A Tale of Two Plums

A misnomer, actually, as there were far more than two plums:



The time had come to take a stand against the plum rebellion. Those innocent plums just seemed to multiply, declaring sovereignty in the precious free space of my fridge. Their disobedience could be suffered no longer.

And so:



they found themselves mercilessly quartered and then quartered again, thrust into a hot pot and covered in sugar and a substance known as pectin;



cooked until they no longer resembled themselves; the precious juices forced from their variegated flesh;



forced into strange glass vials and subjected to astonishing heat, their bacterial breeding ground obliterated.

At last, the indignities almost too much to endure, they found themselves trapped, amidst strange surroundings, unable to move or escape.



An ignoble end, perhaps, for the once mighty plum, and yet somehow far more honest than the tribulations suffered by some of their brethren who were viciously diluted with cream and frozen.

fin

Matt, you're off the hook

Didn't see Matt this morning at 14th street, but I did see the Red Jacket Orchard's greengage plums - the very plums I had accusingly harangued poor Matt about for several weeks (Matt is the tall and, dare it be said, quite attractive CECNY employee at the Union Square market - my mom and I both have a bit of a crush). Now I have black plums and green plums, and nothing has been done with either yet. Perhaps after my French tutor this evening, I'll make jam (because everyone is in the mood for jam at 10:00pm).

I have some legacy photos from can this part 2 which I wanted to share (and also ask questions about):

Raspberry Jam (with, perhaps, a few too many seeds)



Roasted Peppers


So the question is about the peppers. I don't know if it's visible, but there's lots of white junk floating in the terrine. I'm assuming it's congealed fat, but if anyone knows differently, especially if what you know is that I will die if I eat the white stuff or anything that touched it, please do let me know.

Thanks!

Slow week Friday tagging

I am devoting my Saturday and Sunday to the beach. The weather looks to be gorgeous and I know there will be precious few more days to bronze myself for the pale months to come. However, in order to avoid the crushing traffic I anticipate on Monday, I will stay closer to home, and closer to my kitchen (though my mother and I were promised a personal shopping experience at the greenmarket were we to show up on Monday).

I'm definitely going to make my belated attempt at daring bakitude, I need to jam my sugarplums, and I a friend's birthday is on Tuesday, so I think I'll be whipping something up (and just now as I wrote that the final idea presented itself - yippee!). But there are some things from this week's tagging that might also find their way into the agenda (I'm looking at you plum crumble).

Caramelized Tomatoes on Gnocchi - this looks like a great dinner I could even whip up on Sunday night or something. It will necessitate another trip to the market this afternoon to supplement my tomato stocks, but I like a good gnocchi as much as the next girl.

Grilled Merguez with Prune Chutney - I do have a lot of plums hanging around - I just wish the chutney would last longer. Do you think it would freeze? The merguez is a little more difficult to source as I've only ever found it at the market on Saturday, and I hate going to the market on Saturdays (especially when it interferes with waning beach time), so maybe I'll make the chutney, experiment with freezing it, and pick a rainy Saturday to find the sausage.

Plum Crumble - The man of the house is a big defender of crumble. It is the primary bargaining tool I have when looking up at him with my puppy dog eyes and suggesting a full day of apple picking. He's not the biggest of plum fans, but perhaps the crumble will sway him.

Apricot Chestnut Tart Tatin - I have halved and frozen the last of the Red Jacket apricots. I don't see how this recipe would suffer by using the frozen fruit and I'm always looking for something to do with my chestnut flour (when I'm not being overly ambitious and making chestnut fettuccine or something like that). If I do decide to use the frozen apricots, I can hold off on this recipe for a bit.

Strawberry Dessert Quartet - No recipes here, but it's gorgeous. I don't have a lot of interest in eating dinner at Jean Georges (I've heard from trusted sources that it could be better), but now I want to go for dessert and have this (it will somehow make all the times his people have beaten me to the market for strawberries seem, if not ok, then barely tolerable).

For someone who's iffy on tagging

I surely seem to do it a lot.

Nectarine Upside-Down Cake: So much stone fruit, so little time. I might wait until I have yellow nectarines. The white ones I bought this week are a little too sweet without enough tang to sustain a good cake.

Mirabelle Plum and Pistachio Tart: I haven't seen Mirabelles at the market, but I think greengage plums would work just as well.

Spicy Corn Fritters: Mmm...with grilled flank steak and a tall glass of lemonade. How I do love summer.

Prickly Pear Sorbet: Does anyone know where I can buy a prickly pear? I tried the Prickly Pear puree from Perfect Purees but thought they added way too much sugar. Also, they are so much more expensive than the Boiron purees that I'm sort of boycotting on principle - their purees aren't organic, just expensive.

Plum Galette: Making this this afternoon with Wednesday's elephant plums.

Apricot and Olive Oil Crust Tart: I needed this recipe three weeks ago at the height of apricot season. Ah well, filed away for next year.

Some Wines: I am especially interested to try the Saumur-Champigny as I really love the Roches-Neuves version.

Yellow Gazpacho: Because I too am a sucker for the grilled cheese and tomato soup at Bouchon Bakery.

Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes in Oil: I buy way too many tomatoes for this not to be useful. Now I just need more mason jars.

Five Minute Tomato Sauce: So useful. I hate the idea that if I read a recipe that calls for tomato sauce I'm generally shit out of luck.