Cherry Thyme Marinade

Germany is surfing a heat wave right now. I speak of hitting 100°F / 38°C. It is so hot here, I feel like I am melting! You can’t do anything but eating ice cream or drinking smoothies during the day.

The very good thing about the heat is that the fruit is riping in a blink of an eye and you get all those lovely berries to unbelievable prices. Last week my recently retired father-in-law went cherry picking and gifted us to a pound of sweet yet firm, most perfect cherries. A few were eaten straight away, a few went to our lunch boxes and a few went into the newest marinade craze. I was toying around with a counterpart to the thyme I had left from my spiced butter and biting in those cherries I knew what had to happen.

I really love the use of fruit in a marinade. I’ve experimented with peach and strawberries in my marinades so far and loved every single bite. And now the creamy combination of herbs and cherry with a little spice provided by the pepper just takes the summer feeling to a whole new level. The marinade smells amazingly sweet and reminds me a bit of summers afternoons in my grandma’s backyard.

Print Recipe

Cherry Thyme Marinade

Author: Juli

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup thyme leaves - roughly peeled from the stem
• 3 T olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1,5 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 T red vine vinegar
• 1/2 cup ~ 12 pitted cherries

Instructions

• Give the garlic, salt and 1 T olive oil in narrow mixing bowl or mortar and mix or pestle until you have a pale white and smooth mixture
• Add the remaining 2 T olive oil, salt, pepper, vinegar and thyme and mix/ pestle again until you have a thick mixture - the thyme should not be leafy anymore
• Now add the cherries and pestle or blend again until you have a smooth marinade

Notes

For this recipe, as well as almost all my marinades I recommend to use a mortar or hand-held blender. If you follow this step by step instructions the marinade turns out much smoother and creamier and less chunky in my experience. If you don't care you can just thow everything in a food processor and blend until smooth. But it gets way creamier when you follow the above description.
To marinade the meat I always use a freezer bag. I pour all the marinade in a large bag, add the meat and let marinade at room temperature for 1 h or in the fridge up to 24 h.
This marinade goes along best with beef
After grilling let a little a decent chunk of the Lemon Thyme Butter melt on the hot meat

Okay guys now I have some work to get done and later I indulge in the best part summer has to give me: enjoying the evening on the balcony, the hubby by my side, chilled beer in hand and the grill gently roasting our cheeseburgers. Pure bliss!

Have a good Sunday friends and enjoy the summer