Cooking with Colm O'Gorman: Spiced plum crumble with whiskey cream
When we entered the first lockdown back in mid-March, I wondered what I could do to help offer some encouragement and hope to people. Something that might bring a little solace and relief. We were facing into what we all thought would be weeks or maybe a few months of being restricted to our homes, of being cut off from friends and family and our usual routines. It was a strange and disconcerting time. When it came to my own family, I did what I have always done, I focused on food. Food can bring such comfort. Yes, it gives us sustenance, but it does more than that. Food nourishes our bodies, but it also comforts and reassures us, and most importantly, it allows us to nurture each other. Putting a plate of food in front of another person is an act of love, care, and concern. It feeds the body for sure, but also the heart and the soul.
This was evident early in lockdown when shops began to run out of flour and yeast was like gold dust. It seemed like the entire country was baking bread. Not because the shops had run out of sliced pans, they had not, but because, I think, people tapped into a deep and unconscious desire to provide themselves and their loved ones with solace and sustenance in a time of deep uncertainty and anxiety. There was little we could do to deal with the pandemic other than stay at home and try and keep each other safe. That may have felt rather passive to many of us, so we got active. We baked, we cooked, we fed each other. We shared our efforts with those with whom we lived, or by posting photos of our creations online and sharing them with those we were distant from. Even at a time of forced separation, our desire to make and share food brought us together.
My contribution was to post a new recipe every day of the lockdown. It was an impulsive idea, at a time when I thought we would be restricted perhaps for a month or six weeks. I posted recipes that would be easy to make at home, using ingredients that would be generally available locally. The idea was to give people something new to try, and it really took off. Before long I was getting requests to use particular ingredients or to create a recipe for a special occasion. One request came for a woman who was living alone. She loved the recipes but living alone meant that she did not try many of them as they were designed for families. So, I decided to come up with a recipe that was perfect for one, something sweet and a little indulgent. It was strawberry season and living in Wexford meant I had the best strawberries available locally. I came up with a strawberry and blueberry crumble that could be prepared and cooked in twenty minutes and made in single portions. The fruit is cooked in a pan, before being spooned into a serving dish, topped with crumble, and finished off in the oven. The recipe made about four servings, which could be cooked in individual portions as required over a few days. It was a big hit. Simple and delicious, I was delighted with it.
Today’s recipe is a variation on the original. It uses seasonal fruit, plums this time, and its flavours are a nod to the season to come. Warm and spicy, served with a gorgeous whiskey cream, this would make a great Christmas dessert. The quantities in this recipe make four decent servings. If you are cooking for more people, just multiply the quantities accordingly. If you are cooking for fewer, as I was when I made this for the first time, my advice is to make the full amount anyway. Use whatever you need and keep the extra fruit and crumble mix in the fridge. That way you will be able to rustle another luscious portion in ten minutes flat whenever you fancy it.
- 600g fresh plums
- 2 tsp sugar
- Juice and zest of an orange
- ¾ tsp ground allspice
- 80g plain flour
- 80g sugar
- 60g butter
- A handful of amaretti biscuits
- 250ml whipping cream
- 1tsp sugar
- 1tbsp whiskey
Remove the pits from the plums and cut the fruit into quarters. Pop it into a saucepan along with two teaspoons of sugar, the allspice and the juice and zest of an orange. Bring to a soft boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the fruit softens. You want to the fruit to be soft but to retain its shape, so do not overcook it, about ten minutes should easily do it.
Cut the butter into small cubes and pop it into a bowl along with the flour and sugar. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour and sugar until you have a mix with the consistency of breadcrumbs. Crush in half of the amaretti biscuits, reserving the other half for now.
Heat your oven to 180c. Spoon the coked fruit into an ovenproof dish and top with the crumble. Crush the remainder of the amaretti biscuits over the crumble to finish. Bake until the crumble is crisp and golden, and the fruit is bubbling up through the top. Eight to ten minutes should do it.
Pour the cream into a large bowl along with the sugar and whiskey. Whisk until it thickens into soft peaks. Serve the crumble warm with a generous dollop of cream. And that is it; a dish to warm your heart on a grey autumn day in about twenty minutes.
