Sautéed Cherries with Vanilla Bean

Every week, baking expert Alice Medrich is going rogue on Food52 -- with shortcuts, hacks, and game-changing recipes.

Today: Fresh cherries are wonderful, but sometimes you need to heat things up in the summertime.

It's hard to stop eating fresh cherries in their season, but eventually you may be tempted to cook a few. Depending on your mood and inclination, you can serve this compote hot, warm, or cold, perhaps in a little dish with an amaretti cookie or two. Or spoon it around scoops of vanilla ice cream or over sour cream soufflés. Or serve with a little fromage blanc topped with toasted almonds and cracked black pepper.

Sautéed Cherries with Vanilla Bean

Serves 4 as a compote, 6 to 8 as an accompaniment

1 pound (3 cups) ripe cherries
3 tablespoons vodka
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
Pinch of salt
Fresh lemon juice, to taste

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Get excited about Alice's forthcoming book Flavor Flours: nearly 125 recipes -- from Double Oatmeal Cookies to Buckwheat Gingerbread -- made with wheat flour alternatives like rice flour, oat flour, corn flour, sorghum flour, and teff (not only because they're gluten-free, but for an extra dimension of flavor, too). 

Photo by Linda Pugliese