A Plum Role

An observation worth pondering over if identified correctly. We, in the course of our life, will come upon many others who, somehow, stay or leave. A transition which lays its own course and leaves a trail which you follow, be astride or leave aside. There are many who have come and gone since the time I have been in this world and looking back they have involuntarily laid down a lesson or presence which was either absorbed or ejected. These acquaintances, friends, family, lovers, colleagues, all in all, play a plum role in our life.

We choose who we want in our life and who we don’t; sometimes it’s the other way round when you may want to be a part in ones life and it doesn’t work out. But in all this, there is one thing worth grasping – no matter what, there is a definite positive spin in the presence of the other for however brief or lengthy period it has been.

I, for one, have learnt that no matter what the ultimate layers reveal for the current people in my life, somehow they are all there for a reason and its all for my good.

I recently started creating recipes professionally for the camera. In the sense, my photographer, a person who shares my passion for food and who inadvertently kicked me around to complete my book (at-least the photography part) and has encouraged me to create and conquer the art of cooking through the camera lens. After a grueling course of advanced photography in Paris, she decided to come back gung-ho with a fresh perspective on what she’d like to shoot. Of course, being subjected to weekly food shoots before the course, and Paris being no newbie to food and all things connected, she had found her forte in shooting food professionally.

A mutual motivational factor got us working weekends and creating masterpieces for the camera. I love her work and it’s turned out to be more of a mutual admiration society especially when two minds run in the same direction. A certain dish I created out of pure love for the color purple and the camera, dished out for you here complete with the recipe and a visual treat of the finale.

   


4-5 Large Damask Plums (The Californian variety available in stores nowadays)
1 tsp Demerara Sugar
1 tsp White Butter
1½ cup Red Wine (Cabernet Sauvignon)
5 tsp Sugar
1 Star Anise
2-3 Cloves
1” Stick Cinnamon
Pistachios – Peeled and Dry Roasted till fragrant

Wash the plums and slit a cross on the top with a sharp knife, deep enough or till it touches the stone (seed) of the plum. Soak in the wine for about half an hour.

Once soaked well enough remove from wine and place on a tin baking sheet and smear a little butter atop each plum. Sprinkle Demerara sugar on each of the plums and place in the top shelf / rack of the oven. Turn on the grill and grill the plums till the skin withers and the sugar melts and amalgamates with the butter, this should take about 9 minutes.

In a saucepan, pour the wine (in which the plums were soaked) and add the sugar, keep on a low flame to simmer. Add the spices and simmer till the sugar melts. Strain and keep aside. 

To serve, place a plum in a plate or saucer and add a few spoons of the red wine sauce over the slits till the sauce oozes from the sides, sprinkle with toasted pistachios and serve with whipped cream, vanilla ice-cream or crème fraiche.

Just like this dish, make sure the people who are currently in “your” life, appreciated for their plum role. 

Strung Out of Exoticism

I get these sudden urges to have maniacal combinations while creating recipes and the one thing I stay away from is ruffling through complicated recipes in cookbooks where the dish title is longer than the recipe itself. I also rarely like to name my dishes - which is odd, but I prefer leaving it anonymous or unnamed for the benefit of the next benefactor of the recipe.

One such recipe was thought up by me during the Mango season. You will agree we Indians are slightly addled when the season begins, with people haggling over the sky rocketing prices of mangoes but still gleefully taking it back home like precious gold and carefully placing it on its throne - the kitchen mantle where is shines in all its glory, er, waiting to be devoured. End of it all, you will suck the life out of that kingly fruit and satisfy your craving, leaving it all up to the next day, when the haggling starts again.

This dish was just a thoughtful diversion from the usual way people consume mango, of course this time the mango was reduced to a meagre side role and the main attraction was a delicious juicy pear (I still get nasty stares from certain individuals in the family when I mention this dish, the same people who swear by this fruit and consume it like a drug, raw and inhibited).

This dish is a wonderful combination of juicy pears poached in a fruit and wine concoction, served with creamy vanilla ice-cream and of course - mango. Off season as it may be right now, the mango may be replaced (blasphemy!) with a variant such as a tangy kiwi or probably plums.

Ingredients:

3 Large Pears (fragrant and blemish free)
2 cups Cranberry Juice
1 cup Red Wine (Sula, Chantilly works as well, leftover even better)
1 Stick Cinnamon
1/4 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Orange & Lemon Rind - (grated, ensure the white part does not get in)
1 tablsp Cointreau (optional)
Mango (or any other fruit) cut into 1 inch cubes
Basil Leaves
Chilled water
A scoop of Vanilla Ice-cream

In a large bowl, mash the basil leaves and add chilled water to it. Place the mango cubes in the chilled water and keep aside.

Peel the pears and cut into large wedges, place into a pot with the stick of cinnamon. Pour the juice and wine into the pot, making sure the juice covers the pears completely, if you feel the pot is larger, just add more juice or take a smaller but deeper pot. Add the rind and Cointreau and keep on a low flame to simmer. In about 15-20 minutes you will notice the pears absorbing the reds of the juice and wine and releasing its own juices. Poke it with a knife or fork to check on firmness. The fruit should not turn mushy, it would be a good time to drain the fruit once you check that its firm enough.Keep the poached pears aside.

Retain the juice-wine liquid in the pot and add the sugar, turn up the heat to a medium high and simmer the liquid till it thickens. Once boiling, switch off the heat and leave the sauce to cool. It should have a thick saucy consistency.

To serve, place the poached pears on a plate, add a scoop of vanilla ice-cream on the side. Drain the mango from the chilled water and spoon it on the side of the plate. Drizzle atop with the juice-wine reduction and serve immediately.