“What is more mortifying than to feel that you have missed the plum for want of courage to shake the tree?” Logan Pearsall Smith
Danced off Helen’s beautiful blog,Tartlette’s,the other day, in a dreamy trance. Two thoughts rang through my head. Helen’s hub B smashing the tops of the dreamy desserts, and an urgency to recreate the delightful dessert as soon as possible. Not the first time a fruit dessert has done this to me. Did it off Judy‘s blog, No Fear Entertaining when the peach season began and I instantly made Apricot Cherry Mini Crisps. Then again, off Ari’s blog, Baking and Books with Plums & Brown Sugar Cakes in July… and many times in between.I call it inspirational blogging!!Dived into the fridge looking for fruit. Darn … just pears and green apples! And then I saw them; tucked into the back – a bag of plums, very sour! My mother is a die hard fruit shopper. She loves to buy fruit, but I virtually fall at her feet and beg her not too. She has no idea of how to choose good fruit, yet she goes, again and again, shopping for fruit at any ones recommendation, which is how these plums landed up on my doorstep. For Rohan, she announced, who loves plums. One bite & Rohan abandoned them in a hurry … ‘They are SO SOUR Mama!‘, he whimpered, with a puckered up mouth! I thought, ‘No problem, plum jam!’… but that never happened of course. Thank you sweet Tartlette… for helping me find me a plum position for my plums! I began to write my thoughts as they baked, looking lovely, popping out of the little baking dishes. I used a variety because I wanted to experiment. Couldn’t wait for the kids to get back home and see them with 100 watt lights in their eyes. Then dive into them…YUM! Worth a million bucks I tell ya! In the hurry to get baking that morning, I realised I was out of unsalted butter. India is a strange country. You can find plenty of salted butter, but white butter or unsalted butter for baking is rare. I usually make my own unsalted / sweet butter for baking. I did have salted butter, but also on hand was clarified butter or ghee, and I used just that. In too went some dried black grapes. I had bought some bags of black grapes, somewhat like raisins, when I went to Old Delhi, but the kids didn’t like them in their muffins. They were threatening to spoil because of a high moisture content, so I left them in a barely warm oven overnight to dry them out.That was the night I saw the recipe, so I thought the dried grapes might find a spot in the clafoutis, and maybe a compote too. Yay… a destination for both plums & grapes made me ecstatic. Didn’t regret it one bit. Have to say they tasted fab in the compote, and I shall be on the lookout for the seasons last sour plums to make some more.Surprisingly enough, the clarified butter didn’t lend any strange taste / flavour. A handy substitute for people like me! The clafoutis was delicious. Beautiful bite to it, the crumb moist, yet cake like, the almonds imparting a delightful flavour, and the plum-black grape pairing just right. A dollop of whipped cream & some sweet-tangy compote seemed to finish it off in style! We LOVED it. Thank you Helen. You are trulyinspirational!!
Plum & Dried Black Grapes Frangipane Clafoutis Adapted fromTartlette’s recipe here Serves 6 For the clafoutis: 3/4 cup vanilla sugar 1 1/2oz clarified butter/ghee, at room temperature (or butter) 1 tsp vanilla extract 3 eggs, separated 200ml light cream 1/2 cup whole almonds, ground 3 tablespoons all purpose flour pinch of salt 4 plums, halved and pitted
For the plum/dried fruit compote: 4-5 plums, pitted & chopped 1/2 cup dried black grapes 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/4 cup mango juice (You can use orange juice. Mango juice was all I had)
For the frangipane clafoutis: Preheat the oven to 170C. Lightly coat 6 ramekins with cooking spray or a dab of butter and place them on a baking tray. Set aside. Grind the almonds, with skin, in a coffee grinder, with 1 tbsp of sugar, till fine, Do it in short burst so that it doesn’t end up as paste. In a large bowl whisk together the sugar, clarified butter, vanilla extract and the egg yolks until the mixture is a smooth paste. Add the cream little by little. In a separate bowl, stir together the almonds, flour and salt, add this to the egg yolk mixture and whisk until well blended. In a very clean bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff and gently fold them into the almond mixture. Divide evenly among your ramekins (make sure to fill them only 3/4 of the way up) and place 1/2 a pitted plum, cut side up, and a few dried grapes on top of the batter. Bake for about 25-30 minutes. Serve warm with the plum & dried black grape compote and/or a dollop of unsweetend whipped cream.
Prepare the plum & dried black grape compote : Put all the ingredients in a pan, mix, and simmer for 15-20 minutes till thick and syrupy. Adjust sugar if required. You might need to add some lime juice if your plums are sweet. Mine were SOUR!
