Pineapple preserves

Growing up, my mom often made a very simple, very Southern hors d'oeuvres in which you spread a blend of pineapple preserves, apple jelly, dried mustard and horseradish over cream cheese and serve with crackers alongside. It's called Jezebel Sauce which I always thought was an absolutely marvelous name for it, at least with regards to the post-Biblical connotation of a jezebel. This sauce is slightly outrageous, definitely luxurious and looks like melted jewels strewn across a white cloud. In any case, I'm making it for a catering order this coming Wednesday and could not, could NOT, locate pineapple preserves anywhere in the multiple DC-metro area stores I tried. I looked online, and Smuckers has a "find pineapple preserves by zip code" option. A very few stores in Virginia seem to carry it but otherwise, it seems you really must head much further south of the Mason-Dixon to find this stuff. Plan B? Make my own. I should have considered this in the first place being that I am an avid canner and pretty much always find homemade stuff unbeatably good. Shortly thereafter, I whipped up the first batch, an incredibly simple concoction of pineapple, sugar and orange zest. Then, feeling creative and with another 4 cups of pineapple chopped and at the ready, I decided to take this one step further and make a Jezebel-inspired preserve. I'd bought some extremely fresh, extremely beautiful ginger at the farmers market this morning so added in about an ounce of that, grated, as well as a generous 1/4 teaspoon of dried mustard. 

Jack said it was fabulous. It is also beautiful with chunks of caramelized pineapple suspended in the golden jelly. I'll post this recipe today.

Recipes posted

Ok, shrimp bisque recipe posted as is the cherry-wine reduction sauce from last night. That was incredible, and you can find it in the Non-Pasta Entree section under Filet Mignon with Cherry and Wine Reduction. Whoa!  Going to the farmers market!

Steaks! Tomatoes, potatoes, and I've still not posted that recipe

Blarg! I will post the shrimp bisque recipe soon. Today was SO busy. For dinner, I roasted some darling little purple potatoes with a not insignificant amount of garlic, salt, rosemary and oil. Too, I made a sliced tomato salad with blue cheese, balsamic vinaigrette and mint, and for the main dish cooked these steaks. WOW! For the sauce, I reduced a mix of red wine and balsamic vinegar. I brushed the steaks (which I'd salted and peppered and seared briefly on each side in hot  butter) with a bit of it, and then roasted them at 385 until done. In the meantime, in the remaining reduction, I slow cooked some dried sour cherries and the slightest bit of sugar. This was an amazing sauce. I mean seriously, aren't these gorgeous?!