Wednesday, June 16, 2010 at 06:00 
nigel slater’s moist plum cake remains a firm favourite of mine, not least becase of its adaptability. i’ve blogged about a cherry and almond version (this post includes the recipe) and a blackberry and apple version. this week i made a plum and nectarine version.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 09:32 
plums are one of my favourite fruits. however, this year a lot of the plums i’ve bought have been disappointing - no luscious juicy texture and low on flavour.
i was chatting about this with my friend helen and she pointed me in the direction of a nigella lawson recipes which sees the plums roasted with red wine and spices. i didn’t have enough plums to justify turning the oven on so i simplified things, cutting the plums in eighths and stewing them with the red wine, bay leaves, star anise, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon in a saucepan on the stove.
the resulting fruit was packed with flavour and wonderfully delicious – the bay and cardamom really made this for me. as recommended by helen, i ate mine with greek yoghurt and am planning another batch already.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 07:27 
plums are back in season and, having just received a couple of bags of them from food4, i’m a happy girl. my usual choice for cooking with them is nigel slater’s moist plum cake but when i saw deb’s nectarine galette i decided to try something different.
the resulting galette (a french word which can be used to describe this sort of free-form tart) was delicious, especially the edges of the plum pieces which caramelised as it cooked.
i loosely followed deb’s recipe, which is in turn based on an alice waters recipe, but doubled the pastry quantities as i had over a dozen plums which i wanted use up. as suggested, i cooked the tart on a pizza stone. however, assembling the tart on a board and then shimmying it onto the hot stone was definitely a two-man job so, if you’re home-alone when you try this out, think about assembling and cooking it on a baking sheet.
i ate mine with double cream and david had his with vanilla and blackberry ice-cream. yum!
Monday, November 13, 2006 at 14:17 
back in august i bought several kilos of plums. some were made into plum and bay jam (which we are still working our way through) and the rest were been turned into a boozy delight that we have just sampled – plums in orange-spiced calvados.
Monday, August 14, 2006 at 16:37 living in central London and only occasionally visiting the countryside around the UK means that when i have the opportunity to visit a farm shop i often go overboard with my purchases.
at the weekend we stopped off at a roadside farm shop which was selling the most beautiful plums. small, deep purple, warm and tasting like the nectar of the gods; i had to have a box of them – a mere 2 kilos to dispose of.
plum jam was the first thing i wanted to make, but plum jam with a twist - i decided to add bay leaves to give it an extra depth of flavour.
the verdict?
well, i didn’t get the first taste of my jam but according to the person who did: “well, it's lovely of course. and it tastes slightly ginger-y, which might be an effect of adding the bay. and it is as dark as midnight in alaska in the winter. and it has a treacle-like texture. and it's good on soda farls.”
a success!
