The Chef Within

 In our area there are several flowering plum trees.  These are meant to be ornamental trees and highly appreciated because of their beautiful spring blossoms and rich burgundy colored leaves.  But inspite of it’s genetic change the tree still produces tiny fruit. 

Last Sunday the family came over for dinner and our grandchildren asked if they could pick the fruit from the tree. 

To be honest I had forgotten that the tree bears fruit and it’s easy to forget because the leaves and the fruit are identical in color, so the fruit does not stand out.  The kids picked a small container full and brought it in for everyone to try.  The fruit was slightly tart but delicious.  I thought to myself…I have got to put that wonderful, pesticide free, natural and organic fruit to use.  I asked the girls to pick enough for a batch of jam and it was awesome and then today they picked more and we made plum syrup which we will use for pancakes, ice cream and anything else we can think of.  If you have these trees in your yard (or neighbor’s yard or in your subdivision common area, here’s how you can make this syrup. 

Pick a small container of plums.

Give them a good rinse under cold water.

Transfer the fruit to a quart pan and for this amount of fruit (which would be a generous two cups) use one cup of sugar.

We even added a cinnamon stick to this recipe and in the batch we made earlier, we included a vanilla bean.  Both those items are totally optional.  No need to add water.  Take the saucepan to medium heat and stir the sugar into and around the plums.  Soon enough the heat will force the juice from the fruit and you will have a syrupy liquid.

If you have a potato masher, help it along by mashing the fruit.

Allow the mixture to simmer for about five minutes and then remove from the heat.

Add a tiny amount of salt and then pass the contents through a sieve, pressing and stirring with a spoon to get every last drop.

 You’ll be left with a pulp which contains the seeds and skins.

That’s it! 

Transfer to an airtight container and keep in the fridge.  If the syrup is too thick you can thin it with water.  If it is too thin just simmer it a little longer until it thickens up.

I even made a batch of jam with these whole plums and simply strained the mixture once it had cooked for the recommended cooking time.  It was awesome.  Such a good way of putting these lovely, free fruit to optimum use.

I think most people like to eat good, fresh pineapple but we might be reluctant to buy one because we simply have no idea how to tear into one.  They are a bit intimidating.  So here’s how I learned to cut pineapple in cooking school.  I do think it’s a great method.

Take the pineapple and a good chef’s knife and slice off the top and bottom, about one inch from the ends.  Those are discarded unless you want to keep the top for some kind of garnish.  Set the pineapple upright on one of the ends and then start slicing off the side skin in long vertical strips.  Go deep enough that you remove the eyes and all dark indentations as you slice and try and follow the contour of the fruit as you move from the top to the bottom.

When the fruit is peeled, quarter it lengthwise…

and then remove the core of each quarter length as pictured below. (If you are interested in cutting whole slices or rings you should not cut the pineapple in quarter lengths but should leave it whole and use a pineapple corer to remove the core and then slice in rounds).

At this point you can cut the pineapple into whatever size pieces and slices you need.  Because my husband and I can never eat a pineapple in one sitting I will usually cut off the top of the fruit (I leave the bottom in tact) and then I cut the fruit in half with the intention of cutting and using half of the fruit at one time.  I then wrap the remaining half with plastic film, stick that in the fridge and it holds well in it’s half size for several days.

How do you know if a pineapple is ripe?  That is a tough question and I still don’t get it right every time but when my husband and I were in Hawaii I toured the Dole pineapple plantation and they said the proper way to select a pineapple is to judge it by the shape of it’s exterior design, which are called the eyes.  If the eyes are consistently large on the top, the midsection and the bottom the fruit is mature.  But if the top or bottom eyes are smaller than the ones in the center the fruit was picked before maturity.

And one more thing.  At the Dole plantation cafe they were serving a chili that had chunks of pineapple cooked in it (or added at the tail end of the cooking period).  It was heavenly.  If you like chili and you like pineapple it’s something you should try.

No, I am not the first person to think of making a nut and dried fruit jam.  In fact, when I shop at our specialty market I am always wowed and impressed by the tiny jars of delicious sounding jams that run $5 or $6 a piece.  I’ve never been able to justify spending that much for two ounces of product.  But it did inpsire me.

What happened is the following.  A few weeks ago the youth in our church reinacted a pioneer experience.   As part of one of the meals I had purchased some dried apple rings, dried apricots, whole almonds and raisins.  There was some leftover and I really wasn’t in the mood for any more of that so it sat in the cupboard for a few days.

I kept wondering how I could use up the dried fruit.  Then I remembered the jams.  So….. here’s what I did. 

I took the leftover fruit and chopped the apples into little pieces and sliced the apricots.  I left the raisins and almonds whole. 

Everthing got taken to the food processor and processed…

until quite fine but not too fine.  I wanted some distinction between the fruit. 

Once the fruit was to the right fineness I transfered it to a small saucepan and added about 1 cup of water.  I had about 1 pound of fruit to begin with.  I started cooking the water and the fruit and wondered if it would be sweet enough and so I added some honey, about 1/4 cup.  I could have added sugar but I just felt the honey would be a better fit. 

That was cooked for about 10 minutes (and stirred occassionally) over a low to medium heat…

and then transferred to an airtight container.  We’ve been enjoying it ever since on our english muffins, bagels, crusty bread, pancakes and waffles.   The other day I was doing a mole style enchilada and I added a small amount to the pork filling much the same way you might sweeten a beef empanada with raisins.  They were quite good.

Another thing I tried with the jam were little phyllo pastries.  I took a spoonful of the nut jam and some cotija and mozarella cheese and filled the each of the pastries.  That was served with some honey yogurt and I have to say it was quite light and delicious.  A nice ending to a meal but not too sweet. 

What I especially like about this jam is that it is not overly sweet but has a ton of flavor.  In fact, I would imagine that if you wanted a sugar free product it would be just fine without any added sugar.  There are probably a ton of variations with this, including the types of dried fruit you use.  It would be fun to experiment with.  This jam would also make a beautiful gift when stored in a smaller, dainty glass jar.

I am the queen of leftovers.  When the youth of our church reinacted the prioneer experience across the plains I was left with a few extra items.  One of which was an eight ounce log of summer sausage.  I don’t normally purchase those but I certainly wasn’t going to throw it away.  I did two things with it and I’ll mention one today. 

 We were having waffles for breakfast and I have to say that I love bits of meat and cheddar cheese griddled in the waffle.  If you feel the same way you might try this and you certainly don’t have to buy summer sausage specially for this…bacon and ham would work fine but I have to admit that the sausage really was awesome and perhaps my favorite meat to date.

Slice the sausage in about 1/8 inch slices…

and then take the slices and further cut them into dices. 

Prepare you waffle batter (I happened to make the batter with some wheat flour and cornmeal) and pour the batter onto the iron.  BTW - when you are making waffle batter it is always best not to make it too thick.  A thick batter makes for a heavy waffle and waffles should be lighter.  If you find yourself with a batter that appears to thick then thin it with a little water.

Once the batter is poured onto the iron sprinkle the top with the meat (and try to distribute it evenly so every bite is delicious) and then add your grated cheese (the cheddar family is especially good in this application). 

Close the lid and let things cook.  There will be a generous stream of steam as the waffle cooks but as it dries and crispens the flow of steam will dissipate. 

A waffle should be slightly on the crispy side so don’t be afraid to let each waffle develop a deep golden color.  Remove and enjoy!