We like the full flavor and juiciness of olives that come with their pits still inside. If you're going to cook with olives, though, you'll need to remove the pits. Pitting olives adds a few minutes of prep time to a dish, but isn't hard to do.
You can buy tools made specifically to pit olives, but they often don't work for oddly sized olives and end up living permanently in the back of a kitchen drawer. Instead, we use a dough scraper or pastry cutter. You could use any tool that has a wide, flat surface (the flat side of a knife, a small skillet, etc.)
Just press straight down onto the olive with the flat surface until you feel the olive pop.
Continuing to press down gently, pull the tool back toward you. This will often make the seed pop right out.
If the seed hasn't popped out yet, just squeeze with your fingers to release it. Now you're free to keep the pitted olive whole to toss into a pasta or salad, chop it to stir into a sauce for grilled meat or fish, or toss it into the food processor to make tapenade.
Find more olive recipes on Cookthink.com.
Clafoutis is a baked cherry dessert that originated in the Limousin region of France.
Start by placing whole cherries in a shallow buttered dish. Top the cherries with a thick pancake-like batter, then bake the dish and serve it warm with a dusting of powdered sugar. (Don't make extra; clafoutis becomes simultaneously soggy and rubbery when refrigerated.)
Clafoutis is traditionally made with unpitted cherries—purists believe the pits impart an extra almond-ish flavor—though modern cooks often pit the fruit before cooking. Nontraditional fruits such as apples, pears, clementines or berries also work.
The Montmorency cherry is the most popular sour cherry in America. They are named for the Montmorency forest in France, where they were first cultivated in the 18th century.
Plump, firm-fleshed Montmorency cherries are at their peak in July and work well in an all-American cherry pie.
Montmorency is also a culinary term that may or may not signal the presence of cherries in many dishes, from cherry-based ice creams and tarts to Duck Montmorency, made with Bordeaux-poached cherries. A classic garnish called Montmorency is an artichoke heart stuffed with balls of potato and glazed carrot.
A Mexican avocado dip that's eaten with tortilla chips or used to garnish a number of dishes like burritos, tacos, enchiladas and tostadas, guacamole is often eaten with salsa and sour cream.
Guacamole is made by mashing up avocado to a desired consistency from chunky to smooth and then adding salt, lime (or lemon) juice, onion, cilantro and usually tomatoes. Ground cumin may also be added. Guacamole is Aztec in origin and also popular in Cuba and Central America.
Peaches are a delicate fruit that bruise easily. Look for fragrant, smooth-skinned peaches without blemishes, soft spots or greenish skins. The peach flesh should give slightly when gently squeezed.
If you find yourself with a bunch of unripe peaches, put them in a paper bag that has a few air holes poked into it and leave them out for a few days. Some people like to add an apple to the bag, which releases a gas that speeds up the ripening process.
Blenheim apricots are prized fruits grown in the Santa Clara Valley region of California. Similar to a Royal apricot, and sometimes called Royals or Royal Blenheims, the Blenheim is small, with a greenish tint that sometimes makes people mistakenly think it isnt ripe.
Blenheims have been grown in the region for more than 100 years but have become harder to find in recent decades, displaced by more early ripening, bigger and heartier apricot varieties. Because they are delicate and hard to ship, you're most likely to find Blenheims at the farmers market. When they are in season, Blenheims are notoriously delicious fresh, and work well for canning, drying, baking or making jams.
