The most versatile, simple cherry sauce for duck to dessert. From savoury meat dishes to ice cream, this healthy recipe is made with fresh or frozen cherries with an added touch of cardamom spice.
What Meat Goes Well with Cherry?
While we love this cherry sauce best with tender rosé pink duck fillets, it's also great with all sorts of meat. Try it with roast chicken or turkey (great also with lemon sauce for chicken), steaks and game such as venison.
Pork tenderloin (filet mignon in French) or pork chops are equally good. Traditionally served with tart fruits like apples and plums (prunes), cherries also hit that acidic note. Ideally use sour cherries or Morello dark cherries.
Rather than cook the cherries directly in the pot with the meat, this simple sauce adds the flavour separately. It's a win-win recipe: quick and easy that brings out the flavour of the meat. The extra cardamom and pepper just makes the flavours pop.
For more on what goes well together,
see the French guide to cherries (cerises).
The Simple Recipe - Without Alcohol
What I love about this simple recipe is there's no need for any red wine or other alcohol. Likewise, there are no shallots to reduce either, so the cooking time is much faster. Well, if it goes with dessert, we're glad there are no shallots!
Instead, add just a little balsamic vinegar as this does the job just as quickly without the alcohol. Just as we often add balsamic vinegar to strawberries, this works well for both savoury dishes and desserts.
Even with the cardamom seeds and pepper, this supports dessert well too. Surprised? Try it and see.
How to Make Cherry Sauce
We love this with sour cherries but pick your favourite variety and it will work just as well. What's more, out of season (let's face it, the season is too short!), frozen are excellent too.
Place the cherries in a saucepan with no more than 2 tablespoon water (no need for water if your cherries are frozen), sugar, lemon zest and juice, pepper and the cardamom seeds from 4 pods.
Cook for about 10 minutes until the cherries are soft without a lid (even less if fresh). Add the balsamic vinegar (optional but works with savoury and sweet dishes) and reduce for 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste if for savoury.
Blitz with a hand blender either completely to a smooth sauce or blend half way to contain some whole cherries.
How Do you Thicken Cherry Sauce?
While many recipes add a little cornstarch or arrowroot to the cherry juice, this is without. Just add a little lemon juice, 3cm/1 inch lemon zest (naturally high in pectin), and leave to reduce on a medium heat for 5 minutes.
By blending the sauce half way, the sauce thickens naturally with the fruit. I like to leave some bits in it, as it's lovely to see the cherries still in the sauce. However, for some desserts, blitz it all the way to the smoothest cherry coulis.
Simple Cherry Sauce for Dessert - from Ice Cream to Pancakes
If I haven't mentioned enough, this simple sauce also works for dessert. Although optional, add a little more sugar to your taste and this is great with ice cream. It's delicious with vanilla to chestnut vanilla ice cream.
Even try something original and serve as a topping with pistachio ice cream. Although extra simple, the flavours are layered and complex with pistachio, coconut and vanilla - with or without the wasabi!
Cherry and chocolate desserts are also a delicious combination. Think German Black Forest gâteau with its famous sour Morello cherries - and pair with chocolate fondant cake, chocolate crêpes, or on these no-bake chocolate puddings.
Enjoy on pancakes: serve as a filling or topping on thin French pancakes (crêpes) or on Scotch pancakes.
The ultimate taste? Drizzle (dribble?) on top of French toast, Pain Perdu, which is served more as a dessert than breakfast in France.
Cherry Sauce for Meats to Dessert
Ingredients
- 300 g (2 cups) cherries (fresh or frozen) pitted
- 2 tablespoon water (not needed if using frozen cherries)
- 45 g (3 tbsp) caster sugar superfine
- 4 pods green cardamom seeds (removed from pods)
- ¼ teaspoon freshly milled black pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice + 3cm/inch of zest
- ½ tablespoon balsamic vinegar optional
Instructions
- Place the cherries in a saucepan with water (no need for water if your cherries are frozen), sugar, lemon juice and est, pepper and the cardamom seeds.
- Cook for about 10 minutes on medium heat until the cherries are soft (less if fresh). Add the balsamic vinegar and reduce for up to 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste if for savoury.
- Remove the zest and blitz with a hand blender - either completely to a smooth sauce or blend half way to contain some whole cherries.
Notes
This cherry sauce recipe was first published 16 February 2011 served with a white chocolate panna cotta dessert but is now separate.
Suzy
Hi
I made the cherry sauce but it's quite runny.
I followed the recipe exactly using fresh cherries and added the optional 1/2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar.
Also when I blitzed the sauce are you supposed to remove the 4 cardamom pods?
I just blitz the lot!
I didn't want to reduce the sauce too much in case I ruined it?
Please can you advise on how to thicken the sauce after cooking and cooling it
Suzy
Jill Colonna
Hi Suzy. Thanks so much for your questions, as I realised I hadn't made it clear enough on the recipe card compared to the text in the post. I forgot to precise that the seeds are taken out of the pods and, most of all, that the lemon zest should be in there! It was in the post and in photos but now it's clearer in the recipe card. Adding the lemon zest is important as it's naturally high in pectin. Just remove it before blitzing. Did you use the lemon zest? I can't imagine your sauce is that runny but, now that it's made, I'd suggest adding a little lemon zest and reheating gently to reduce, then remove the zest. Let me know how you get on and thanks again. The recipe card is updated and hopefully much clearer now. Enjoy x