Balsamic syrup, and five simple dishes it improves.

If you happen to have a decent bottle of balsamic vinegar in the cupboard, most likely gifted at some
point by someone… you can’t think who, then this is not the recipe in which to use it.

Proper Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale, one that had been accredited with a ‘protected designation of
origin’ (much the same as Champagne or Cornish Pasties even) one that has taken years, literally
years in the making, does not want to be dumped in a pan with a load of sugar and boiled to death.
And just because your bottle of Whatsit’s Simply up Yours® might look the part and say it’s from
Modena doesn’t mean diddly: they have factories in Modena too you know!

Having said that, there are only two ingredients in this ‘recipe’, one of those being the balsamic
vinegar: be economical, but don’t be a cheapskate.

The advantage of making your own is that being nothing more than vinegar and sugar it has an
admirable shelf-life and you can make a whole load of it and have it on hand, year in, year out. You
also have the benefit of being able to control the ingredients and their ratios, balancing the flavour
and its consistency to your liking.

What to do with it then:

 Buy a proper artisanal loaf of ciabatta, griddle slices of it brushed with olive oil, in the style of
bruschetta. Roast some tomatoes on the vine, drizzled with olive oil, flecked with
crushed garlic, sea salt and black pepper. Sit the hot tomatoes on top of the bruschetta with
any juices in the bottom of the pan, drizzle over the balsamic syrup, let their juices soak into
the bread, then let the juices run down your chin.

 Drizzle over strawberries, serve with vanilla ice cream.

 Cube the left-over bread from your artisanal ciabatta, toss in olive oil and bake in the oven to
make simple croutons. Toss some rocket with a few handsome Parmesan shavings, add
the croutons, drizzle with the syrup, drizzle with olive oil, serve with Parma ham for a
simple, confident, care-free starter.

 Roll out puff pastry, cut out playing card size rectangles. Lightly score a border 1cm in
from the outside edge, prick the inside rectangle with a fork going right to the base. Crumble
blue cheese onto the centre keeping inside the border. Cut a fresh fig in half vertically,
dip the face of each half into caster sugar and stand up right on the blue cheese, drizzle with
balsamic syrup. Bake in in the oven for 10 mins.

 Pan fry lamb chops in olive oil. Oven roast cubes of seasoned aubergine tossed in olive
oil and garlic in a hot oven. Remove the lamb to a plate and keep it warm, add two or three
tablespoons of balsamic glaze to the pan with a tablespoon of water, toss in the roasted
aubergine, tear over fresh basil, serve with the lamb.
Ingredients

450 ml balsamic vinegar

135g caster sugar

Good fat pinch of Maldon sea salt

Place all three ingredients in a suitably sized saucepan on a low heat, stir to dissolve the sugar.

Increase the heat and bring to a simmer – start the timer.

We’re aiming for a reduction of at least half, and one that leaves a clear trail across the bottom of
the pan when you drag the spoon across it. This takes somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes.

Watch the size of the bubbles (but beware inhaling the fumes), as the vinegar reduces the bubbles
get bigger and the syrup will froth up in volume, just as they would in making a caramel.

(Alternatively, you could weigh the final thing, either by pouring it into a bowl on the scales, or by
weighing the pan and its contents together, but first having taken a note of the total weight before
you started. 250g – 275g will give you a thick syrup the constituency of black treacle.)

The syrup will thicken as it cools; If the end result should be too thick, just pop the pan back on a low
heat with a tablespoon of water and stir to loosen.