18 Pounds of Italian Plums

Italian Plums are oval

Italian Plums are my favorite fruit for making deep, dark, and dense plum jam, and an unfailingly elegant, foolproof, and uncommonly delicious Plum Torte.  I bought 18 pounds this morning, and I will certainly go back for more.  Why?

Dark Red Plum Jam

PLUM JAM  I owe this affection to the late and very-much-lamented Laurie Colwin, from whom I learned to make jam by following her instructions it in the “Jam Anxiety” chapter in More Home Cooking.  She wrote “Jam making is actually, a snap, and also very liberating, since once you know how, you realize it is not the project of an entire day or week (jelly making is quite another matter) but half an evening’s pleasant and rewarding effort."

That sentence was a gift and inspiration to me.I made my first batch of Plum Jam right after September 11, 2001, and jam-making became my outlet. When the going was tough, I made jam. There were perhaps two entire years when I had 6 dozen jam jars in the trunk of my car, and imagined that everyone else did, too.

I am not alone in having been inspired by her essay. Greg Atkinson blogged nicely about her recipe in 2008, and a Google search of “Laurie Colwin’s Plum Jam” nets 3,300 results.

I have already blogged about Marian Burros Plum Torte, which was the New York Times’ most requested recipe for years. It freezes well and when baked off in February perfumes your house with the sweet smells of summer. I have made it with beets, pears, peaches, apples, and a variety of plums, but the Italian Plums are the best.

Find the Plum Torte and so much more in the The Best of DeGustibus. 

The Sacred Literature of Fresh Tomato Deliciousness: Lynne Rosetto Kasper

One of the many wonderful aspects of Lynne Rossetto Kasper's Splendid Table universe (the radio show, the books, the store) is her unabashed enthusiasm and entirely appropriate devotion to fresh tomatoes. A quick browse for "fresh tomatoes" in The Splendid Table website shows 185 hits, including one of my favorite ways to drag my senses back to summer,  Fresh Heirloom Tomato Soup with Cream.

Because you can freeze it, this soup can sit quietly next to your stash of  Marian Burros' Plum Tortes until the dead of winter. If you don't look out the window at the snow, the soup and the torte will bring summer back to your kitchen.

Never fail fruit (and beet!) torte: Thank you, Marian Burros

After mistakenly recycling a treasured 20-year collection of handwritten recipes, the first one that I recovered and entered into a large, heavy leather-bound journal was Marian Burros’ Plum Torte, which she first published in the New York Times on August 14, 1984.

It was one of the most requested Times recipes – ever -- and she republished it along with some great reader stories and questions in The Best of DeGustibus (1988, Simon and Shuster). Between the torte and the recipe for plum jam in Laurie Colwin’s More Home Cooking (1995, Perennial), Italian Prune plums are market prizes for me now.

But this torte is a treasure because it isn’t a One Trick (fruit) Pony. While it sings with Italian Plums, it welcomes all plums, stone fruits, strawberries, blueberries (fresh and dried), and, especially good news for beet lovers – roasted beets. It is also very good with roasted carrots. Beets and carrots may be surprises in dessert, but, trust me -- they will be welcome surprises.

Among this torte's other sterling qualities are its limited tool requirements (bowl, spoon, small baking pan: no stand mixer required), flexibility (although it calls for two eggs, one will do nicely), multiplicity (double, triple, quadruple to your heart’s content), and the fact that it freezes easily and thaws beautifully.

A note on baking pans: this works in a spring form pan, in 8 or 9# square pans or in 8 or 9# rounds. If you have silicone liners, use them, but butter or spray the silicone and the pans well.

All Purpose Torte (adapted from DeGustibus)

For one 8x8 or 9x9, or two six inch rounds

1 cup sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 eggs (1 egg will work just fine)
Choice of: 12 plums, pitted and cut in half
10 oz strawberries, trimmed and cut in half
1 pint of blueberries
1 cup of dried blueberries, reconstituted in blueberry vodka or water
2 cups of roasted beets or carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
Topping: 1 T sugar, 2 T lemon juice, dusting of cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Butter or line a pan (see note above) with silicone liner.

2. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and mix until the egg is combined.

3. Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl. Add to the butter and sugar mixture and mix until all of the flour has disappeared.

4. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Add the fruits or vegetables in rows or circles. If you are using stone fruits, put them in skin side up.

5. Top with sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon.

6. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

7. IF FREEZING: cool completely, wrap tightly in double plastic and then in double foil. Reheat at 300 for 20 minutes.

ENJOY!

Cooking Class Noodles: One roadmap - two recipes

http://susan-cooks.blogspot.com/2007/04/food-families-of-france-march-2007.htmlOne of the signs of spring in my kitchen is "Cooking Class!" with Amy, Erin and Rochelle, three grads of the U of Minnesota Law School. Amy and Erin trekked to St. Paul this weekend and we worked through five recipes that might not go together for a single meal, but each will contribute to both festive occasions and weeknight dinners.


Cooking Class Recipes: Kir Normande, Nigella Lawson's Lemon Lime Creams, Marian Burros' Plum Torte, and two rice noodle stir frys from Cook's Magazine's Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles (Clarkson, 2000).


KIR NORMANDE Kir Normande is a sterling representative of the Pomme (apple) Family, my favorite of the FoodGroups of France.  The most accessible way to recreate my recent trip to Paris and Normandy, it requires some zesty alcoholic apple cider (right now I prefer French, but I suspect that in a few months, I'll go right back to Woodchuck, my favorite American label) and Cassis. Yes, this is the Norman version of Kir Royale, and it perks up everything. Also try a non-alcoholic version: non-alcoholic cider with a splash of pomegranate.


MARIAN BURROS' PLUM TORTE Why don't you own The Best of DeGustibus (Simon and Schuster, 1988)? Marian Burros wrote about food for the NY Times for years, and many of her columns were collected this book. It is a window on how we shopped and ate and thought about food during the 80s, and it is full of terrific recipes, including the famous Plum Torte, which she reports was the most requested recipe ever published by the Times. And why not? It is perfect: it's simple; it's reliable; it's expandable; it freezes; and it never, ever disappoints -- except, perhaps in the short time that it sits on the table or on the counter before it disappears. It is a cookie dough that wraps itself around stone fruits and transforms them.


If you freeze torts in springform pans, pop off the metal bottoms and triple wrap the torts. A tort from your freezer puts the flavors of summer on your table in the middle of the winter. Double the batter ingredients to fill a 9x13" pan.

1. Cream 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup unsalted butter. Mix (stir well or sift) 1 cup flour, 1 tsp baking power and a pinch of salt. Add to the sugar and butter. Add two large eggs to the batter. Spread it into a 9" springform pan or other round or square pan.
2. Top with 24 halves of pitted Italian or other plums or stone fruits. Sprinkle with cinnamon, sugar and lemon juice. (I have often forgotten to do this and no one noticed.)
3. Bake at 350 for an hour. If baking from frozen, bake for about 30 minutes at 300 degrees.

NIGELLA LAWSON'S LEMON -LIME CREAM (New York Times, April 2, 2003, p. D3) We used it to sauce the torte, which was gilding the lily. Lemon-Lime Cream is outrageously sinful, ridiculously easy and always accessible because lemons and limes, cream, sugar and eggs are ALWAYS in the grocery store.

THIS IS STUPID EASY. In a large bowl or in a blender: mix the zest and juice of 2 lemons and one lime, 1-1/2 cups sugar, 6 large eggs,1-1/4 cups heavy cream. Cover and refrigerate for between 2 to 48 hours. Bake at 300 degrees in six one-cup ramekins placed on top of a dish towel set in roasting pan. Pour hot water half way up the sides of the ramekins. Check them at 45 minutes: they should be just set with the centers slightly wobbly. Remove from the water and allow to cool. [Tongs are a great tool for this.] Serve at room temperature or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.


STIR FRIED RICE NOODLES two ways: One roadmap and two recipes from Cook’s Magazine Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles
 

The editors of Cook's Illustrated focus so closely on technique that even novice cooks can move through their recipes fearlessly. Although I own most of their books, it's this one that I turn to again and again because they tell me how to do it -- whatever it is. Thanks, Cook's.


It took about two minutes of careful parsing to realize that except for a few ingredients, these recipes were identical. After some cheerful chopping (with Kir Normande as inspiration), with two of us at the stove and one navigator/timer we were able to get both of these dishes to the table in under ten minutes. You could probably stir fry these on a giant wok on a high-heat outdoor gas grill.


The instructions in both recipes are identical in numbers 1 and 2 -- boil noodles and heat the oil in the pan. In number 3, you are guided to add the particular ingredients for for stir frying; and in number 4 you add the noodles and the sauce ingredients.

Stir-Fried Rice Noodles with Shrimp, Pineapple and Coconut Cream (p. 430)

12 oz thick rice noodles
salt
¼ cup peanut oil
8 oz shrimp, peeled and coarsely chopped
4 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 T minced fresh ginger
1 medium jalapeno or small fresh hot chili
3 T fish sauce
1 T sugar
½ c light coconut milk
1-1/2 c fresh diced pineapple

1. Boil 4 quarts of water; add noodles and 1 T salt. Cook until noodles are tender but not mushy (4-5 minutes). Drain and toss with 2 T oil in a large bowl.
2. Heat a 12-14” nonstick skillet over high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add remaining 2 T of oil and swirl until it coats the bottom of the pan. Heat until it starts to shimmer and smoke.
3. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring until bright pink (1 min). Add the garlic, ginger and chili and cook, stirring until fragrant (30 seconds).
4. Add the fish sauce, sugar, coconut milk and pineapple. Stir to combine (30 seconds). Add the noodles and cook, pulling them apart with spring-loaded tongs or 3 forks, tossing to coat with sauce. Add salt if necessary.

Stir fried rice noodles w/ coconut curry sauce (p. 431)

12 oz thick rice noodles
salt
¼ c peanut oil
1 medium red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, diced small
½ # sugar snap peas, stringed (we used green beans)
4 c shredded Napa cabbage
4 medium cloves of garlic, minced
1 T minced fresh ginger
2 T soy sauce
1 T fish sauce
1 T sugar
½ c light coconut milk
2 T curry powder (we used Penzey's Sweet Curry; I would mix 1T Sweet and 1T Hot)

1. Boil 4 quarts of water; add noodles and 1 T salt. Cook until noodles are tender but not mushy (4-5 minutes). Drain and toss with 2 T oil in a large bowl.
2. Heat a 12-14” nonstick skillet over high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add remaining 2 T of oil and swirl until it coats the bottom of the pan. Heat until it starts to shimmer and smoke.
   Add bell pepper and stir fry until slightly softened (30 seconds). Add the peas or beans and stir fry until tender (1 minute for peas, 2 minutes for beans). Add the cabbage and stir fry until wilted (1-1/2 minutes). Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring until fragrant (30 seconds).
   Add the fish sauce, sugar, coconut milk and curry powder. Stir to combine (30 seconds). Add the noodles and cook, pulling them apart with spring-loaded tongs or 3 forks, tossing to coat with sauce. Add salt if necessary.