Sunday, November 04, 2007

A Delicious Dried Plum Dessert for Autumn

Two years ago in October everyone's favourite Parisian-American foodblogger, David Lebovitz, hosted a one-off Prune Blogging Thursday that resulted in a number of recipes using the humble wrinkled prune, aka dried plum. I submitted a recipe for healthy prune cake, which tasted much better than it looked. However, this time I've got a dried plum dessert recipe that both tastes good and looks good. The recipe is adapted from an Estonian cookbook "Kohupiima- ja kodujuusturaamat" (100 Rooga) and yields 6 small portions. I've garnished mine with sweet pomegranate seeds, but you can use lavender or lemon balm or simply dust the dessert with icing sugar. If you cannot find curd cheese (a popular ingredient here in Estonia), then ricotta or even cottage cheese (press through the sieve) would probably work as well. This would make a nice Christmas dessert - just in case you're already imagining the Christmas menu in your head :)

Dried Plum and Curd Cheese Dessert
(Kohupiimakreem kuivatatud ploomidega)
Serves 6



200 grams juicy dried plums/prunes (California Sunsweet or such like)
100 ml water
a cinnamon stick
200 ml single cream
200 g ricotta or curd cheese
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract
some Armagnac to season (optional)

Place the dried plums, cinnamon stick and water into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes to soften the plums. Most of the liquid should evaporate by the end.
Remove the cinnamon stick and puree the dried plums with any liquid that is still in the saucepan, adding the single cream little by little.
Season with sugar and vanilla extract, then fold in the ricotta or curd cheese. If you fancy, add a slash or two of Armagnac or other alcohol.

9 comments:

Gloria Baker said...

I love your dessert's recipe are so yummy, and looks so wonderful. xxxGloria

Alanna Kellogg said...

Only in the Far North would prunes be considered 'holiday' fare! I remember something much like this in Finland, yes, hmm, served at Christmas! I love all these 'traditional' recipes, Pille, keep them coming! Seeing things familiar yet unfamiliar, it makes the world seem smaller.

Jeanne said...

Mmmm, prunes suffer from bad publicity if you ask me! I have always loved them (I think the love affair started as a little girl when I saw my dad eating them and wanted to copy him!). Thanks for an intriguing recipe - and I still love those dessert dishes!

Ilva said...

Aha, here they are! And I agree with Jeanne, prunes are delicious! Lovely photo!

Dagmar said...

It looks and sounds lovely! I love the photo.

lobstersquad said...

I´d never have thought something as boring as prunes could look so good. You´ve changed my view of them.

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Prunes and pomegranate! I love the contrast with what we think is ordinary and maybe rough with the glitter of the pomegranate seeds! Looks like a lovely dessert.

Evelin said...

Ma olen ka seda teinud, just veidi pärast raamatu ilmumist. Kohupiimamagustoidu kohta meeldivalt...tummine. Mäletan, et viskasin peale veel tumedaid viinamarju - mõnus kombinatsioon!

Pille said...

Gloria – thank you!

Alanna – I hadn’t realised how un-festive prunes are considered in the US!

Jeanne – bad publicity indeed. I’ve spotted another great prune recipe from the same author – prune parfait – however, so it seems I’ll be trying to raise prune’s profile among my readers in the future :)

Ilva – thank you! I must try your prune cake soon!

Dagmar – thank you!

Lobstersquad – but nice juicy prunes aren’t boring at all!! Are they?? Give prunes a chance, I say : )

Tanna – I liked the pomegranate ‘glitter’ as well – so festive!

Evelin - ma tegin ka kohe pärast raamatu ostmist (eelmisel nädalal:) Tummine on päris hea sõna selle magustoidu kirjeldamiseks. Meile igatahes väga meeldis, järgmisel korral paneme veidi konjakit ka maitseks..