Raspberry Goodness

It's Labor Day. The unofficial end to summer. The Brave Astronaut Clan is surely cramming in a few more hours at the pool. If we were in New York, school would be starting on Wednesday, but here in Maryland, LBA started Kindergarten last week. But of course, it will be hot this week, because it always is right when you go back to school.

These recipes caught my eye the other day when I saw it in the New York Times Magazine. The magazine often does these "Recipe Redux" columns and this particular one featured a 1900 recipe for Raspberry Vinegar and then the new recipes for a float and a tart. Both excellent items for a hot late summer day. And the article even notes that it is appropriate to make enough to give as gifts on Labor Day as a farewell to summer. So, sorry no vinegar for you, but here's how you can make your own.

Recipe: 1900, Raspberry Vinegar
This recipe appeared in The Times in an article titled “Women Here and There — Their Frills and Fancies.” You may halve or quarter the recipe.

• 1 cup red-wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 quarts freshly picked raspberries
• Sugar
  

1. In a nonreactive bowl, combine the vinegar and raspberries. Cover and let macerate for 3 days.
2. Mash the raspberries in the bowl, then strain the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth. To every 1 cup of juice, add ½ pound of sugar (1¼ cups plus 1 tablespoon). Combine the juice and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer (gently!) for 15 minutes. Let cool, then bottle. Keep refrigerated for up to 3 months.
3. To serve, add 1 teaspoon raspberry vinegar to a tumbler filled with ice. Add water, sparkling water, rum, brandy or prosecco. Makes about 1 quart.

Recipe: 2010: Raspberry Vinegar Float
by Joanne Weir, the author of “Tequila”

• 1 ounce raspberry vinegar (from recipe above)
• 2 ounces pisco Italia
• 1/4 ounce fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 ounce maraschino liqueur
• Club soda
• Vanilla ice cream
• 1 sprig mint.
  

Place the first four ingredients in a shaker and stir well to mix. Add plenty of ice and shake well. Strain into a tall float glass. Top the drink with club soda to taste (¼ to ½ cup). Carefully place a scoop of ice cream into the glass. Garnish with a mint sprig and serve with a tall bar spoon and a straw. Serves 1.

Recipe: Raspberry Vinegar Tart
By Allison Kave, the owner of First Prize Pies in Manhattan

For the crust:

• 25 chocolate wafer cookies
• 1 cup freeze-dried raspberries or strawberries (optional)
  
• 4 to 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  

For the filling:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cold water
• 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar (see 1900 recipe)
  

For the topping:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar (see 1900 recipe)
• 1/2 tablespoon St-Germain elderflower liqueur.
  

1. Prepare the crust: In a food processor, grind the cookies until you have 1½ cups crumbs. Transfer to a bowl. If using the freeze-dried raspberries, process them in a food processor, spice grinder or mortar and pestle until they are reduced to powder. There will be seeds, so sift the powder through a fine-mesh sieve into the cookie crumbs, and stir lightly to combine. Butter a 9-inch tart pan, put the crumbs in the middle and slowly drizzle the melted butter into the crumbs. Mix until the crumbs resemble the texture of wet sand. (You may not need all the butter; you can discard the rest.) Firmly press the crumbs against the sides and bottom of the pan until about ¼ inch thick. Chill in the refrigerator, or even the freezer, for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the crust until the base is dry, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Keep the oven on.
2. Make the filling: Whisk together the eggs and ¼ cup sugar. In a 1-quart saucepan, whisk together the flour and remaining ¾ cup sugar, then whisk in water, red-wine vinegar and raspberry vinegar. Bring to a boil, whisking until the sugar is dissolved, then add to the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream, whisking vigorously to prevent the eggs from scrambling. Pour the filling back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it coats back of spoon, 12 to 15 minutes. Do not boil. Pour a ½-inch-thick layer of filling into the chilled tart crust.
3. Bake the pie in the middle of the oven until the filling is set, about 15 minutes, then cool completely in the pan. Chill in the refrigerator.
4. Whisk the heavy cream with the raspberry vinegar and St-Germain until stiff peaks form. Spread over the surface of the tart, then drizzle with a bit more raspberry vinegar.

Serves 8. Cookie crust adapted from “Paris Sweets,” by Dorie Greenspan; custard filling adapted from Gourmet magazine.