this dish. Only having one cup of orange juice in the fridge, I topped it off with red wine and then added a splash of orange liqueur.  

Let’s go back to Waters, though, for other variations like adding poached pears to the cooled compote or using it as a “memorable” tart filler. “Strain off the liquid and use the fruit to make a galette. Reduce the liquid and use it to glaze the galette after baking” (364). 

I love recipes that offer so many different variations.

Does my rendition count as a whole new recipe?

I served it up as a topping for a slice of Madeira Cake. This compote would also be good alongside grilled pork or chicken or roasted turkey. I am also imagining a bit of it mixed into a shrub or cocktail.