soup de fruits – a dessert for lazy summer days

by Eva on September 6, 2012

One thing I am really appreciating about the food blog community is the friendliness and openness towards blogging colleagues. Finding friends in real life can be hard sometimes, but meet a food blogger and you meet someone with the same commonalities: cooking, photographing, eating, blogging and a conversation is easy to come by. I had been helped by many fellow blogger but never asked someone to do a guest post. And I have to admit this wasn’t easy for me, it feels like giving your baby into someone else’s hands for the first time and on the other side, what if I get a rejection? Last weeks had been very busy for me, and I reached out to Sandy from confiture de vivre a blogging friend living in my home country Germany. And she said: YES! Her food blog is a sunny place in the internet and I admire her work. Come and meet her with her following guest blog post or visit her here:

Thank you Sandy!

When Eva asked me to do a guest post on her blog I didn’t hesitate. I like her style of writing, her sense of humor and the pictures she takes. So now here is my little piece of sweet and I hope you enjoy reading.

Currently we have our lazy days. Since more than two weeks we are traveling through France and now enjoying sunny days on the beach. Every year we are visiting Southern France and yes, we decided to move there. Not in the near future but in a few years, we will. So one of our vacation-tasks is to look for a house. We were told that the right house will ﬁnd us and so we have to be tranquil.

For now Hubby and me are planning to publish an online magazine (ready in fall, 2012) where you can ﬁnd lots of food and travel, recipes and stories about Europe and especially France. The next two weeks we are in the Roussillon area, a region which is famous for wine, traditional Catalan cuisine and fruits. The Roussillon plain is called the fruit basket of France. During May you can ﬁnd the ﬁrst delectable cherries and people celebrate an impressive fête (a festival) to praise the harvest. The ﬁrst basket of cherries goes to Monsieur le Président (to the French President). In July the peaches and apricots are in season and the Roussillon rouge, a special sort of apricots are divine to eat every day and for making conﬁture. It can be very hot during summer and so we are craving something fresh and light. Strolling through markets is one of my favorite thing to do when in France. So I decided to make a soup of fruits – with all of my heavenly market ﬁnds – white currants, apricots, white peaches, yellow plums and mirabelles (small yellow plums, special in France). With some spreads of fresh mint and lemon juice it is totally refreshing for a dessert or in between. Feel free to use any kind of fruit – the best is to choose these fruits which are in season and if you like a small dollop of cream or yogurt – give it a try.

soup de fruits

serves 4 persons

100 g / 3.5 oz. white currants, washed, separated from the stems
2 white peaches, washed, stoned, sliced in quarters
4 apricots, washed, stoned, sliced in quarters
3 yellow plums, washed, stoned, sliced in quarters
6-8 small yellow plums, some sliced in quarters, some whole
100 ml / 7 Tbsp water
2-3 teaspoons honey
juice of 1 lemon
few leaves of fresh mint

In a saucepan bring water and honey to a rolling boil. Then reduce heat and let simmer
until you have a light sirup (about 10 minutes). Add the lemon juice and than set aside to
cool completely. In a bowl mix the fruits and the sirup together and chill in the fridge for 2
hours.
Serve the fruit soup in small bowls, adding a few leaves of fresh mint.

{ 10 comments }

plum galette for one or maybe two

by Eva on August 23, 2012

Mr. F is traveling and I am home alone. The truth is and I am just saying it: I like to be on my own once in a while. Growing up in a big family and a house equally busy like the NYC subway at rush hour crunch and with a tendency to a nut house, I appreciate some calmly time with myself.

You might get the wrong impression, just to clarify this, Mr. F and I like to spend every possible moment together. Once we even had an unpleasant situation with my friend and her husband. Actually it was her husband who found, we are obsessed with each other and would spend way too much time together. He might be right or not, anyway how much time is left after work etc.? His little speech developed from an argument into an unpleasant fight with his wife, while Mr. F and I just starred silently from left to right (like a tennis match) and wondering what was happening in front of us. The point was and the reason for this awkward situation, it was him who took too much “single time” and they did not share one hobby. No need to say this dinner night was over…

I still think about this from time to time, just to remind me to do the opposite and not do care about his advise. I’ll continue spending as much time with Mr. F as possible, grocery shopping, cooking and even cleaning the dishes afterwards can be fun in lovely company. But if we can’t be together, I’ll do my very best to enjoy myself on my own. Tonight’s movie will be much sweeter with this plum galette for one (or two) topped with a generous portion of vanilla ice cream and some wine just for balancing the sweetness.

plum galette for one or maybe two

This galette is big enough for sharing. If you make it for you own, don’t worry about leftover, if there are any they are just as good the next day.

ingredients:

120 g /4.2 oz. / 1 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp granulated sugar

20 g / 0.7 oz. / 1/8 cup cornmeal (yellow or white)

1/4 tsp salt

55 g / 1/4 cup unsalted very cold butter

3 Tbsp ice water

300 g / 10.5 oz (about 3 large) plums

30 g / 1 oz. / 1/4 cup hazelnuts, whole

1 Tbsp turbinado sugar or brown sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 Tbsp heavy cream for brushing (optional)

instructions:

Add flour, sugar, cornmeal, salt in your food processor with a blade attached and pulse a few time to mix the ingredients. Add butter and pulse again. The butter will be coarse that’s necessary for a flaky crust. Add the ice water and pulse again, the dough should be crumbly but hold together than squeezed. Don’t overwork or the dough will become tough. Form a disk, cover with plastic wrap and put in your refrigerator for at least 30 minutes up to one day.

Preheat you oven to 200 c / 400 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Half the plums, remove the stone and cut into about 5 wedges. Put aside.

Roast hazelnuts in a dry pan until fragrant, let cool. Add to your food processor with blade attached and pulse until coarsely ground.

In a small bowl mix hazelnuts, turbinado sugar, cinnamon.

Unwrap the dough and roll out using a rolling-pin. Move dough to baking sheet and sprinkle with nut-sugar mixture but save 1.5 Tbsp of it. Top with plum wedges, leave a 1.5 inch border, fold up rim, pleating dough. Brush pastry with heavy cream and top plums with remaining nut-sugar mixture.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes, let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

{ 3 comments }

plum compote with port wine

by Eva on September 28, 2010

Actually I am having a day off today. That means for me, sleeping long, drinking coffee in bed while reading the news and slowing down everything. That was my plan… Don’t get me wrong I am not someone who sleeps away the whole day, but there is nothing wrong about a good portion of laziness. Unfortunately I woke up because somebody forgot to turn of the alarm clock the day before. I felt asleep again and woke up again half an hour later because our neighbor left and his truck makes so much noise that everybody up and down the street must have heard him. I stared at the clock and waited for my brain to realize what time it is, too early for someone who spend half of the night watching movies. But this neighbor was not the only one, after three other trucks left (why does even my 17 year old neighbor’s son drive a large truck?), I gave up sleeping and started with coffee earlier than planned and I was not a happy camper about that.

That gave me more time to be unexpected productive because the plums I bought at the farmers market the day before waited for me. Yes I have a soft spot for plums check out my prune cake with marzipan streusel and you will be addicted to them too.

I cleaned my jars, put them into my largest saucepan, covered them with water and cooked them for a few minutes. Meanwhile I washed the plumes, you should clean them just before you use them because plums have a wax coating which keeps them longer fresh. First I cut them into quarters, removed the stones and chopped them into chunks. I was going for a more kind of smooth sauce texture because I need the plums for covering ice cream or cheese cake. You can use the quartered plum for more compote style. Mixing everything together and cooking didn’t took me more than 40 minutes but the reward is delicious plum compote which is ready available when ever I need a dessert.

plum compote with port wine

If you don’t like port wine use your favorite red wine or just water

makes about 4 jars (1 1/2 cups size)

1.8 kg / 4 pounds plums
250 g / 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
200 ml / 3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon port wine, red wine or water

Clean your jars, turn over and let them dry on a clean kitchen towel.

Wash and rub the plums until they are dry. Cut them in half, quarters or chunks how ever you like and remove the stone.
Put everything into your pot, choose one which is big enough and has a thick bottom. Cover the pot and let everything simmer over medium heat for 20 – 25 minutes. Stirring is not necessary but check the bottom of the pot every few minutes. If the plums burn reduce the heat. Skim off any foam.
Fill the hot plum compote into your clean jars, close them immediately and turn upside down until cool. You can store them for at least three months.

Later I got a really great breakfast with plum compote over steel cut oats with a banana. Although it was still early I didn’t mind the wine flavor but I think a few jars made with water instead would be a good idea.

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soup de fruits – a dessert for lazy summer days

soup de fruits

plum galette for one or maybe two