Today’s recipes bring together autumnal fruits and flavours, from plums to figs
Today’s recipes are bringing together a selection of autumnal fruits and flavours, from plums and figs brought from Italy.
Plums or damsons can be used for making jams and chutneys. I usually do a batch of a roasted plum and red onion chutney at this time of year.
Making it in the oven means there is less stirring and minding, than on the stove.
The fruits, flavourings and vegetables are tossed in vinegar and slow roasted until soft. Then the sugar is stirred through and cooked for a further 20 minutes, before being put in jars for the year ahead.
Chutneys originated in India but have been adapted in many countries to help preserve the vegetable of the region in times of harvest.
The stewed plums, served with the bircher muesli, can also be made as an accompaniment to a warm creamy bowl of porridge or pancakes.
Bircher muesli aids a healthy start to the day. It works well if you have the time to soak the oats over night.
This makes them easier to digest, and the muesli will be extra creamy.
The nuts, seeds and fruit that are added can be adapted to suit what you have at home.
Almond milk is very often used instead of yogurt but I do not love the flavour. The eponymous Mr Bircher was a medical doctor in a sanitarium in the Swiss Alps who created this dish to get more apple into his patients’ diet.
There are plenty of varieties of apples available here in Ireland at this time of year. Make sure to use an eating apple for this recipe.
If the variety you choose is a little too bitter for a pleasant start to the day, a drizzle of maple syrup over the muesli will help.
The idea of cooking a cake upside down, is an old technique that began centuries ago when cakes were cooked in cast iron skillets over a fire.
When people did not have ovens, the person cooking added fruit and sugar to the bottom of the pan and a simple cake batter on top and put it on the fire to bake.
The pineapple up-side-down cake is the ultimate seventies version with a glace cherry in the centre of each ring of tinned pineapple.
The French tarte tatin was a more elegant and butterier adapation.
The cake recipe here works well with any stoned fruit, but plums look great and compliment the ginger.
- rice for four
- juice of 1 small lemon
- 2 tsp of cumin seeds, toasted
- 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp of chilli powder
- 4 tbs of rapeseed oil
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 12 chicken drumsticks
- 300g of plums, stones removed and roughly chopped
- 1 bunch thyme, removed from the stalk and chopped
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced
- 1 tbs of honey
- 1/2 tbs of cider vinegar
- 1 tsp of mixed spice
- 1/2 a pomegranate, seeds removed
- 1 tbs of natural yogurt
Put the rice on to boil in lightly salted water and drain when cooked.
Mix the lemon juice, cumin seeds, cinnamon, chilli powder with the rapeseed oil and garlic.
Add seasoning and toss the chicken in the mixture. Place the chicken and sauce into an ovenproof dish and bake at 180 degrees until cooked, about thirty five minutes.
In the meantime, toss the plums, with the thyme, shallots, vinegar, mixed spice, seasoning and place into another dish and into the oven until the plums have completely softened add the honey and place back into the oven for a further ten minutes.
Place the chicken on the rice and pour over any juices, serve with the pomegranate seeds and some seasoning sprinkled over.
Serve the chutney and the yogurt on the side.
- 100g of chorizo, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 8 tbs of balsamic vinegar
- a handful of mint, chopped
- 2 large handfuls of mixed leaves
- 2 handfuls of nuts, toasted
- ½ a pomegranate, seeds removed
- 2 balls of buffalo mozzarella, pulled apart
- 100g of Parmesan, peeled with a potato peeler
- 8 figs, quartered
- a drizzle of olive oil
Heat a pan to medium and fry the chorizo pieces. They do not need oil as they will begin to emit their own oil once heated.
Add the garlic and stir fry. Add in the balsamic vinegar. It will reduce down very quickly and mix with the oil from the chorizo.
Remove from the heat.
Toss the leaves, mint, nuts and pomegranate seeds together. Sprinkle over the cheeses and figs. Drizzle over the dressing, some olive oil and seasoning.
- 200g of plums, stoned and chopped
- 80g of honey
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 100g of porridge oats
- 200g of natural yogurt
- 150ml of water
- 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp of vanilla essence
- 2 apples, roughly grated
- 20g of linseeds
- 10g of sesame seeds
- 10g of pumpkin seeds
- 30g of almonds, toasted and roughly chopped
- 20g of hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
Add the plums, the honey, the cinnamon stick and 100mls of water to a saucepan and heat up. Cool and remove the cinnamon stick.
Stir the porridge oats with the yogurt, water, ground cinnamon and vanilla.
Allow to blend in the fridge for at least an hour or over night if possible.
Gently stir half of the apple, seeds and nuts through the bircher muesli and sprinkle the rest on top.
You can use any combination of nuts and seeds that you have to hand.
Serve with the plums and the syrup from the plums on the side.
200g of muscovado brown sugar
- 175g of soft butter
- 130g of golden syrup
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 200 mls of milk
- 300g of self-raising flour
- ½ tsp of bread soda
- 2 tsp of ground ginger
- 500g of plums
- 10g of crystalized ginger, chopped
Line a 9 inch round cake tin with baking parchment, either a loose base of spring form will work best.
Rub butter on to the parchment on the base and sprinkle 25 grams of the muscovado sugar over the butter, set aside.
Heat your oven to 180 degrees.
Melt the butter, the rest of the sugar and syrup, in a large pan on a low heat. Allow to cool then stir in the eggs and milk.
Sift in the flour, bread soda and ground ginger and stir until a smooth batter is formed.
Stone and chop the plums and lay them into the base of the pan (over the butter and sugar) and sprinkle the crystalized ginger on top.
Pour the batter over the plums and bake for 50 minutes.
Allow to cool in the tin for ten minutes then gently turn upside-down onto a wire rack to cool.
