Fruit And Almond Gratins Recipes

TURNIP GRATIN WITH ALMONDS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Peel the turnips and slice 1/8 inch thick (use a mandoline if you have one). Whisk the cream, flour, 1 teaspoon thyme, the garlic, lemon zest, nutmeg, cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste in a large, deep skillet. Add the turnips and bring to a simmer over medium heat; cover and cook until the turnips are softened, about 3 minutes.
• Stir the turnip-cream mixture and spread evenly in a 2-quart baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until the turnips are very tender, 35 to 40 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until the cream mixture is slightly thickened and the top is golden, about 10 more minutes.
• Meanwhile, make the topping: Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs, almonds and the remaining 1 teaspoon thyme and cook, stirring, until the breadcrumbs are toasted, about 4 minutes. Stir in the parsley and a pinch of salt. Remove the gratin from the oven and sprinkle with the breadcrumb topping.

FRUIT-AND-ALMOND GRATINS

Steps:

• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter gratin dishes.
• Whisk together eggs, cream, confectioners sugar, almond flour, vanilla, and salt in a bowl until combined well. Quarter pears lengthwise, then peel, core, and cut into 1/2-inch-wide wedges. Toss pears with lemon juice in a bowl, then divide among gratin dishes. Divide raspberries and grapes among gratin dishes, then pour custard mixture over fruit. Sprinkle with almonds and dot with butter. Transfer gratin dishes to a shallow baking pan.
• Bake until pears are tender, about 30 minutes. Preheat broiler and broil gratins 4 to 5 inches from heat until almonds are golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Cool on a rack to warm or room temperature before serving.

FRUIT GRATIN

Steps:

• Clean the fruits, remove the stone of the peaches and chop in cubes.
• Put all the fruit in an oven-proof dish.
• Top with the crumbled macaroons.
• Mix the orange juice with the lemon zest and sprinkle over the fruit and cookies and leave for about half an hour.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Whisk the egg whites in a very clean bowl, when stiff add the sugar gradually with the vanilla essence, whisk untill glossy.
• Spread the egg whites on top of the fruit and cookie mixture, try to pattern it a bit.
• Bake for approx 10 minutes (keep an eye on it) until colored to your liking.
• Serve garnished with mint and a scoop of ice cream (optional).

APRICOT GRATIN WITH ALMONDS AND KIRSCH

Steps:

• The day before, combine the sugar, honey, vanilla bean and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
• Place the whole apricots in a large saucepan. Pour the boiling syrup over them and bring back to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat; the apricots should be completely submerged in the syrup. If not, they will discolor. If necessary, invert a saucer over the top of the fruit to keep it submerged. Cover the saucepan and let stand for 24 hours. During this overnight marinating, the pits will impart an almond flavor to the apricots and their syrup.
• Drain the fruit, reserving the syrup and being careful not to crush the apricots. Halve the apricots. Remove and discard the pits. Place four or five apricot halves in the bottom of six gratin dishes that are four-inches in diameter, arranging the fruit just to cover the bottom of the dishes.
• Place the remaining apricots in a food processor or food mill with a little of the syrup and process to a thick puree. Set aside.
• To make the topping, combine one-half cup of the powdered sugar, the ground almonds, butter, egg yolks and whole egg in a mixing bowl and whisk until thoroughly blended.
• Divide the batter among the six gratin dishes, spreading it evenly over the top of the apricots. (If the batter is too thick, heat it slightly to soften.) Sprinkle the top of the batter with slivered almonds. Sprinkle the remaining one-fourth cup of powdered sugar over the top of the gratin dishes with a sugar sifter or fine sieve.
• Forty-five minutes before serving, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Twenty minutes later, place the gratins in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned on top.
• Just before serving, place the apricot puree in a small saucepan and warm over low heat. Add the apricot brandy or kirsch and pour the sauce into a warm sauce boat.
• Serve the gratins on dessert plates lined with paper doilies or folded linen napkins. Pass the apricot topping separately.

APRICOT-ALMOND GRATINS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter gratin dishes and put in a shallow baking pan.
• Soak apricots in brandy 10 minutes, then drain, reserving brandy.
• Reserve 2 tablespoons almonds. Pulse remaining almonds, granulated sugar, flour, and salt in a food processor until almonds are finely chopped. Add eggs and cream and pulse until smooth. Stir reserved brandy into almond cream.
• Pour almond cream into gratin dishes and sprinkle with apricots and reserved almonds.
• Bake gratins in middle of oven until puffed and golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Dust with confectioners sugar.

10-MINUTE FRUIT GRATIN

Steps:

• Preheat broiler; set rack as close to heat source as possible (even 2 inches is not too close).
• Wash, pit, stem and peel the fruit as necessary. Cut stone fruit in halves or slices, as you prefer. Cut strawberries in thick slices; leave smaller berries whole. Place the fruit (at least 2 cups full) in a baking or gratin dish just large enough to hold it.
• Whip cream with 2 tablespoons of sugar until it is thick and just barely holding soft peaks; stir in the vanilla extract. Pour cream over and around the fruit. Sprinkle with remaining sugar.
• Broil carefully, allowing cream to brown all over and even burn in a couple of spots; rotate baking dish during broiling if necessary. Remove and serve.