Compôte

Compôte of Morella cherries.—Boil together for fifteen minutes, six ounces of sugar with half a pint of water; add a pound and a quarter of ripe Morella cherries, and simmer them very softly from five to seven minutes: this is a delicious compôte.

Boil gently for ten minutes, take up the melon in a glass dish, cool the syrup a little, and pour it over the melon. Serve the compôte cold; it is delicious, and costs only about twenty-five cents.

Blanch the fruit in boiling water, then drain, and very carefully remove the skin, cut the peaches in halves and take out the stones. Have ready some syrup, and proceed as directed for apricot compôte.

Apple compôte à la Durban calls for 2 lbs. cooking apples, 6 oz sugar, 1 clove and 1 lemon. […] / Damson compôte, 160 […] / Strawberry compôte, Durban, 224

Gave up smoking leaves ten years ago or more, so most of my leafmould is added to compôte, which it thickens nicely.

Serve the mueli with the compôte and with soya yogurt and soya milk, if you like.

For the rhubarb compôte, wash, trim and slice the rhubarb. Place all the compôte ingredients together into a saucepan and slowly stew until the rhubarb has cooked through.

Warm leftover compôte can turn back-of-the-freezer vanilla ice cream into a more interesting dessert.

Mix all together and, taking a fireproof dish, put a little water in the bottom of it and then some fine breadcrumbs, sufficient to cover the bottom. Pour in your compôte, then, above that, a layer of fine breadcrumbs, and here and there a lump of fresh butter, which will prevent the breadcrumbs from burning.

In summer, fresh fruit can be used for a healthy fruit salad – but in winter, a warm compôte of dried fruit may be more appealing.