I’m proud of our wee country for being able to produce it’s very own fruit! That’s why I feel compelled to do things with it. Right now the contents of my kitchen table are all locally grown NI fruits given to me by lovely organic comrades.
We all know there is only so long you can virtuously pluck a fresh piece from the tree or your harvest stash, enjoying the knowledge of knowing where it grew, and how it wasnt sprayed or flown many miles to your clutches, until they start dropping off the tree or grow vinegary hair in your fruit bowl! So we have to find other things to do with it to preserve the joy. My mother in law has a Victoria Plum tree out back. She tells me she does absolutely nothing to it, so the unbelievable harvest this year must be to do with the elements. I’ve heard all the berries are hanging heavy, so keep your eyes peeled and get picking this autumn!
I would say these little boys are slightly lacking on the flavour side, so our tree must have struggled to nurture them all to perfect sweetness, but that delicate flavour is still heaven!
Sugar, Cinammon, Star anise.. go!
The main problem with cooking with stone fruit.. is the stones. Those things take about as much time to get out as it took to get them in there! But dont let that put you off, its worth the digging and ‘hoking’ as they say round here. I think people get this vision when you right enthusiastically about food, that you live in a blissful bubble of joy, merrily humming and joyously popping your treats in the oven. Actually I curse, spill flower everywhere, huff and puff and then sit down when its all cooked and think, it was bliss too, cause its worth it!!
Almond crumble topping
I decided to make crumble as its easy. But good old HFW will guide you on making Roast Plum sorbet, Plum Salsa and Plum chutney here. I literally guessed the amounts and sprinkled over sugar and cinammon, and I always use star anise now because Jamie Oliver taught me to. I think everybody has their own little twist on crumble so I wont elaborate on how to make it.
I serve everything with Greek Yoghurt!
I’m eating it now. It’s bitter. And the crumble is too floury. I shouldn’t have guessed! But the house smells good, and I still feel virtuous! Call in for some if you’re closeby! x
So that got me to thinking about the need to be well informed beforehand so that the thrill of stumbling across a collectors item in a charity shop becomes more likely. I then saw this book in Oxfam and quickly swiped it up and have been studying it ever since. Its a highly selected and detailed group of 20th century objets d’art, with some notable omissions (Cornish Blue being close to my heart), but it gives an overview and approximate price for each item, within a broad rane of categories. High end bargain hunting here i come!!
