Chai Roasted Plums with Vanilla Cream

The past couple of weeks have finally been giving hints of Fall. San Diego can have it's moments of "I can't believe it's so nice outside today!" weather, but lately, that has not been a trend. Summer seems to be lasting far too long, thrusting us into jealousy as the rest of the country embraces it's pumpkin everything boot-wearing sweater weather. In an effort to do some kind of rain dance esque plea to the God of Seasons to let us keep Fall, I've created a nice recipe using fall flavors and spices. Enjoy, and pray for us.

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Chai Roasted Plums

• 9 plums
• 1 cup water
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp minced ginger (fresh, dried, or crystallized are fine)
• 1/2 tsp cardamom seeds
• 1/2 tsp black peppercorns, slightly crushed
• 1/2 tsp whole cloves
• 1/2 vanilla bean pod (I suggest scraping the inside and reserving for the vanilla cream)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 tsp black tea leaves or 1 tea bag
• 1 recipe of Vanilla Cream (below)
• 1/4 cup pistachios, chopped

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. Halve and pit plums and place cut-side down on a rimmed baking sheet. To make chai, place water in a small sauce pan over medium heat and add ingredients from brown sugar to cinnamon. Heat until the brown sugar is dissolved and the mixture just begins to simmer. Turn off heat and add tea. Steep for 5 minutes. If you are using loose leaf tea, be sure to add them to an infuser or bag first. 

Once your tea has steeped, remove the tea and pour the chai (all spices included) into the pan with the plums. Move the pan around to evenly distribute the liquid if needed. Place in the oven and roast for 25 minutes. You'll know they are done when the liquid is mostly evaporated and there is a thin layer of syrup left around the plums. 

If adapting this recipe to serve a smaller portion, roast in a smaller pan and use half of the chai liquid; otherwise, it won't caramelize by the time the plums are cooked. I used a 12" x 17" pan in my recipe.

Cool for a few minutes. Serve warm with a loving heap of vanilla cream and sprinkled with pistachios.  

Vanilla Cream

• 1 egg white
• 2 tbs sugar
• 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Whip egg white until stiff peaks form. Add in sugar, vanilla, greek yogurt and heavy cream. Whip for 2 more minutes. 

I recommend making this while the plums are roasting. If making ahead of time, whip again for 30 seconds before serving.

Basil-Chip Ice Cream Pie

Basil-Chip Ice Cream Pie

• Bon Appetit's Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous Basil-Chip Ice Cream
• 18 Biscoff cookies
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup almond flower
• 3 tbsp melted butter
• Elderflower Strawberries, or fresh berries for serving

Follow the directions for Bon Appetit's Basil-Chip Ice Cream base, just prior to adding it to your ice cream machine, and keep in the refrigerator until you're ready to freeze. To make the pie's crumb crust, place the Biscoff cookies in a food processor and blend until finely crumbled. Empty into a medium sized mixing bowl. Add to the bowl, cocoa powder and almond flour and mix thoroughly. Add the melted butter and stir until the crumbs are evenly moistened. You may want to ditch the utensil and use your fingers to finish mixing. Spoon the mixture into a 9" pie pan and begin patting it down and up the sides of the pan with your fingers or the back of a soup spoon. Be conscious of getting the layer of crumb even, or your ice cream may soak through later on, making it difficult to remove your slices. Once the pie pan is evenly coated, place in the freezer for 1 hour. 

Pick-up where you left off in the ice cream recipe by adding the base to your ice cream maker. The freeze time will depend on your machine, so look for the ice cream base to almost double in volume. When it's done, it should be about the consistency of greek yogurt if you take a spoonful of it. Remove your pie pan from the freezer and very carefully spoon the ice cream into the crust. Fill just before it reaches the top of the crust. Return to a level surface in the freezer, and freeze for a minimum of 4 hours. 

To serve, run a sharp paring knife under hot water for 10 seconds. Wipe dry and cut the pie into slices. Spoon Elderflower Strawberries and syrup over each slice, or serve with fresh sliced strawberries.

Elderflower Soaked Strawberries

Elderflower soaked Strawberries (whole and Jam)

• 5 cups strawberries - keep small ones whole; halve or quarter larger ones
• 1/2 cup Elderflower cordial
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbs sugar
• If making jam: 1 tbs low sugar pectin (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a medium pot over medium heat. Cook until juices form and the berries begin to float (this should take about 7 minutes). If you want to keep them whole, stop here, and store in glass jars in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.  

to make Jam:

Once the strawberries are removed from the heat, carefully pour them into a blender. On low speed, pulse 4 times, or until you've reached your desired consistency. Return the mixture to your pot over medium heat. Whisk in the pectin and cook for another 5 minutes. Store in glass jars in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks, or can for use later in the year. 

*I saved one half-pint jar of whole strawberries, covered in their juice, and continued to make jam with the rest. Makes two more half-pint jars worth. 

Serving suggestions: On top of any cakes or sweet biscuits, spread on scones, or enjoyed on ice cream. Maybe even this Basil-Chip Ice Cream Pie! Pictured below :).

Note: I found this Elderflower Cordial at World Market. You can also order it on Amazon, or substitute it for any elderflower liquor, easily found at most liquor stores. 

Watermelon Raspberry Popsicles

As of this week, I had consumed 0 watermelon this summer. That's blasphemy for a girl that grew up in Alabama and ate her weight in watermelon as a kid. I love watermelon in all forms - watermelon salad, gilled watermelon, watermelon snow cones, Italian ice, lollipops, jolly ranchers - if it's watermelon (flavored) somethin' I'm most likely to try it (and probably love it).   To rectify this lack of sweet summer fruit in my life and inspired by our current heat wave, I decided to make popsicles. They are incredibly easy (and delicious). If you don't have a true popsicle mold, don't worry. You can use small paper dixie cups or anything of similar size. I ordered this mold off Amazon. 

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Watermelon Raspberry Popsicles

• 3 heaping cups, cubed watermelon 
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup mint simple syrup (below)
• Juice of half a lime

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend on medium speed for 1-2 minutes. The goal here is to liquify all of the fruit without breaking the seeds up too much. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a large pourable container. Scrape the inside bottom of the sieve with a spoon as it drains in order to push the fruit pulp through.  

Fill your molds 90% of the way with your strained watermelon mixture - you want to leave room for the liquid to expand as it freezes. If you're using a traditional popsicle mold, place your sticks in now. If you're using something alternative, like a dixie cup, let the filled cups stand in the freezer for 2 hours (to allow it to harden just a bit) before you insert the sticks. You can also cover the top with a plastic wrap, secure with a rubber band or tape, and then poke the stick through before freezing. Freeze your popsicles on a level surface for 6 hours or overnight. 

To remove from the mold, run warm over the outside of the mold for 3 seconds. If the popsicles don't want to budge, don't force them out - continue running them under the water for 3 seconds increments until they come loose. 

Mint Simple Syrup

• 1/2 cup filtered water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup mint leaves, tightly packed

Place water and sugar in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved. Remove from heat and add mint leaves. Let the leaves steep for 1.5 - 2 hrs. Strain and discard leaves. 

Natural Peach Preserves: Vanilla + Cinnamon & Almond + Ginger

Peaches are probably my favorite thing about summer. Humidity, no thanks. The AC-free state of life in southern California, double no thanks. But peaches...they make both of those things okay. Personally, I think the best peaches are grown in southern soil. Maybe it's that everything in the south seems to be made of sugar, so they're just genetically sweeter :). Or maybe I'm just biased. I don't know, but I will say this; while California peaches may not be my favorite fresh eating peaches, they are wonderful for cooking.

One of the best kept secrets of my neighborhood farmers market (farmers'? farmer's? hm....) is the organic stone fruit farm that puts everything on sale 30 minutes prior to closing. All of their delicious goodies are half price! Such a deal. BUT WAIT. After close, you can pay $10 for a plastic grocery sack and fill it with as many fruits as it can hold. This is where the gold is, and where I stock up for canning. Summer flavors all year long? Yes, please.

Natural Peach Preserves

This recipe is for a basic, naturally flavored peach preserve. It serves as a great canvas for additional flavoring post-cooking, though delicious as-is if you're wanting to keep the pureness of the peaches.  For the following post, I split the cooked batch in half and flavor each one with different spices.

• 8 cups peaches, skinned and cut into small pieces
• 2 cups raw cane sugar
• Juice of 1 lemon

In a medium sized pot on medium-high heat, combine all ingredients and stir thoroughly. A nice juice will start to develop as the sugar draws out the natural nectar of the peaches. Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally and lightly mashing the peaches as they cook. Simmer for 10 minutes. Emulsify the mixture with a stick blender. Be careful to keep the blade fully submerged so you don't splash yourself with the hot peaches. I like to keep some of the natural fruit texture in my preserves, so I leave a few chunks, but this is entirely up to your liking - blend more or blend less, chefs' choice! Once emulsified, cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from heat and flavor or cool for storage. 

I can my preserves so I have them on hand and keep those sweet summer tastes available throughout the year. If canning isn't your preference, the preserves can last up to two weeks in the fridge or several months in the freezer.

Almond + Ginger  

• 4 cups natural peach preserves
• 1 tsp almond flavoring
• 1 tsp freshly grated ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom

Vanilla + Cinnamon

• 4 cups natural peach preserves
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 vanilla bean

Combine all ingredients and stir thoroughly. For long-term storage, can via water bath method (step-by-step instructions found here) or freeze. For immediate use, store in the refrigerator and use within 2 weeks. 

PS - Thanks to the lovely Liz DeZeeuw for being an awesome sous chef and taste tester!