Wednesday 25 July 2012

Breakfast for the Clever

Summer has been a bit of a letdown here. I was told that it had the potential to get hot and humid. It did for a day. It's been a rare day to break 70 since then.

I can't complain. I'd much rather be comfortable than in New York right now. Like most of Europe, they don't really do AC here, and when they do, it's a trickle of cold air that teases you if you stand just right to get to it.

They do have a lot of big windows and cross-breezes though. I was never a fan (har) of the blasting ACs you get everywhere in the states. Here, you don't even need a sweater to go to the movies. Crazy, right?

Despite the known miserable heatwave, I developed a craving for walking along the Highline Park and visiting the People's Pops stand there. Anytime I was anywhere near West 14th street, I would dart over and buy a popsicle. I do admit, I've done this several times in one day. They are that good.

The other day, over my standard breakfast of yogurt and granola and fuit, I had a moment of clarity.

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Apricot and cherries go together awfully well. They are both excellently in season here. The sunny tartness of the apricots balance the dark, brooding deepness of the cherry juice.

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I was grateful to find Greek Yogurt here. You can get the Fage brand that we love so much in New York, but it's super expensive. Like, I can buy two four-packs of the store-brand stuff for the price of a single Fage. And it taste, well...the same!

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What to do with this beautiful mess?

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Roast the Fruit. It concentrates the flavor and makes sure you don't have a watery mess.

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Add the fruit mess to the yogurt, add lemon and some honey.

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Spoon into popsicle molds. Voila! 5 hours later, you have an indulgently awesome breakfast.

Was that not the most ingenious way to cheat on breakfast ever?

Breakfast Popsicles

-about 1 lb of fruit- I used cherries and apricots, but whatever mix of berries and fruit would work. Strawberry peach? Raspberry grape? Try it!

-juice of half a lemon

-1/4 c honey

-2 1/2 c greek yogurt

Preheat the oven to 350. Toss your washed, sliced, pitted fruit onto a rimmed baking sheet. I use parchment paper or alum foil on the bottom, but also I hate doing dishes. If your berries are really tart, you might want to add a little sugar at this point. If they are peak summer sweet, you really don't have to. Roast the fruit for about 35 minutes, stirring occasionally. The juice should get syrupy and sweet. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Blend together the yogurt, honey and lemon juice in a big bowl. Add the cooled fruit and juice mess.

Spoon into popsicle molds. If you aren't that fancy, spoon the mix back into the yogurt cups and stick a popsicle stick into the center. Freeze for at least 5 hours, or overnight if you've thought about this ahead of time.

(You might notice that I used the word "mess" quite a bit. Between pitting the cherries, the sticky berry juice, the unwilling-to-blend creamed honey I shouldn't have used, and the spooning into the narrow molds, I needed to hose down the kitchen afterwards.)

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