Baked Plums

“Baked plums” I hear you sigh, “how boring”. But not when they are steeped in rum, marinated in cardamon and ginger, sprinkled with sugar, dotted with butter and then lovingly baked. Before being served with yoghurt that has been blessed with pistachios.

Enjoy the ride.

Halve the plums and marinate in a good slug of Cruzan golden rum, a squeeze of lime, a finger of grated ginger, and crucially some cardamon. I cracked the pods in two and was transported straight back to the market in Munnar where we bought our collection of spices.

Line a baking dish with foil and place the halved plums flesh side up before sprinkling with sugar and anointing with unsalted butter. Adjust the amount of sugar you use to how sour you imagine the plums are. If in doubt add more. And preferably use brown sugar rather than the white stuff I used. Pour the excess marinate around the plums.

Bake for half an hour or so until the flesh has turned an Oscar golden hue. Spoon the now crimson juice back over the plums to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the juicy flavours.

Given that this was a pretty random composition, inspired by nothing more than a cheap bag of plums and a vague recollection of how Cowie’s Mum poaches her pears, it came out brilliantly. We loved the unique flavour that cardamon brings to the party coupled with the sweet boozy taste of rum. The yoghurt balanced the fruitiness without resorting to weighing it down with cream whilst the pistachios added some much needed texture.

I’m definitely cooking this again. I’ve got a funny feeling this might become one of Cowie’s favourites! She’ll be very upset she missed out on its debut outing. This would make a great base to a crumble or cobbler. I’m even toying with the idea of plum and cardamon jam! Roll on the Autumn!

Sauza Agave Recipe Challenge: Blueberry Pie

We found an awesome book about cooking with agave nectar at work on Slashfood and have decided that a different member of our team will cook a different recipe each month from it.

The book is called Baking with Agave Nectar and can be bought from Amazon.

Jenny bought the book so had the honour of cooking the first dish from the, now cherished, agave cooking book.

Rather than waffling on, I am just going to let the pictures do the talking…

If the pictures above tell you nothing else, it’s that Ed likes cream on his pie!

Jenny’s blueberry pie made with agave nectar was stunningly good. The rest of us have got our work cut out to top Jenny’s opening gambit. Another fresh and unexpected use of agave from the Beam team.