Watch CBS News

Narsai David Recipe: Cherries Jubilee

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— It's the height of cherry season and cherries have been delicious this year. The biggest, firmest, most beautiful bings I've seen have come from C.J. Olson Cherry Farm in Sunnyvale.

It used to be a huge farm, but now it's just a tiny patch of land, but by golly they still grow some amazing cherries. That got me thinking about some old traditional cherry recipes like Cherries Jubilee. It used to be on the menus at all the fancy restaurants and had an elaborate tableside presentation where the maitre d' would toss the cherries in a pan with lots of butter, then toss in some booze and then flames would go up before it was poured on top of ice cream.

Cherries Jubilee

But it doesn't need all that drama in order to make a really wonderful dessert. I have a simple recipe that will serve four people.

NARSAI'S CHERRIES JUBILEE

Recipe © 2011 by Narsai M. David

Serves 4

1 orange

3 - 4 TBS sugar (to taste)

1 TBS lemon juice

*1/2 cup port wine

1 TBS cornstarch

1 1/2 lb Cherries, washed and pitted

Grate or scrape the zest from the orange into a 2-3 quart saucepan. Add the juice of that orange along with the sugar, lemon juice, port and cornstarch. Stir until dissolved. Add the pitted cherries and cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until sauce has thickened slightly. Serve immediately over vanilla ice cream or non-fat frozen vanilla yogurt. It is equally delicious over non-fat plain yogurt.

* Any red wine can be substituted for the port by adding another tablespoon of sugar.

Narsai David is the KCBS Food and Wine Editor. He has been a successful restaurateur, chef, TV host, and columnist in the Bay Area spanning four decades. You can hear him Saturdays at 10:53am, 12:53pm and 4:53pm, and at 2:53am Sunday on KCBS All News 740AM and 106.9FM.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.