My good friend, Barbara, came into the city yesterday. We walked around the West Village, sat in a great little coffee shop, Rebel Coffee, walked on the Highline, and ate lunch at Cookshop.
I had some peaches in the fridge that I had overbought. I knew they needed using in a new way. The peach mostarda at Cookshop was the inspiration I needed. I have to admit, I had no clue what a mostarda was besides, after tasting it, quite delicious. I googled it at the restaurant and found a recipe that I was determined to try out once I got home. More googling at home led me to a couple of recipes that I decided to combine. The first one is from Edible Jersey.
Day 1: peel and cut fruit into small chunks. For each pound of prepared fruit, springle 1/3 to 1/2 cup of sugar. I went to the less sweet side.
Day 2: about 24 hours later, poor of the syrup into a small non-reactive sauce pan. Add spices in a sachet. Include sliced fresh ginger and citrus peel.
Reduce juices to a thick syrup. Pour over fruit and let macerate for a few hours at room temperature. Then refrigerate for another day.
Day 3, pour off and reduce the syrup again until quite thick. Add the fruit and simmer gently.
For each 4 cups of cooked fruit, mix 1 to 2 tablespoons of ground mustard with twice the amount of wine or cider vinegar or a combo of vinegar and white wine. Add to pan and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
Taste for seasoning. Add 1 to 2 tsps yellow mustard seeds.
Ladle into sterilized jars.
Serve with cheese, roast chicken, pate….
Principal of Cooking 