Purees preserve essence of summer's bounty for year-round enjoyment

Purees are summer fruits' main squeeze.

With a whir of a food processor or blender, these sauces incrimson, cerise or gold capture the flavors of the season's bounty.

Fruit purees are a combination of juicy fresh fruit, sugar, alittle water and sometimes a flavoring such as lemon juice or mint tobring out the taste. Strawberries, raspberries and blackberries makeexcellent purees. So do peaches and nectarines.

Pureeing doesn't require precise measurements or esotericequipment. A little more or less sugar doesn't ruin the recipe. Iffruit is a little insipid, add a dash of lemon juice or honey.

Fruits can be pureed by hand using a potato masher or a foodmill, though a food processor speeds up the process.

Purees can be refrigerated for a few days or frozen for months.Anyone who enjoys canning can put up a batch of purees, followingrecommended canning methods.

For cooks who want an easy touch of elegance, fruit pureesprovide it.

As examples, here are some quick tips for the summer convenienceproduct:

Use purees over store-bought angel-food cake as a dessert.

Spoon over ice cream as a topping. Mix and match purees to icecreams. Peach ice cream with raspberry puree is a variation of theclassic peaches Melba; strawberry or raspberry puree with chocolateice cream is outstanding, and cantaloupe puree with lime sherbet isrefreshing. Toss some underripe fruit slices with a little puree to improve theoverall taste of a fruit dessert. Spoon a little fruit puree (especially raspberry, strawberry orpeach) into a fluted Champagne glass. Top with the bubbly and enjoy. Swirl a few spoonfuls of puree into plain yogurt. The fresh fruitflavor is delightful, and the resulting dish is probably lower incalories than a commerically made fruit yogurt. Spoon a little fruit puree into a blender container with two scoopsof vanilla ice cream and a little milk. Whirl until frothy for afruit milk shake. Freeze purees in an ice cube tray and use the cubes to chill a fruitpunch. Spoon puree onto English muffins or toast.

As simple as a fruit puree is, it does so much to dress up foodthat it's a staple in many restaurant kitchens.

"As dessert, fruit purees are especially good with chocolate,"said Charlie Trotter, whose restaurant of the same name will openMonday at 816 W. Armitage.

"I always serve a puree under a dessert so the puree doesn'tdisturb the visual enjoyment of the dessert.

"Some combinations are wonderful, sauch as raspberry orblueberry with a dense chocolate torte or raspberry with bitterchocolate and light whipped cream," he said.

"I like combining purees with a vinaigrette dressing to servewith a smoked game birds in a salad. The sweetness of the pureeworks well with smoked game birds or chicken."

One of Trotter's specialties is boned quail, cut into bite-sizepieces and served with mango puree mixed with vinaigrette dressing.The dish is completed with pieces of mango, nuts, greens and redonions.

He cooks venison and then deglazes the pan with red wine andcombines that with a quince or persimmon puree and venison or beefstock.

"For dessert I make a soup with assorted fruit purees. It's asymphony of fruit puree swirled in a pattern," he said.

Gordon Sinclair, owner of Gordon Restaurant, 500 N. Clark, likesthe natural flavor of fresh fruit in frozen desserts, so naturally hebegins with a puree.

"I start with a fruit puree that I put through a sieve to refineit," Sinclair said referring to the granites he prepares.

"I don't like sugar syrups in purees, since I prefer fruittaste, but a little sweetener such as honey or a fruit sugar(available in health-food stores) can be used. Equal will work tosweeten a puree, since it won't be cooked.

"I put the puree on a cookie sheet, about 1/4-inch thick andfreeze it. As it freezes, I run a fork around the puree to stir itup. I do this several times while the puree is freezing, so itfreezes and refreezes and has some texture. I want it gravelly,"Sinclair said.

"Something especially attractive and easy you can do is to makeone side of a cookie sheet one flavor puree and the other sideanother flavor, or you can make three stripes."

Sauces are a standard accompaniment for many restaurantdesserts, and Sinclair highlights his with a little puree.

"Drip a lighter color onto a dark colored puree. For example,make a vanilla sauce and drip in a raspberry puree, or the reverse.It's so easy to do and looks so wonderful," he said.

Sinclair devotes most of his time to his restaurant, so theprospect of freezing fruit purees doesn't interest him.

However, he did recommend it for home cooks. "Fruit purees,particularly those using high acid fruits, have a long freezer life,a good six months," said Sinclair.

Here are two wonderful summer fruit puree recipes. Thestrawberry one, a sprightly dessert, comes from Joe Decker ofAvanzare restaurant, 161 E. Huron. The pineapple sorbet is from anew cookbook, Taste of Today, published by Brandeis UniversityNational Women's Committee. STRAWBERRIES WITH STRAWBERRY BALSAMIC VINEGAR SAUCE

1 cup sugar 2 cups water 2 pints strawberries 1/3cup balsamic vinegar Fresh mint sprigs, optional

Bring sugar and water to a boil to make a simple syrup and setaside to cool. Wash and hull strawberries. Leave about 2/3 ofberries for garnish. Puree remaining berries with enough simplesyrup to make a sauce. Add vinegar and taste for sweet-tart balance.Place a pool of sauce on chilled plate. Arrange whole berries oversauce and garnish with mint. Serves 4. PINEAPPLE SORBET WITH FRESH FRUIT (from Taste of Today, by Brandeis University National Women'sCommittee)

1/2 cup simple syrup (see note) 1 ripe pineapple (about 3pounds), pared, cored and cut into chunks 1 cup water 3tablespoons fresh lemon juice 2 tablespoons kirsch 1 cupfresh blueberries 1 cup fresh raspberries

In food processor combine syrup, pineapple, water, lemon juiceand kirsch. Process until mixture is a thick puree. Either processin an ice cream maker, according to manufacturer's directions orspoon out into shallow pan and freeze, removing and stirring upfrozen mixture occasionally. Mixture can be frozen up to 2 days.Serve with blueberries and raspberries sprinkled on each serving asgarnish. Serves 8.

Boil together 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water until sugardissolves. Chill. Reserve any extra for another recipe.