Plum Bite Crumble

I think that plums are underappreciated fruits.  My favorite of the stone fruits, they are sweet, juicy, and deeply red indicating that they are packed with nutrients and antioxidants, and are a good source of vitamin C.  I have used them in many recipes; one of my favorites is Plum Streusel Coffeecake.  This afternoon, though, I wanted to make a dessert appropriate for an evening meal, so settled on a plum crumble.  As was the case with the coffeecake mentioned above, I had to battle Mr. O-P for the plums (I’m going to have to find a much better hiding place!), leaving me making a smaller dessert than I’d hoped, but no less delicious.  I imagine this would be tasty topped with vanilla ice cream, or whipped cream, but I wanted nothing to compete with the “plum” deliciousness, so ate it plain. Yummy!

Plum Bite Crumble

Topping 

½ cup, plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/3 cup old-fashioned oats

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch cardamom

1/2 stick chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Filling

1 pound Melissa’s Organic Plum Bites, pitted, cut into wedges

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon brandy

Preheat oven to 350°F.

To make crumb topping:

Put flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom into the work bowl of your food processor.  Pulse until mixed (about 3 times). Add the butter and pulse 5-8 times until the mixture forms a coarse meal. Place mixture into a medium bowl and squeeze together with your fingers to form large-ish crumbs.  Set aside, or, if you like, cover and refrigerate for 1-2 days.

To make plum filling:

Toss plums, sugar, and brandy together in a medium bowl.  Mix to make sure the fruit is well coated.  Spread into the bottom of a small baking dish or ramekins. Sprinkle crumb topping over fruit. Bake on a parchment or Silpat-lined baking sheet (to make clean-up a breeze) until fruit bubbles and topping browns, about 50 minutes (less if using ramekins). Cool slightly before serving.

This post is linked to:

Seasonal Sundays

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Try a New Recipe Tuesday

Cranberry-Pineapple Sauce

Cranberries, I think, are highly underrated.  They tend to only show up on the Thanksgiving table and then are relegated to the back of the fridge until the following Thanksgiving when they are tossed out and replaced with new.  Sure there is the juice, and oh yes, the dried cranberries are very popular, but I’m talking cranberry sauce here.  Something that is most unappreciated.

Delicious and so beneficial to your health, did you know studies have shown that consumption of berries have potential health benefits against cancer, aging and neurological diseases, inflammation, diabetes, and bacterial infections?  Or that the juice can protect against E.coli?  The berries also are known to prevent tooth surface plaque, and are a good source of many vitamins like vitamin C, vitamin A, ß-carotene, and minerals like potassium, and manganese.

Now, throw pineapple into the mix with its anti-inflammatory, anti-clotting and anti-cancer properties. Not to mention Vitamin A, C, the B-complex group, and collagen -- yes, ladies, COLLAGEN! -- and you have one heck of a healthy snack!

This recipe for Cranberry Pineapple relish came from a flyer from one of the local markets.  We made it on a whim this year and it won hands down over the other two varieties (one a 12-year staple) we served at the Thanksgiving dinner.  Think of it as not only a side for turkey, but for chicken, pork and ham as well.  Blend it slightly and use it to glaze the holiday ham, stir it into your morning oatmeal, or make a delicious parfait by layering it with plain or vanilla yogurt.  As for me, I can just eat it with a spoon, it is that good.

To your health!

Aren't the jewel-tone colors of these fruits just fabulous?

Cranberry-Pineapple Sauce

1 fresh,whole, cored pineapple

1 bag (12 oz). fresh cranberries

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup dark rum, optional

1/4 tsp. salt

Cut pineapple into 1/2" pieces.  Place pineapple, cranberries, brown sugar, water, rum (is using), and salt into a medium saucepan; heat to boiling over high heat, stirring occasionally.  Boil 4 to 5 minutes or until most cranberries have burst, stirring occasionally.  Transfer cranberry sauce to bowl cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours or up to 1 week.

Copyright 2011 ShoptoCook Inc, NY via Schnucks Markets, St. Louis, MO

This post is linked to:

Seasonal Sunday

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Tasty Tuesday

What's Cooking Wednesday

& Foodie Friday

  

Soul-satisfying Steel Cut Oats

It was with great anticipation that I awaited the arrival of this morning's New York Times, as the Wednesday issue (like the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and presumably every other national paper) has the beloved Food Section.  At this time of the year it usually means the year-end wrap-up of the best of the best recipes of 2010.  Boy, was I wrong!  While they may have been top recipes in the NYT the very thought of eating broiled sardines, codfish fritters with lamb sausage ragu, chili lobster (Really?  Lobster, in chili?  Why?!), or celery sorbet (Now come on!), made me want to hurl.


Do people really eat this?  And by people I do include the adventurous New Yorkers who, it would seem, are willing to intrepidly devour anything in the name of fashion.  I'll never forget watching, in horror, a food program featuring a New York restaurant that served not only beetles and other insects, but live worms to its willing patrons, the latter of which were cultivated by the proprietor on his apartment balcony.  Surely, I thought, the waitstaff must be peering out of the kitchen, holding their sides with laughter, as diners who paid top dollar in an effort to be trendy, consumed items that used to get my hands slapped by my mother along with the admonish, "Put that slimy thing down!"  (I can't say I disagree.)


So, instead of planning a special meal of recipes from theTimes, I fixed myself a bowl of soul-satisfying steel cut McCann's Irish Oatmeal, and ate it while I watched the rain fall.  Drizzled with cream, studded with raisins, and topped with brown sugar, I thought that nothing could be more appealing on this wintry day.

A Warming Winter Breakfast

Steel-Cut Oatmeal with a Crispy Maple Crust

Yesterday's temperature of 37 degrees was to be the high of the next week.  Days are turning colder and nights in the  mid-teens are absolutely frigid.  On days such as these it's important to start the day off right with a strengthening breakfast such as this delicious bowl of steel cut oats with a broiled topping and garnish of fruit.  McCann's Steel Cut Irish oats are the only oats for me.  They're deeply flavorful, hearty, and lend themselves well to any type of embellishment that you can manage to dream up while they're simmering away on the top of the stove.

 

To prepare this tasty dish, simply follow the directions on the oatmeal can (or box) to serve 4. While it's cooking combine 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar and 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans.  Once the oatmeal is done, divide it among four ovenproof bowls. Divide the brown sugar mixture among the bowls being certain to sprinkle the mixture over the entire surface of the oatmeal.

Heat the broiler to high and set the rack 5 to 6 inches from the heat source. Place the bowls on a baking sheet and broil in the oven for 1 to 3 minutes until dark brown and bubbly. Remove and sprinkle with dried cranberries, raisins, or dried cherries. Garnish with slices of banana. Serve with milk, if desired.

What a warm and healthy way to start the day.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

Since it’s fall and I’m (and presumably you’re) reminded of falling leaves, shorter days, cool weather and pumpkins, I’ve decided to make this “Pumpkin Week” on the blog. So during the coming week expect to see lots of pictures of pumpkins and drool over recipes featuring the most versatile of all of the squashes. (Did you know canned pumpkin purée is often recommended by veterinarians as a dietary supplement for dogs and cats who are experiencing digestive problems? Now that’s versatile!) What you will not see, alas, is a recipe for pumpkin pie. While I do like pumpkin in pretty much everything, I’ve always considered pie to be the “liver of desserts,” and as a consequence neither make nor eat it.

This first recipe I found was in the back of a mystery novel (and how appropriate is that with Halloween coming up?). The novel is called Murder Most Maine and was written by Karen MacInerney. It’s a part of the Gray Whale Inn mystery series featuring innkeeper cum sleuth, Natalie Barnes. I discovered this series of the cozy mystery genre last summer before our trip up to Maine and Canada. I like to read books that take place where I'm about to visit to provide a little advanced atmosphere.  It’s a fun, very readable series of mystery books each of which has recipes for dishes served at the Gray Whale Inn in the back of the book. I love this type of dual purpose in a book, don’t you?

The first recipe intrigued me: Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal. The delicious decadence of spicy pumpkin for breakfast! I mean is that the way to start the day, or what? Her recipe serves four, so since I was making it just for myself, I cut it into fourths (look for my proportions in parentheses), which got to be a bit tricky and came down to the 1/8 cup, but keep in mind that if you don’t have an 1/8 cup measure (well, if you don’t, go get one because you’ll be truly amazed at how often you’ll use it) that an eighth cup = 2 tablespoons. The end result was one ample adult portion, or possibly two child portions. Top it with some cream and a sprinkling of raisins, and I’d think any kid would just gobble this up and not even realize all of the whole grain goodness he'd just consumed.

Another thing to consider before making this is the pumpkin pie spice. As I mentioned earlier, I neither make nor eat pumpkin pie, so pumpkin pie spice is one of the few spice mixtures that we do not have on our shelves, so here’s a recipe to make your own for the purpose of trying this oatmeal (and, hang on, perhaps another recipe later in the week):

Pumpkin Pie Spice

 4 T. ground cinnamon

4 t. ground nutmeg (I ground whole)

4 t. ground ginger

3 t. ground allspice

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl; mix well. Keeps in an airtight container for 6 months.

PUMPKIN PIE OATMEAL

 2 c. old fashioned oats (½ c.)

3-¼ c. fat-free milk (¾ c. + 2 T.)

¼ t. salt (Pinch)
6 T. brown sugar (or Splenda brown sugar blend) (2 T.)

1-2 t. pumpkin pie spice (to taste) (1 t.)

Add oats, milk, and salt to pot, heating until almost boiling. Lower heat to medium and cook five minutes, stirring occasionally. When oats have thickened, stir in brown sugar, pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice to taste; cook on low an additional two minutes, or until pumpkin is heated.

 Serves 4.

NOTE: Cooking time, I found, is lessened if you’re making a smaller amount, just keep an eye on the oatmeal and add the additional ingredients when it has thickened.

 Bowl: "Autumn Splendor" by David Harden, gift

Napkin: Williams-Sonoma

Spoon: Fiesta Flatware

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