Serves 8–10
Refrigerator jams generally make a small batch, which means you don’t need to invest in bushels of fruit and there’s no need for canning equipment to sterilize the jars for long-term storage; you can keep the one or two jars of jam the recipe makes in the fridge and finish them off in a few weeks. We use a small amount of fruit so that it will cook down quickly to the proper consistency, and the less you cook fruit, the more of its fresh taste is preserved. A shorter cooking time also preserves more of the naturally occurring pectin in the fruit, which is necessary for proper gelling. In addition to the fruit’s pectin, we tinkered with the amounts of lemon juice and sugar to be sure that the jam would set properly, since acidity and sugar help pectin form a strong gel without the need for adding commercial pectin.
You don’t have to do much to delight your guests—olives and chips go a long way—but if you want to step up from room-temperature snacks, ooey-gooey cheese toasties (grilled cheese to us Americans) is a great start. They are so simple and so generous. For a crowd, just lay them on a cutting board and cut into strips for everyone to dig in. In this version, chile jam adds sweet tanginess and heat. I also learned a tip from my co-writer Sara’s daughter, Adele, who at twelve is a prolific griller of cheese: Mayonnaise on the outside of the sandwich makes it easier to get a perfect crust.
This recipe is meant to accompany the Lemon-Curd Pound Cake recipe, but would be delicious for a variety of uses.
Cut into buttery little pieces, this cross between a tart and a cookie crumbles and then melts away as you eat it. Best of all, this recipe belies the assumption that you need the angels on your shoulder to make tender pastry, and that it takes a lot of time.
Ingredients