9/24/10

Tyranny of tiny plums

So we are still fairly flooded with cheap and tiny plums (the "mirabellen" variety, to be exact) here in good old Berlin. They sell for almost nothing at markets, come in our weekly CSA basket, and sometimes, you even find them on the streets. So I have been trying to come up with new uses for them other than the ubiquitous plum cake. Well, actually, we made a plum cake too. (A beautiful one!)

I used the fancy cake recipe from the Urban Vegan cookbook (I really urge you to go out and grab that cookbook if you can, its jam-packed with greatness) and put a layer of golden mirabellen jam in between layers, with more plums on top. Boy, was this sweet. (Maybe a little too sweet?) But then again, we served it on Rosh Hoshanah, so too sweet is good. My friend SY was there and had a professional touch that made a simple cake just stunning- she knows all the tricks for making food gorgeous. Unfortch, I didn't get a pic of the finished product, but then, that's how it always is on holidays. (It was a nice celebration though, as seen below.)

In other plum related news, I made a salad with some gorgeous fennel we also got in our basket and some arugula: it was basically caramelized fennel, chopped plums, arugula and homemade balsamic vinegar dressing. Very rich and delicious.

And finally, I made some plum and ginger muffins to hand out in language school. In my opinion, these were a little bitter or something with a strange aftertaste, so I will withhold the recipe until I can perfect them. But they were pretty and good, just not absolutely perfect. (Next time they will be!)

I am pleased that I now have a variety of options for getting rid of the tiny little plums everywhere, but I must say that now I'm ready for the next challenge... maybe pumpkins?


song of the day: Belle and Sebastian- Sookie in the Graveyard

7 comments:

jessy said...

you know, i can't remember the last time i had a plum, T. that's kinda sad - and i'm gonna have to fix that. hooray for lots of plum goodnesses - the plum cake is beautiful, the muffins are adorable (sorry they had a bitter taste to them - i can't wait for your recipe though!), and your salad sounds absolutely awesome! caramelized fennel + plums + homemade balsamic vinegar (kick ass on the homemade balsamic vinegar!) = the best! can't say i've ever had fennel before - gonna have to make that happen, too. i need to get eat'n! ah ha ha!

Bianca said...

I always forget about plums. I should buy more plums...and make that cake. I have Urban Vegan, and it's an awesome book!

Jess - The Domestic Vegan said...

I absolutely LOVE plums! I don't think I've ever baked with them, though, which is CRAZY now that I think about it... That plum cake is gorgeous!

Vampire said...

Whoa. New layout on your blog? Heh. I like it!
Mm.. plums... We had those at the farmer's market here and the ones in Riga, Latvia are to DIE for.

Kelsey Ann said...

oh myyyy i am addicted to muffins <3 mmm i love your blog girl!! you're adorable, and the food looks AWESOME!

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

That is one gorgeous plum cake!

thanida said...

your blogs is so convincing that I never stop myself to say something about it.
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