FRUIT COCKTAIL - HOLD THE CHERRIES

I haven’t had canned fruit cocktail since I can’t remember when. Remember how rare it was to get many maraschino cherries in the mix?  I once kept a small can on hand to mix with maple syrup and some cinnamon for a sauce for ham, but I’ve dropped that one by the wayside and come up with some new ideas.

I was searching my (alleged) mind for a quick stove-top dessert for company dinner.  My oven just had gone on the fritz (second time in 6 months! Grrrr!) and I couldn't bake a thing until the repairman showed up. So – what did I have? Some apples, green grapes, oh, there’s a can of sliced peaches. How ‘bout we mix that all up, heat it, and serve it over the vanilla ice cream that I thank my lucky stars I bought yesterday.

So this is how I did it – and I didn’t forget to take some quick prep pix, but I did forget serving pix. Use your imagination.

3 small apples, peeled and diced

1 15 oz. can of sliced peaches

Green grapes

2 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. rum

½ tsp. cinnamon

1 Tbsp. – packed, dark brown sugar – see note

Melt the butter in a saucepan and begin to sauté the apples as you peel and dice them. Let them sauté until they begin to brown.

Drain the peaches and reserve the liquid. Cut the peach slices into dice.

Wash and slice a quantity of firm, green grapes about equal to the amount of diced peaches.

Then add the liquid from the peaches to the sautéed apples, put a lid on it, and simmer them for about 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat; add the peaches, grapes, cinnamon, and rum.

Note - If you used peaches in light syrup, as I did, you may want to add about a tablespoon of brown sugar. 

This should keep for a few weeks – the alcohol in the rum hasn’t been cooked off – and you can make it ahead and reheat it when you want to serve it over ice cream.