Cherries Jubilee II – Electric Boogaloo

Some of you may remember the happiness that was our “Cherries Jubilee” dinner. As a refresher, the Sweet Partner in Crime and I were lucky enough to inherit a couple of cherry trees when we bought our house. These trees produced absolutely delicious pie cherries year after year. The previous owners of the house never picked the cherries, apparently. One of our cross-alley neighbors told us that her mother used to look out from the back porch and bemoan the fact that “all of those beautiful cherries are going to waste.”

Well, we certainly weren’t going to let that happen again.

Unfortunately, last year, one of the two cherry trees bit the dust. Whether it was lingering effects from the drought a few years back, disease, or that it was just its time, we had to take the old boy down, leaving one very misshapen tree.

Enter Christine the Pie Queen, her husband Jeff (whom you know from the “dinner of the month” guest column series), and a couple of their friends from Wisconsin – who just happened to own an orchard. The orchard owners agreed to come over last winter and do some tree surgery, pruning the remaining tree into a shape where it might have a change for survival. We held our breath and waited for spring.

The tree apparently survived and enjoyed its “haircut” – this year, the tree was not only extremely healthy, but produced an embarrassment of riches cherry-wise. We gave quarts and quarts away, but not before keeping enough to do another cherry dinner with Jeff & Christine.

We started with Jeff’s ”cherry cocktails.” We were a bit skeptical at first, but this mélange of citrus vodka and cava, garnished with bourbon-soaked cherries was also delightfully refreshing. This was served with an amuse-bouche of pesto-stuffed mushrooms. (Yeah, one dish without cherries…so it goes.) We lingered over these tasties for awhile before heading to the dinner table.

The Sweet Partner in Crime followed up with a fresh arugula salad with apples, toasted walnuts, goat cheese and dried cherries. We opened a bottle of Villa Maria 2008 Riesling from New Zealand to go alongside. The Riesling brought a little sweetness to set off the bitterness of the greens and the tartness of the cherries. Needless to say…yum.

We took a pause here for a palate cleanser. Christine had done a tart cherry granita, a wonderfully refreshing little palate awakener – and perfect for an evening with temperatures in the nineties.

The entrée – well, there are few things in the world that go better with cherries than duck, so we decided to prepare a quacking good course. Duck breasts with shallot and dried cherry sauce over saffron rice pilaf. We paired this with the Casa Marin 2006 Litoral Vineyard Pinot Noir. Considering the noises of sheer yummitude coming from around the table, I think the whole shebang ended up tasting pretty good. As a general rule, almost any kind of food that incorporates cherry flavors will be good with pinot noir, especially good pinot noir.

Finally, whatever sacrifices Christine made to the Pie Goddess were obviously warmly accepted, because the confection she put together was one of her best. Cherry pie. Plain and simple. And just about perfect. Alongside, a delectable dessert wine: Dashe 2007 Late Harvest Zinfandel. Neither pie nor wine lasted very long, and I opened a Frangipani 2004 Late Harvest Zinfandel to finish off the evening. It was good, but it wasn’t nearly as tasty as the Dashe. Still, by that point in the evening, going with something that didn’t require too much thought (considering our collective level of cognitive function by this point) was probably the best strategic move.

All in all, cherry-covered decadence and delightful anticipation for next year…

Cherries Jubilee

When the Sweet Partner in Crime and I consolidated households and moved northward, one of our favorite features of the house we ended up with was a couple of wonderful old cherry trees in our backyard. The blossoms welcome in spring in a beautiful way. We're also able to get some wonderful tart fruit from the trees.

These were some of the best "pie cherries" we've found, and I made a pretty tasty batch of cherry-flavored beer a couple of years ago with part of our pickings. Last year, unfortunately, a late frost followed by a drought killed our entire harvest. We didn't know what we'd see this year.

The trees bounced back in style. We had a bumper crop this year. Our neighbors, Jeff and Christine (from a few earlier episodes), came by for a partial harvest. We've still got more on the tree than we know what to do with. They're going to be out of town later this week, so they won't be here for the SPinC's monumental birthday celebration.

Christine, bless her soul, had the fabulous idea to take the cherries and put together a meal with that tasty fruit in each course. The results were wonderful and, since cherries are coming into season just about everywhere, I thought we might share some of these potential pairings for public consumption.

We started off with an appetizer of goat cheese topped with a "cherry-walnut-bourbon thing" -- which was close enough to chutney for government work. We initially had this with a cherry-vodka cocktail that Jeff whipped up, but if you wanted wine, I'd probably put this up against something relatively light, a little sweet, and bubbly. The Lazurro Moscato d'Asti ($8-9) would be a possibility. It's quite a sweet wine, reminding me actually a little bit of a sparkling grape juices, except not as carbonated and with a kick. The sweetness and a slight acidity would cut through both the cheese and the chutney nicely.

Our next course was a salad made from our neighbor's "yeah, you betcha" garden with tomatoes, cucumbers, and a cherry vinaigrette dressing. We had this with Lindeman's 2007 Bin 99 Pinot Noir. ($9-10) Ordinarily, I haven't been a big fan of Australian pinots. I think they tend to be a little bit heavy for this type of wine -- but this one worked pretty well. I think that we needed something relatively fruity and non-tannic without being overwhelming, and this worked. I think even inexpensive pinot will work if you need something relatively food friendly and flexible. Just don't expect the wine of a lifetime.

The main course was grilled pork tenderloin with a cherry sauce and asparagus. We had this with another pinot noir -- this time one that was safely out of Vine Range -- Amphora 2006 Pinot Noir. Amphora is one of our favorite wineries from Sonoma -- but they're known more for big cabernets and zinfandels than pinot. This one was more lush than many pinots, but had a delightful smokiness to it that worked well with the grilled flavors.

For dessert, of course, cherry pie. Pie-making is one of Christine's considerable talents and her cherry pies are unmatched. We had this with Oak Grove 2005 Reserve Zinfandel. ($7-8) You'd definitely want a relatively fruity wine to go with a pie like this. The Zinfandel worked reasonably well -- this wine is certainly that. By this point in the evening, it also held up as we continued to drink on it through the evening. If I'd had it to do over, I'd probably have gone with a dessert wine made from Zinfandel -- a late-harvest Zinfandel of some kind. Rosenblum Cellars does a late harvest called "Rosie Rabbitt" that you can often find for right around $15. The sweetness would have worked quite nicely with the pies.

All in all, a delightful evening in excellent company, and an exceedingly proper way to kick off the Sweet Partner's week of birthday celebration. More on that as it unfolds, of course...