Showing posts with label Plums. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plums. Show all posts

Thursday, February 28, 2019

Vegan and gluten free Turmeric spoon dessert - the plant based paradise!



Mix 1 tbsp of cornflour with 2 tbsp of sugar and a pinch of turmeric powder. Slowly add 500ml or soy milk (or another vegetable milk of your choice), bring to the boil and simmer, stirring constantly, until it thickens. Pour into 4 dessert bowl (I use grappa/whisky glasses), and refrigerate. Before serving decorate with fruit (I used plums, nectarines, watermelon, blueberries and passion fruit).

Super delicious!


Fruit from the garden:




Veggies from the garden


 

And flowers




Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

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Monday, February 5, 2018

Plum and strawberry smoothie





This is the season for plums, and we also have a few last strawberries in the garden, enough to add to smoothies and make them sweet! In fact I love the fact that plums are a little tart, but they do benefit from the strawberry sweetness. As a base I used half apple juice and half coconut water. Perfect breakfast!

And now a few things from my garden!




Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
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Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Frutta sotto spirito




The easiest way to preserve fruit, if you like alcoholic fruit, that is! The Cape gooseberries are with Whisky, and the cherries and plums with Cognac (I added a bit of sugar to the plums because they were a little sour). I will try them soon!!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
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Friday, March 4, 2016

Plum jam with brown sugar


In New Zealand it is still plum season in the Oratia orchards! But is it so hot that plums don't last long after picking, so I had about 1 kg that was far too ripe and soft for eating. I washed and then put the plums in a pot with a little water and boiled them, then I strain them to discard stones and leftover skin and tasted the paste. I usually add 50-60% of sugar (I don't like the 1kg fruit for 1kg sugar ratio they do in NZ), but this paste was already sweet! So I added just 2 tbsp of brown sugar and a pinch of citric acid (as a preservative) and, fearing that the jam wouldn't set, 1/3 tsp of agar agar. If I were to keep this jam longer maybe I would have added more sugar, but I only made 5 small jars and two are gone already!


Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

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Thursday, March 19, 2015

Plum Jam (using much less sugar that the traditional 'Anglo' recipes)




Jam made with plums from Oratia. I removed the stone and cooked the plums with a little water and some jam setting sugar (this was a present, and I wanted to try it). The NZ jam tradition seems to be 1kg of sugar for 1 kg of fruit (or even more sugar if you make raspberry jam) for an Italian this is too much. I go for 40 to 60%, with the latter being my preference if I need to preserve the jam for a long time (it helps agains botulin). You can taste the fruit better with less sugar :-).





And our cats, Nikita (left) and Marameo (right) are also enjoying the last of the sun, sleeping outdoors all day long! Marameo is 18 now, an old lady cat 


 Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Doris Plum Fruit Smoothies made with dried plum powder





This is too easy and yum!!! And how often do you get plums in your smoothie?

500 ml apple juice, 2 bananas, 1 tbsp Fresh As Plum powder
Blend well. Serves 3-4 vitamin loving kids!
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

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Saturday, September 22, 2012

Vegan "Cape-pops", and a vegan pear and chocolate pie









Almost cake-pops because they look like cake-pops, but they are not made from cake! In fact these are Cape Gooseberries (therefore I am calling them Cape-pops :-)), dipped in dark chocolate. I left some plain, while I rolled the others in shredded coconut, ground pistachio nuts, and plum powder (my new discovery, I talked about it already in here). I let them set first at room temperature and then, because it was a warm day, in the fridge. These are gluten free too!








But more to come...


I had melted far too much chocolate for the Cape gooseberries, so I made a pie which, I must say, came out better than I had anticipated. But sometimes new discoveries are born out of chance, or leftovers!

I had a few sheets of filo pastry left, I placed them into a 23 cm pie dish lined with baking paper, leaving the corners to spill out. I peeled and cut four pears and placed the slices over the pastry, then drizzled the lot with Frangelico liqueur. I added the melted dark chocolate and closed the four corners of pastry over the filling. I wetted the top pastry with water and I added the rest of the coconut/pistachio stuff on top too (why waste it!). I baked the pie until the pastry was golden, and then I sprinkled a little icing sugar on top (this was the only sugar needed). I pie was perfect! Bittersweet and with an amazing texture, the chocolate had 'melted' into the pear slices... I will need to work on this and make it again, on purpose, and with more filo pastry, but I wanted to share it with you now because to me this was the perfect Vegan pie!!





Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

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Sunday, August 28, 2011

Plum Paste









I got the plums from Arfi's garden, when I went to her house for an Auckland food bloggers get-together (this was in the Summer, a bit out of season now in NZ, but ok if you are in the Northern Hemisphere).

Wash the plums and place them in a large saucepan with a little water. Bring the fruit to a gentle boil.




Simmer the jam for about 20 minutes and then pass through a sieve, discarding the stones.
Put back into the pot and bring back to the boil. Add the sugar (I used 60% sugar to the weight of the fruit) and stir well. Simmer until you are happy with the consistency (the more you cook it, the thicker the paste. You can also add an apple (not peeled, just chopped and pips removed) for a thicker paste. 




Place the paste into plastic containers, jelly moulds, cups... anywhere you can let it set for a few weeks. I used a silicon muffin tray.






When you need to use the paste tip it over a plate. I did this a bit too early (I couldn't wait to try it) and the top was still soft, but the longer you wait the harder it will become. Arfi calls it Plum Cheese, it is great with bread or crackers.







Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

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Sunday, February 27, 2011

super easy plum tart



The plum season is coming to an end, let's make the most of it!



All you need here is some frozen vegan puff pastry (I used New Way brand), which is already rolled into squares. Place the pastry on a oven tray lined with baking paper. Brush the surface with water or lemon juice and then sprinkle with caster sugar. Wash and cut the plums into two halves and remove the stone (you will need free stone plums, I used Luisa yellow plums and Black Doris from my local orchard in Oratia for this recipe) and place, cut side down, on the pastry. Bake at 180°C for about 15-20 minutes, or until the side of the tart have puffed up and are golden.

During plum season I make this at least once a week, eat warm (with ice cream) or cold (cut into small squares for breakfast or for lunch boxes).



Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Plum Jam








Plum jam is one of my favourite, and as I live near some beautiful orchards in Oratia, west of Auckland, I like to make the most of the plentiful supply.









Plum Jam


Ingredients:


For each Kg of plums I used 600 g of sugar, (because I like my plum jam a little tart) and one teaspoon of pectin.


Wash the freshly picked fruit and place in a large saucepan with a little water. Bring the fruit to a gentle boil. When the fruit is simmering add the sugar and stir well. After 5 minutes add the pectin. Simmer the jam for about 5 more minutes and then pass through a sieve, discarding the stones.


Place the hot jam in sterilised jars, dried in the oven. At this point you can add to each jar a cinnamon stick (for dark plums) or a long pepper (for yellow plums); or you can wet the inside of the jar with a little grappa or brandy (an old Italian method). Either seal the jars with cellophane covers (available in all supermarkets) and secure with an elastic band, or use capsule lids (I use Quattro Stagioni brand).


If using capsule lids, seal the jars well, place in a pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of the jars. Let the jars cool down in the pot overnight and when they are cold make sure that the capsule has popped by pressing gently on the lid. Properly sterilised jars will keep for over a year.


I also made plum paste, I just used the jam that was left in the bottom of the pot and cooked it a bit longer. Then I pour it into a square container and let it set hard.




Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©



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