Pickled Plums - Pink Saturday

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...We won't see local berries for another year, but our farmer's markets still have abundant supplies of peaches, plums and pears. We've had lots of desserts lately, so I'm trying to find more savory ways in which to use the bounty. Bob found some beautiful chops at the pork store today, and while I was puzzling how I wanted to prepare them, I remembered an old recipe from Gourmet magazine. The recipe was for grilled chops that were served with pickled plums. I had a recollection of liking the plums well enough to serve them with all kinds of grilled meat. I have a tendency to love certain recipes to death. I make them so often I tire of them and they end up in the box that serves as my recipe graveyard. I suspected I'd find "my" plum pickle there. While it required some digging, I unearthed the recipe and within an hour had pickled plums to serve with our luscious pork chops. The recipe is very easy to do. If you have a small family, make a half portion of the pickle. Chances are pretty high that children won't touch them, so be forewarned and save yourself some grief. Most adults really like these. They should be served in the same way you would serve a salsa or chutney. If you are looking for something different to brighten your grilled meats, I think you'll really like this pickle. Here's the recipe.

Pickled Plums ...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Gourmet magazine

Ingredients:
2-1/2 pounds assorted plums (about 10)
2 medium red onions
2 cups water
2 cups red-wine vinegar
2-1/4 cups sugar
3 cinnamon sticks
1-1/2 teaspoons whole allspice
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1) Pit plums and cut into 1/2-inch wedges. Cut onions into 3/4-inch pieces and transfer with plums to a 10-cup (2 1/2-quart) heatproof glass jar with a lid.
2) Place vinegar, water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, allspice,cloves and salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Immediately pour over plums and onions.
3) Cool mixture, uncovered. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 6 hours. Pickled plums can be kept, refrigerated, for 1 week. Yield: 12 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Five Spice Plum Chutney - Vegalicious Recipes
Plum and Cherry Compote - Nami Nami
Pickled Plums and Onions - Pham Fatale
Pepper Pork with Chipotle Plum Sauce - Neo-Homesteading
Kabob Party: Easy Grilled Plums with Rosemary Balsamic Glaze - SippitySup
Beef Up Your Beef: Santa Rosa Plum and Mushroom Sauce - The Baking Barrister

This post is being linked to:
Pink Saturday, sponsored by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Plum Tart with Streusel Topping

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...We do our green market loop every weekend when farm stands are open. The trail begins in the produce section of our Saturday Market and then heads past the city limits to farms, where we can actually measure the growth of food from one week to the next. The weekly run for provisions usually works well, but I occasionally find fruits and vegetables ganging up on me. This week I had to deal with surplus corn and plums before new stores could be brought in. I decided to use the plums to make a tart, and because I was using red and blue varieties of varying sweetness, I thought it best to use a streusel topping to assure they would not be too tart when baked. Even with that, you'll find this to be a just sweet tart and scheduling trumpet practice following dessert would be unwise. In order to proceed you will need pastry for a one crust pie. Homemade is, of course, best, but use whatever is easiest and most convenient for you. This dessert is about the plums, not the pastry. This is really easy to do and if you are fond of European desserts you'll love this tart tart. It is very juicy and I think it's best served warm. Here's the recipe.

Plum Tart wit Streusel Topping...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, inspired by The Cookworks

Ingredients:
Pastry for 1 9-inch tart or pie pan
8 large purple plums, pitted and thinly sliced
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Streusel Topping
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a pie or tart pan with pastry. Set aside.
2) Toss plums with brown sugar and cinnamon. Pile plum mixture into pastry shell.
3) Combine flour, sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles cornmeal. Sprinkle streusel evenly over plums.
4) Bake for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for 20 minutes longer. Serve warm. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Plum Jam with Ginger and Vanilla - Cotto e Crudo
Plum Honey - How I Cook
Plum Buckle - One Perfect Bite
Plum Custard Pie with Almond Crust
Cinnamon Streusel Plum Cake - My Kitchen in the Rockies
Double Crusted Plum Crisp - Two Peas and Their Pod
Plum and Raspberry Clafouti - Cafe Leilee

Plum Buckle

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Tucked into that corner of the world occupied by crisps, cobblers and grunts, is yet another treasure called a buckle. The buckle is a rich butter cake that's topped with fruit. It gets its name because the surface of the cake appears to buckle as the cake batter rises around the topping. I think the best and most delicious version of this cake is made with plums. It tastes like a Viennese kuchen but it is much easier to prepare. While I serve this cake for breakfast or for brunch, it also makes a wonderful dessert. It is quite simple to do, though you should be aware there is one irritating problem associated with the cake. It's done when it chooses to be done and the time it requires to bake is variable. Some days the cake bakes in less than an hour, other days it takes more time. I suspect the amount of moisture in the fruit explains the discrepancy but you'll be fine, as long as you keep the cake in the oven until you are sure its center is set. This is a cake that is best served warm and eaten on the day it is made. It stales quickly. This is a treasure that I hope you will try. Here's the recipe.

Plum Buckle...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Sunset Magazine

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
Zest of 1 small lemon
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 cup milk
4 cups sliced unpeeled firm-ripe plums (about 4 large)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground mace

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter an 8 x 8 x 2-inch pyrex pan. Set aside.
2) Combine butter and 1 cup sugar in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat at high speed until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lemon peel.
3) Combine flour, baking powder,salt and nutmeg in another bowl. Whisk to combine. Stir half the flour mixture into butter mixture , then add milk followed with remainder of flour mixture. Stir just until incorporated. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Overlap plum slices on top of batter. Combine reserved 2 tablespoons sugar with cinnamon and mace. Sprinkle over plums.
4) Bake in a 325 degree oven until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes (it may take longer than this) . Serve warm or at room temperature. Yield: 9 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Plum and Hazelnut Crumble Slice - The English Kitchen
Cinnamon Streusel Plum Cake - My Kitchen in the Rockies
Plum Galette/Plum Crostada - My Kitchen Snippets
Plum and Cherry Compote - Nami Nami
Plum Tart - Being Suzy Homemaker
Plum Cardamom Ice Cream - Cristine Cooks

Horner's Corner Plum Bread

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Oven duty began early this morning. There's been a death in a neighbor's family and I wanted to get a loaf of their favorite plum bread to them while it was still warm and fragrant. When I make this kind of visit, I'm confounded by the way we mark the measure of a man and his passing. A life, a good life of 80 years, is over and can't be summarized in the seven lines of his obituary. Those who mark his passing will take those lines and, from them, weave the history that is his life and share it with each other. He was not a religious man, so, most likely, this story will be told at the table as they break bread together. Friends and neighbors will assure that none who gather to tell that story will go hungry. Food has become an important part of all our rituals. This bread is but one of many offerings that will be shared as his story is re-told.

Plum Bread...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite


Ingredients:
1 cup pitted dried plums, coarsely chopped
3 cups all-purpose flour + flour for kneading
1 cup whole wheat flour
4-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup warm milk
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon honey, divided use
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Directions:
1) Toss plums with 1 tablespoon flour. Set aside. Combine 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, yeast and salt in bowl of an electric stand mixer. Add sweet potatoes, milk, 1/4 cup honey and oil. Beat with a paddle attachment until smooth, about 2 minutes. Stir in reserved 1-1/2 cups flour and mix to form a soft dough.
2) Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Knead plums into dough. Place dough into a bowl coated with vegetable oil or cooking spray. Turn to coat top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
3) Punch down and turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 3 potions. Roll each portion into a rope about 15-inches long. Braid ropes, pinching ends to seal. Place braid on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Cover and let rise until double in bulk, about 30 minutes.
4) Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake bread for 40 minutes, or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Remove pan from oven and place on a cooling rack. Mix reserved 1 tablespoon honey with orange juice and brush over exposed surfaces of bread. Yield: 1 large loaf.

You might also enjoy these recipes:

Lemon and Blueberry Sweet Bread - One Perfect Bite
Lemon Poppyseed Bread - One Perfect Bite
(Almost) Irish Soda Bread - One Perfect Bite

This post is being linked to:

Wild Yeast - Yeast Spotting