Plums roasting in August’s kitchen!
Our crop of plums has been a disaster again! Fortunately, I’ve a very good friend who has a bumper harvest so I’ve been scrumping with a couple of bags and taken loads of fruit from her tree!
I could just sit and eat them as they are but I do like to get some in the freezer and roasting them is a perfect way to prepare them and enjoy over the winter. Roasting intensifies the flavour and when I serve them with this simple no churn coconut ice cream it’s always a hit.
Roasted plums with no churn coconut ice cream
Serves 2 Takes about 30 minutes plus freezing time
This amount serves 2 but you could always do a big batch of the plums and freeze them in ready to serve portions
Please note this dish contains uncooked eggs so is not suitable for everyone
For the plums:
350g plums
½ cinnamon stick
Sprinkling ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Juice and zest of 1 small orange
25g dark brown muscavado sugar
For the coconut ice cream:
50g creamed coconut
225ml double cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice
35g icing sugar
1 egg white
- Make the ice cream first so that it has a good couple of hours to freeze before serving.
- If using a carton of coconut cream open it up and stir really well. Pour into a small heavy based saucepan with 75ml of the double cream. Heat gently for just a couple of minutes until the coconut has blended with the cream.
- Pour the remaining 150ml of double cream and the tablespoon of lemon juice into a large bowl then sieve in the icing sugar. Stir together then pour in the coconut and cream mixture. Beat together until smooth then cover and pop in the fridge to chill for about 15 minutes.
- Whisk the egg white until just holding its shape in soft peaks. Tip it into the coconut cream and fold in gently with a large metal spoon.
- Pour into a freezer proof container and put in the freezer for about an hour and a half. The ice cream needs to be just firm but not solid.
For the roasted plums:
- Halve the plums and remove the stones, using a sharp knife to ease them away if necessary. Place them into a shallow ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with the nutmeg and the orange zest and add in the cinnamon stick. Squeeze over the lemon and orange juice. Scatter over the sugar.
- Pop in the oven 220C/fan200/gas 7 for about 15-20 minutes until the plums are just tender and tinging brown.
Spoon some plums into serving bowls whilst still warm then add a good dollop of the coconut ice cream – it should be only just firm so that it easily melts into the plums.
Although this is best eaten warm the plums taste good when served at room temperature. Remember to thaw the ice cream for about an hour first though.