Veggie Skewers and Pluot Appetizers

This has been a great week for the farm box. There were ears of fresh, sweet, juicy white corn. There were multicolored Gypsy pepper, sort of like bell peppers, but with a thinner wall. There were amazing ripe apricots and pluots, plus two kinds of squash, fingerling sweet potatoes...I know...who knew sweet potatoes could be tiny and super sweet, plus a lovely honeydew melon, and Nantes carrots. Probably the perfect farm box for late spring...and very inspiring, too.

We used the Gypsy peppers and the squash for veggie skewers to go with the yummy Persian flatbread that I made as part of the Bread Baking Babes challenge for June. I used some Meyer lemons that a friend had just given me in the dressing for the veggies and it added just the right bright note. Sweetie cooked them on the grill just long enough to char them here and there, but not so much that they had a soggy texture (a problem sometimes with squash).

A few days later I sliced that same flatbread very thin, brushed each slice on both sides with olive oil, and Sweetie grilled them so that they crisped up. I used them as the base for an unusual appetizer inspired by something similar I had at the Camilla Tea Room in Benicia. Fresh, ripe, juicy pluots ( a cross between an apricot and a plum, but you could use plums instead) are cut into a small dice and doused with balsamic vinegar. I added a touch of cardamom as a counterpoint to the sweetness. Once the mixture marinates for at least 1/2 an hour you spoon some onto the toasts. Chopped, toasted walnuts are sprinkled on, lending a toasty crunch. Blue cheese bits are crumbled on as a nice contrasting zing to the pluots. It has it all...crunchy, sweet, sour, salty, toasty, nutty and zingy from the cheese. Quite a mouthful of delight.

Who knows what recipes the next farm box will inspire. The recipes below are written so that you can size them for the number of people you are serving. Have fun and, if at all possible, use fresh, local produce.

Pluot or Plum Bruchetta

Very thin slices of flatbread or focaccia (about 3 per person)
olive oil
1 pluot or small plum per person
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar per pluot or plum
dash of cardamom per pluot or plum
1 teaspoon chopped toasted walnuts per pluot or plum
about 1 tablespoon blue cheese crumbles per pluot or plum

Brush the thin slices of bread with the olive oil on both sides. Grill or toast each slice until toasted and crispy. Let cool.

Finely dice the pluot(s) or plum(s). Place in a non-reactive dish and add the balsamic vinegar and the cardamom. Stir to combine. Let sit for at least 1/2 hour or up to 4 hours.

When ready to serve the bruchetta, place a slice on work surface. Spoon on the plums with a slotted spoon, leaving some space on the bread slice for the walnuts and cheese. Sprinkle with the walnuts, then the cheese.

 Serve at once. There will be about three slices per person.

Veggie Skewers

wooden skewers - two per person
veggies cut into chunks...I used zucchini squash, pattypan squash and Gypsy peppers, but you could also use fresh corn on the cob, cut into chunks, cherry tomatoes, or any other veggie that will thread onto a skewer.
Marinade for two people:
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Soak wooden skewers in water for at least 1/2 hour.

While skewers are soaking, mix together the marinade in a non-reactive bowl and add the veggie chunks. Stir to coat the veggies. Let veggies marinate, stirring occasionally, until you are ready to grill them.

Thread the veggies on skewers, leaving room at the bottom (for holding) and top (so veggies won't fall off the top). Brush with the marinade and grill on one side until charred. Turn to other side, brush with marinade, and cook until desired doneness.

Serve at once.

July and Meatballs

July is one of those months that hold beginnings and endings for me. It was the month I met my first husband and the month, years later, when I left him. I was the month of my first sleep-over camping experience as a girl, the month I started my last job, and the month we lost our son in an auto accident over a decade ago.


It was also the month, in 2008, when a wonderful blogger, Sherry Cermak of the What Did You Eat blog died of a heart attack. She was very young and touched a lot of hearts with her blog. A number of bloggers honored her by making something from her blog. I made Turkey Meatballs with Plum Sauce, inspired by a post of hers. Today, starting off the month of July, I made the recipe for dinner, making a few changes as I usually do. I always think of Sherry now when the plums come in. They are just ripening, so I used a few from my tree for the sauce. If you choose to make this dish, think for a moment of Sherry if you visited her blog or knew her, or of someone you know who died too young and was a sweet person. It never hurts to remember the good ones.

Turkey Meatballs with Citrus Plum Sauce

Ingredients:

2 Tbs. unsalted butter, divided
1 yellow onion, finely chopped, divided
1 small celery stalk, finely chopped
1 lb. ground turkey
1 cup rolled oats, whirled in a blender or food processor until lightly ground
1 egg
2 Tbs. chopped fresh oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
2/3 cup fresh citrus juice (I used a combination of orange and lime)
1 cup fresh diced plums, peels left on


Directions:
Make the meatballs

Preheat an oven to 425°F. Lightly oil a rimmed baking sheet.

In a large fry pan over medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the onion and sauté two minutes. Set aside 1-2 tablespoons of the onions. Add the celery to the pan and continue to sauté’ until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon into a bowl and let cool. Set the pan aside.

Add the turkey, oats (I actually used Quaker Multi Grain Hot Cereal, mix of rye, barley, oat and wheat whole grains), egg, oregano, salt and pepper to the cooled onion mixture, and mix gently but thoroughly with your hands. Shape the mixture into 12 meatballs and arrange on the prepared baking sheet.

Cook the meatballs and make the sauce.

Bake the meatballs until opaque throughout, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in the fry pan and combine the citrus juices, and plums in the fry pan and place over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring often, until the juice comes to a boil and the fruit is warmed through, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the reserved onions to the sauce, taste for seasonings, add salt and/or pepper as needed.

Divide the meatballs among dinner plates, spoon the plum sauce over them and serve immediately. Serves 3- 4.

Seasonal Fruit in a Microwave Pud

A true sweet tooth like me will always find a reason to bake something sweet and if it is sticky too, all to the good. A friend brought me some small but ripe plums, both red and yellow flesh varieties. I also have some newly harvested Gravenstein apples. Since the plums were so ripe I had to find a way to use the, right?

Call in my Bread Baking Babe friends Lien and Lynn...well their blogs anyway. I remembered a delightful microwave pudding that I found at Lien's blog, Notitie van Lien which called for raisins and golden syrup.

I love golden syrup, but apparently I've been loving it too much because there was only about a tablespoon in the jar and this recipe calls for 4 tablespoons. Fortunately I also recently visited Lynn's blog Cookie Baker Lynn and followed her links to recipes with caramel and discovered that she uses caramel ice cream topping to top bar cookies before they are baked. Seemed that I could use the jar of caramel ice cream topping in the pantry to replace the golden syrup. After all apples and caramel are a natural combo. Thank you Lien and Lynn!

Now that I'd changed both the fruit and topping it was only fair to add some nutmeg to the pud batter and to suggest less orange zest...or that lemon zest would also be OK. A touch of extra salt was added to tone down the caramel. OK, ready to bake!

This went together fairly quickly and baked extremely quickly. Since I did all the molds at one time I ended up microwaving 2 minutes and then 2 minutes. I would recommend adding only one minute at a time because I think mine could have used just a bit less time in the microwave.

Fun...check, fast...check, uses up some of the plums...check, Sweetie liked it...check (although he liked the ice cream better, but then he always does when the choice is cake or ice cream). Cake and ice cream together...it's a party after a long work week.



Microwave Pud with Caramel, Apples and Plums

Adapted from Notitie van Lien’s recipe Microwave Pud with Raisins

35 g (finished weight) peeled, cored, sliced and finely diced apples
60 g (finished weight) peeled, pitted, sliced and finely diced plums
4 tablespoons caramel ice cream topping
100 g butter, room temperature, cubed
100 g granulated sugar
grated zest from a lemon or ½ an orange
2 eggs
100 g self-rising flour
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg or ¼ teaspoon already grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt


Grease and flour 4 – 6 (depending on the size) microwave proof pudding molds. I used ramekins but you could use custard cups or small coffee cups.

Mix together the diced apples and diced plums.


Divide the fruit mixture evenly among the prepared molds.

Divide the ice cream topping among the molds. (I used 4 molds and put a tablespoon topping in each mold.) Set aside.

For the batter cream together the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the citrus zest and one egg. Mix to combine thoroughly. Add the second egg. Mix to combine thoroughly. In a small bowl combine the flour, nutmeg and salt. Add the mixture to the egg mixture and combine thoroughly. You will have a smooth cake batter.

Spoon the batter on top of the fruit and topping in the molds. Fill about halfway…any more and it may go over the top of the mold. Cover with microwave foil (I have no idea what this is, but it was in Lien’s recipe) or plastic wrap that you pierce or vent to let some of the steam out.

Place 3 molds at a time in the microwave and nuke them on highest setting for about 2-3 minutes (or steam for 30 minutes). Start with two minutes and then add on another minute if needed. You will see the puds rise and dome above the molds. They are firm to the touch and come away from the sides a bit.

Take them out of the microwave to rest for 1 minute and microwave the rest of the puds.

Take the puds out of the molds after 1 minute resting time by running a knife around the edges of the mold to loosen and then invert over a plate, scooping the topping from the mold onto the top of the pud if it sticks in the mold. Serve with additional ice cream topping if desired. (I went even further and added a scoop of caramel ice cream…just like a party!) Serve while hot!

Makes 4 – 5 puds

Loves Meatballs

It is always tragic when the world loses a vibrant, creative, caring, talented person when they are still young. If you are younger than 30, then Sherry Cermak might have seemed old, not young, but from where I'm sitting she was a spring chicken and should still be with us blogging at What Did You Eat and saving cats and rescuing wildlife and being an inspiration to many. She was such a good writer and often made one smile. Unfortunately, a sudden heart attack took her a week ago. As a tribute, some bloggers are cooking things from her blog in her honor and posting today.

In going through her blog, there were lots of good recipes to choose from, but she mentioned that she loves meatballs. Indeed, there were quite a few good meatball recipes, too. I chose a recent post of meatballs that evoke some of the flavors and fragrance of Thanksgiving. They are easy to make, cook quickly, and are fairly healthy, too.

Anyone who knows me well knows I love turkey. I could probably eat it every night for a month and not be tired of it. Since Sweetie doesn't share my super enthusiasm for anything turkey, we have it in one form or another about once a week. These meatballs let turkey shine by staying simple. The original recipe on Sherry's blog called for a sauce using fresh or frozen cranberries and she said her sauce looked like nail polish :) Seems that the frozen cranberries I though I had are not in the freezer, so I substituted some ripe plums, keeping the skins on to approximate the tart sweetness of cranberries. I also left all of the sugar out of the sauce, which helped keep it tart.

The onions and celery, fresh oregano and salt and pepper add just enough flavor since turkey can be bland. The egg and bread crumbs hold it all together. The savory goodness of the meatballs made a great counterpoint to the sweet-tart sauce which uses fresh orange juice along with the plums. I also cooked extra onions and kept a tablespoon of them to put in the sauce...sort of tied it all together.

Here's to you Sherry! You are missed.

Herbed Turkey Meatballs With Plum Sauce
A variation of a recipe from What Did You Eat

Williams-Sonoma

Ingredients:
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, divided
1 yellow onion, finely chopped, divided
1 small celery stalk, finely chopped
1 lb. ground turkey
1 cup fine fresh bread crumbs
1 egg
2 Tbs. chopped fresh oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
2/3 cup fresh orange juice
1 cup fresh diced plums, peels left on

Directions:
Make the meatballs

Preheat an oven to 425°F. Lightly oil a rimmed baking sheet.
In a large fry pan over medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the onion and sauté two minutes. Set aside 1-2 tablespoons of the onions. Add the celery to the pan and continue to sauté’ until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon into a bowl and let cool. Set the pan aside.
Add the turkey, bread crumbs, egg, oregano, salt and pepper to the cooled onion mixture, and mix gently but thoroughly with your hands. Shape the mixture into 12 meatballs and arrange on the prepared baking sheet.

Cook the meatballs and make the sauce.

Bake the meatballs until opaque throughout, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in the fry pan and combine the orange juice, and plums in the fry pan and place over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring often, until the juice comes to a boil and the fruit is warmed through, 2 to 3 minutes.

Divide the meatballs among dinner plates, spoon the plum sauce over them and serve immediately. Serves 3- 4.

More Plum Lucky

Another part of our luck in landing here in our beautiful home is that we are right next to the volunteer fire station. When we first moved here we weren't sure how lucky that was because they still used the siren to call the volunteer to the station to go out on a call...sometimes at 2 am! Eventually we learned to wake up hearing the siren, think 'Oh, it's just the the fire siren', and then go back to sleep.

Now they use pagers, but we still see how hard the volunteers work. In California volunteers are required to have as much training as paid fire fighters, so there are drills each week on Thursday nights at the fire station, plus practice going on when volunteers can arrange it during the rest of the week. A few evenings ago I decided to make some plum coffee cake for the volunteers who were on call. It's a recipe I've been wanting to make since February and it seemed like plum season would never get here.

A tender, moist, buttery coffee cake with brown sugar, vanilla and cardmom flavors cradles plum halves. The plums first give up their juice as they cook, and then reclaim it s they cool. The plum halves sort of sink into the dough, so some of the dough gets the juices, too. The tang of the plums goes so well with that rich, delicious dough. Sweetie and I had a piece each, then the rest went next door. The volunteers seemed pretty please with the idea of fresh cake. We're really pleased that they volunteer their time to keep us all safe, particularly since fire season has come early to California.

Take a look at this coffee cake...isn't it pretty?

Andrea at Andrea's Recipes is hosting Grow Your Own and this post certainly qualifies since the plums come from my own tree down the drive. Since it is now a twice a month event, if you are growing your own food, consider joining in.

I changed the recipe a bit, using a combination of white and whole wheat flours instead of just white, using dark brown sugar instead of light brown, using a lot more butter and only a tablespoon of oil, and Meyer lemon flavored olive oil at that. Since I had some from making the Danish Braid, I used vanilla paste instead of vanilla extract. I also found that I didn't need to bake it quite so long as called for in the Greenspan recipe.

Simple Fresh Plum Coffee Cake
Based on Dorie Greenspan’s Dimply Plum Cake in Baking:From my home to yours

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
½ stick (8 tablespoons) butter, softened
3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
Grated zest of one orange
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract or the same amount of pure vanilla paste
1 tablespoon olive oil (I used Meyer Lemon flavored olive oil)
8 small to medium red or purple plums (I used fresh off the tree Santa Rosa red plums), halved and pitted, with the skins left on

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a square 8-inch baking pan. Center a rack in the middle of the oven.

On a sheet of waxed paper or in a bowl, whisk together the flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter until it is soft and creamy, about 3 minutes at medium mixer speed.

Add the dark brown sugar and beat 2 minutes more. Using a rubber or silicon spatula, scrape the bowl and beaters. Add the eggs one at a time and beat for 1 minute after each addition. Using a rubber or silicon spatula, scrape the bowl and beaters. On medium speed, add the orange zest, vanilla or vanilla paste, and the olive oil and beat to combine completely. Reduce mixer speed to low and blend in the dry ingredient mixture, beating until just combined. Using a rubber or silicon spatula, scrape the bowl and beaters. and mix again briefly if needed to mix in any flour from the sides or bottom of the bowl.

Using a rubber or silicon spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth it out in the pan. Arrange the plums on top of the batter, ( in rows of four usually works), pushing the plums down a bit in the batter.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes, or until the cake is golden and puffed around the plums. A thin knife inserted in the center will come out clean.

Place the cake on a rack to cool for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the pan and unmold the cake. Invert and cool with the plum side up. Serves 8.

Plum Lucky

When we moved here over 22 years ago, I wasn't so sure that it had been a good idea. I had been a full time office manager of a doctor's office, my kids were used to being in school or pre-school or at day camp, and Sweetie worked less than 10 minutes from home. Now I found myself out in the country, no longer able to just walk to town, with a houseful of boxes and no routines for any of us. It took a while for the kids to get used to me being at home all the time and it took me a lot longer.

On the plus side, my son had friends his own age just down the road and my daughter soon made friends with a girl on the other side of the road. Our home was fairly recently built, compared to the old one which had been built after the 1906 earthquake. Best of all there was lots of room for a garden and we had lots of fruit trees and walnut trees. Instead of walking to town, I walked down my drive to the garden and fruit trees. All in all, we were pretty lucky to end up here is such a beautiful place!

When we had lived in Berkeley we were near a park and, as they are wont to do, the blackberries took over parts of the park. We all enjoyed the blackberries, but my son really loved them. On our new property we found that we had early berries and then true blackberries, so that part was familiar and a delight and my son could pick blackberries to his hearts content.

One of the fruit trees was a Santa Rosa plum. It has red skin and sweet, juicy red flesh. When the plum is ripe the skin has a sort of bluish haze over the dark red skin. The skin is just a bit tart.

That tree is still bearing. Last year I missed when the fruit ripened (blame the new job) and so only had the last of the fruit. This year I've kept an eye out. It has been really warm, so all the fruit ripened almost at once. I feel lucky to have such delicious fruit just for the picking. So far I've made two things from the plums. There are still some to play with, so it's likely that the next few posts will be plummy.

The first recipe is a very simple one. All it takes is puff pastry, jam, walnuts and plums, a little butter and sugar, plus a hot oven.

I didn't keep close enough watch as it baked (I was typing up the recipe...lol...and got distracted), so the pastry was pretty brown, although not burnt. The sweetness of the plum flesh and the tartness of the plum skin made a great combination with the buttery pastry. The crunch of the walnuts offset the softness of all the fruit. Sweetie isn't fond of plums, but he ate two helping of this creation.

The recipe is based on one in Mitchell Davis's book Kitchen Sense.

Summer Plum Tart

You can make this with pie dough, tart dough or puff pastry. I chose puff pastry for ease. Variations for using the other doughs are given at the end of the recipe.

I sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
¼ cup jam (I used raspberry, but apricot would be good and so would marmalade- one that is just a bit tart is good.)
¼ cup finely chopped walnuts
About 8 small to medium ripe red plums, washed (this would be good with almost any variety of plum)
½ stick butter melted
2 tablespoons sugar (I also used a teaspoon of crystal sugar)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Have a large sheet pan ready, lined with parchment or silicone mat.

Roll the thawed puff pastry out on a lightly flour surface to a rectangle about 10 by 8 inches or so, making the pastry ¼ inch thick. Transfer the rectangle to the prepared pan. If you want it to be fancy, trim the edges with a sharp knife to make them straight, being careful not to cut the silicone mat or parchment paper.

Spread the jam over the rectangle, leaving about an inch all around the edges with no jam. Sprinkle the walnuts evenly over the jam.

Slice each plum into eight slices. Leave the skin on for a nice sweet-tart taste. Arrange the plum slices on top of the jam area, completely covering the jam.

Brush the top of the fruit lightly with the melted butter , using a pastry brush, then sprinkle with the sugar.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 -25 minutes, turning the sheet around half way through the baking. Watch to make sure it doesn’t burn.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least five minutes. Be careful of the jam because it gets very hot.

Use a wide spatula to loosen the pastry, then carefully transfer to a cutting board or serving platter.

Cut into rectangles to serve. Serves 6-8 people. Leftovers can be kept, tightly wrapped, for a few days, but you may want to warm the tart briefly in a hot oven to crisp the puff pastry a bit.





Variations: If you are using pie dough, make enough dough for one crust, roll it in a 13 inch circle and place it on a 12 inch pizza pan, letting the dough hang over the sides. Spread the jam in an 11 inch circle, sprinkle on the walnuts, arrange the plum slices starting at the outer edge of jam, moving into the center, covering the jam completely. Fold in the dough beyond the jam, making folds. Moisten behind the folds with a little water and press to seal. Brush the butter over the fruit and folds of dough and sprinkle the sugar over all. Bake at 375 degrees F instead of 425 degrees F. until dough is golden and fruit is bubbly.

If using tart dough, line a tart pan with it, spread the jam over the bottom and follow the directions for the puff pastry version, watching to make sure that the tart pastry doesn't burn.

Fun with Fall Figs

Mere minutes after I brought in the walnuts that had been drying on the table on the back deck...a whole basket of them...large drops of the first rain of the season started falling. Fall, at last.

Earlier in the day I was inspired by an article in our local paper, the Press Democrat. Grilled Figs with goat cheese sounded nice, but I wanted something sweeter, plus I had a few more Italian prune plums to play with. So I decided to combine the idea of figs stuffed with cheese with the idea of a plum clafouti from the American Heart Association's Low-fat and Luscious Desserts book. Naturally there had to be some chocolate involved...dark chocolate to complement the fall flavors of figs and plums.

I took the fresh, ripe figs...all soft and pretty with purple-brown skin and voluptuous insides, removed the stem, cut them from stem toward the bottom and again at 45 degree angle. A small slice of Rouge et Noir Breakfast Cheese, a mild soft ripened cheese similar to a young Brie, was placed in one part and small pieces of dark chocolate were inserted in the other cuts. Then these sweet packets were placed in a buttered springform pan in a nice circle with one in the middle. Around these at the outer edge I placed halves of the plums, skin side up. If I were to do it again, I'd put the suffed figs around the outer edge and the plums in the center...the clafouti would bake faster that way, so the texture would be softer and more custardy.

Now we were ready for the clafouti batter. Using the recipe from the book as a jumping off place, I used brown sugar for the batter, added a teaspoon of lemon zest, and used walnut oil...guess I was already thinking walnuts...instead of the melted margarine. You could probably use melted butter, or any vegetable oil that was lightly flavored. I carefully poured the batter over the plum halves and let it seep between the stuffed figs.

Into the oven the pan went and soon the house was filled with the fragrance of baking fruits, lemon, and brown sugar with undertones of vanilla, eggs and flour.

Cousins Tom and Nora arrived from Florida while the clafouti was still warm and we and a feast of figs together. They were particularly taken with the melted chocolate and warm fruit. I thought that the eggy custardy clafouti was a nice contrast to the crunch of the seeds in the figs.

SHF#35 - The Beautiful Fig, hosted this month by Ivonne also known as Cream Puff of Cream Puffs in Venice, has the theme of figs. I think that this makes a great entry. Who knew figs could be such fun?

Stuffed Figs and Plum Clafouti

9 ripe fresh figs

1.5 oz mild soft ripened cheese

2 oz dark chocolate - bitter or semisweet

3 plums, halved and pitted

3 eggs or equivalent in egg substitute

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup fat free milk

2 tablespoons melted margarine, melted butter, or nut or vegetable oil

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a springform pan. Set aside.

Take each fig. Remove the stem if there is one. Using a small sharp knife, slice from the stem toward the bottom, going about 2/3 of the way down the fruit. Turn a 1/4 turn and repeat.

Slice a small slice of cheese and insert that into one of the cuts.

Coarsly chop or chunk the dark chocolate to the size of dried split peas or slightly larger. Place 5 or 5 of those pieces in the slits on each side of the cheese. Small bits of chocolate can be scattered over the cheese. Place fig into the prepared pan. Repeat until all are stuffed.

Place the stuffed figs equal amounts apart around the outer edge of the pan, about an inch in from the sides. Place the plum halves, skin side up, in the center area.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs or egg substitute and brown sugar. Let sit a moment to dissolve the sugar. Add the vnilla, salt, and lemon zest. Whisk to combine. Whisk in flour until combined (batter may be slightly lumpy).

In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and liquid fat; gradualy whisk into the flour mixture until combined.

Pour batter over the plums and let it spread around the stuffed figs. Figs will be higher than the batter. That is O.K. Sprinkle brown sugar over the whole pan.

Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. and bake for 30 - 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Let cool for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm, making sure to include some plums and at least on stuffed fig in each serving. Serves 6-8.

Happy Birthday August Daring Bakers

Better late than never, I guess. It's August third and there are a bunch of birthdays in August for Daring Bakers, so I made all of them one dessert...a Plum Bread Pudding. This is similar to Peabody's, but with fresh off our tree plums. Hers was so good that an encore seemed appropriate.

We have two deer who have decided to live under the plum tree, so I didn't get too many this year, but there were enough to add a sweet fruitness and tang to the mellow custard of the bread pudding.

Happy Birthday to:

Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry, Freya from Writing At The Kitchen Table, Tara from Should You Eat That?, Ahn from Food Lovers Journey, Janet from Janet Is Hungry, and Christina from Wishing On Clovers.

Gale’s Bread Pudding with Cherries

A recipe from 1971, from a Fredricksburg, Maryland friend

4 cups dry bread cubes
3 cups milk, scalded
1 tablespoon butter
4 slightly beaten eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup peeled, sliced sweet red plums. Cut into chunks if plums are large.

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Melt the butter in the milk. Add a little of the milk to the beaten eggs, then add eggs to rest of milk. Stir in the sugar, lemon zest, salt, and vanilla.
3) Put the bread cubes in a large bowl. Pour the egg/milk mixture over, stir gently, and let sit 15 minutes.
4) Butter a large baking pan. A deep one will give a softer center, a shallower one will give more crispy crust. Gently stir plum slices or chunks into bread mixture and pour into baking pan.
5) Bake in a pan of hot water until firm, about 1 hour. Serve warm.

A Plum Cake for Mercedes


Much as I might want to, it's not possible to post something for all the birthdays that Daring Bakers have. Time for baking is limited and will be more so soon due to job pressures. Even so, today I baked a nice coffee cake for sweet Mercedes for her birthday tomorrow. If you haven't seen her blog, Desert Candy, do yourself a favor and do so. She has some incredibly good recipes and lovely photos, too.

This cake is a bit unusual since it combines yeast and biscuit mix. I found it when I was sorting out my card file the other day. There is no indication of how old it is or where I got the recipe. I don't actually remember making the cake, but there were juice stains on the card, so I probably baked it a dozen years ago or more. That's a shame because it is a tasty coffee cake and delicious with the fresh plums that are falling off the tree in the yard right now. The original recipe didn't say to peel the plums, but I did because Sweetie found out recently that he doesn't dislike plums, but he doesn't care for the plums with the skin still on them. The dough is tender, but not terribly moist and that is a good foil for the tangy, juicy plums and sweet, spicy streusel.

Since this is a sweet dish and uses fresh, seasonal fruit from my own yard, it is also a good fit for Jerry's of Food and Photo's summer challenge, Summer Flavor.

Despite having yeast in the dough, this recipe doesn't take too long to make. If you have fresh plums (or peaches, nectarines, cherries, blueberries) this is a wonderful coffee cake for breakfast or a snack.

Fresh Plum Coffee Cake

1 pkg (1/4 oz.) active dry yeast
¾ cup warm water (105-115 degrees F.)
½ cup sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons melted butter, cooled
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
4 ¼ cups biscuit mix (like Bisquick)
1 ½ pounds fresh sweet plums (Santa Rosa, Laroda, Nabiana, prune plums, etc.)
Streusel Topping (see below)

Dissolve yeast in the warm water and proof (let sit 10 minutes to make sure yeast is active)
Combine sugar, egg, butter, lemon zest, and extracts. Beat until thick and lemon colored, about 5 minutes. Stir in dissolved yeast and 3 ¾ cups of the biscuit mix. Knead until smooth, kneading in the rest of the biscuit mix as you go, about 25 times of kneading. Cover and let rest in a warm place for 15 minutes.
Roll out and place in a buttered 10” X 13” rimed jelly roll pan, pulling an pressing the corners to form a rim of dough.
Cut plums into ½ “ slices (I peel mine first, but unpeeled is fine, too.)
Arrange the plum slices on the dough in a pleasing pattern. Sprinkle with the streusel. Let rise in a warm place 35 minutes. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F. oven for 40-50 minutes. Cut in squares to serve. Serve warm or cooled.

Streusel Topping
Mix ½ cup brown sugar, 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon cloves and ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg. Cut in ½ cup cold butter with pastry blender or two knives.

Happy Birthday Mercedes
plum coffee cake
plums
fresh fruit
Summer Flavors