Oh, dried fruit, how I adore thee! As someone who hardly eats refined sugar, save half a donut at church once a week (Father, Greta has been overcome by temptation and eaten the fateful apple fritter... please forgive her), dried fruit is my go-to snack when I'm craving something sweet. There's still plenty of sugar there, oh yes, but fruit is nutritious, so that makes it okay. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
As such, I always have a decent selection of it on hand. Yesterday, while perusing the aisles of the local discount grocery store, I noticed that blackberry merlot was on sale. Now, I am not much of a drinker, but I do like trying new things, and a glass of wine in the evening can be cathartic once in awhile. Growing up, my parents would get fruit wines once in awhile, and being a good Eastern European family, naturally I got to have a little too. So not only was this particular creature on sale, it looked interesting and awoke a little of my nostalgic side. Sold!
This morning, I decided at random to make a dried fruit compote, with my newly acquired wine as the liquid component... compote-nent?
Armed with this whim and a host of ingredients, I headed for the kitchen.
The Goods:
- 1 cup unsulphured, unsweetened dried mango
- 2/3 cup unsulphured dried apricots
- 1/2 cup dried figs
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries/craisins
- 1/2 cup raisins (I use a 50/50 mix of golden and thompson, but any raisins will do nicely)
- juice of 1/2 small lemon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- just a tiny pinch of ground cardamom
- 2 cups blackberry merlot
Keep in mind, the amounts for the dried fruit are once it's been chopped... the volume before you chop all the tasties might be quite different. Start off by putting the raisins and cranberries in a medium-sized tupperware. Next, it's time to chop up some delectables!
Next up, figs. These I cut in half lengthwise, then quartered each half. Figs being a little tougher than the apricots, I wanted them a little smaller so they could soak up the good stuff with ease. Plus the seed factor needed to be balanced. pieces too big, too much crunch in one place... messin' with my program bro!
I didn't take a picture of the mango chopping. My hands were kinda sticky at this point, and I didn't feel like stopping to wash my hands, so... no picture, sorry. BUT, there was no knife involved. Pure dried mango isn't exactly a piece of cake to chop with a knife. Enter the kitchen shears. I cut the mango into roughly 1" pieces, and threw it in the mix.
When all has been chopped and the stickiness has been washed from thy hands, something that looks akin to this should be residing in the tupperware.
Now we're going places! Add all the dry spices, followed by the lemon juice, vanilla and vino. Then close the lid of the tupperware (Tightly, or you'll be decorated with a medal of kitchen combat!) and give it a good shaking to thoroughly mix everything top, bottom, up, down and sideways. You'll wind up with something like this.
Friends, they say patience is a virtue... in this realm, I am not the most virtuous, so this for me is the hardest part of making this concoction.
Put the closed tupperware someplace out of the way. I put it in a cupboard. Out of sight out of mind. And leave it there. For at least 6-8 ours or overnight. This gives the fruit time to absorb the wine, and all the spices to blend and infuse the fruit with flavor.
When all is said and done, the compote is ready! There should still be a bit of liquid left, something of a syrupy consistency. Let me tell you, it smells fantastic. And fruit wines being quite low alcohol (this one is only 6%), you won't get smashed from enjoying this.
As of now, I've only tasted a little, and boy am I happy with it. It's tasty. Really tasty. I also envision it being heavenly over a scoop of vanilla coconut milk ice cream...
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