Gluten Free Archives - Page 2 of 18 - I THINK THEREFORE I JAM

Roast Plum Compote

Easy roast plums with rosemary and cinnamon which bottle beautifully

This is a very simple way to relish end-of-summer plums and capture that dusky, rich flavour for darker days. Roasting seems to do something to concentrate the flavour as well as rendering the flesh creamy-smooth and the skins pleasantly chewy. I add rosemary and cinnamon, sometimes lemon or orange rind. Plums do vary in their tartness so the sugar quantity here is a guide. You can eat them all as simple roasted fruit or go on and bottle them – I generally eat some and bottle some!

Eat them cold or warmed a little with yoghurt, creme fraiche or good old custard. Make breakfast bowls with museli or serve them with syrniki – sweet cheese pancakes. Use as instant crumble, cobbler and pie filling – this compote really is super versatile and easy to use.

For bottling them you do need to create enough syrup (and allow for ahem…sampling!) I add some sugar and a little water to create a light syrup that is so heavenly I find myself drinking it “cough-medicine” style by itself! Roasting = lazy; I roast on a low heat slowly and gently and check occasionally in between doing other things.

Budino di Ricotta (“Lor ve bademli kek”)

Turkish ricotta or “Lor” is sold in big, generous sacks – all the better to make big, generous “börek” fillings with. I did recieve a raised eyebrow when asking for a paltry 300g in the market and I think a sympathy smile for being a hapless “yabanci” (foreigner). But I had my prized unsalted, pristine ricotta and I was happy.

As in Italy lor comes in salted and unsalted versions. Salted lor is used in “börek” while the unsalted version is often served for breakfast with honey or fruit (particularly good with strawberries) or in a salad with fresh herbs and walnut. Here I use the unsalted (“tuzsuz”) version.

I followed a “Budino di ricotta” recipe of Artusi Pellegrino, the so called grandfather of Italian cuisine, merely decreasing the sugar by 25g, adding a smidge of cornflour plus “mahlep powder” as he suggests the addition of a few ground apricot kernels (the crushed stones of a wild cherry, a member of the rose family and much used in SE Turkey as a baking flavouring). One can only hope he does not turn in his grave at my speedy “all in one” method!

This is unfettered cooking but plain it is not and versatile it is. It is somewhere between a cheesecake and a batter pudding such as clafoutis. A small slice with a cup of tea is perfect in the afternoon, with a fruit couli poured over it becomes an elegant dessert and with an expresso in the morning it is a convenient breakfast bite.

Fig, pear, walnut, pine nut, sesame preserve with mastic and aniseed

Inspired by the Lebanese, “M’rabbah al teen” dried fig jam, Aegean ingredients and leanings this is what I think my Nana would have called a “sweetmeat”; something so delectably fine it deserved to be eaten just by itself (Although I have eaten it with creamy thick sheep’s “Suzme” yoghurt and salty crystalline “Tulum” goat cheese).

It melds the tahini-like taste of sesame seeds, the crunch of nuts, the stickiness of the figs, the indescribable taste of mastic (sakız) and the zing of the aniseed, into a stellar confection.