Poached plums in orange & cinnamon syrup

POACHED PLUMS IN ORANGE & CINNAMON SYRUP

​If you are stuck for dessert or pudding ideas this winter and want to prepare something quick and easy that is memorably delicious – this is sure fire dish. The rich red of the soft plums sitting in a rose-coloured fragrant liquid will delight you and your guests. All you need is a lovely serving bowl - preferably in glass, plenty of whipped cream, cream fraiche or Greek yogurt (or a mix of all three!), toasted flaked almonds and voila!

These plums can be served warm or cold – and if you decide to serve them cold I suggest you carefully spoon the cream mixture on top and scatter the toasted flaked almonds all over and leave to settle for an hour in a cool place.

Ingredients

• 500 grams of plums – don’t worry if they are a little hard as they will soften in the cooking process
• 250 mls of water
• 150 - 200 grams of granulated sugar – preferably cane, brown or demerara (check for sweetness, it depends on the quality and ripeness of fruit so you may need more sugar.
• 1 good quality cinnamon stick
• 2/3 pieces of orange peel – about 2-3 inches in length

Method

1. Halve the plums, remove the stone and then slice lengthwise  – 3 slices per half
2. Put water and sugar, orange peel and cinnamon stick into a medium size saucepan and heat gently.  Note: You need to melt the sugar fully before you increase the heat and bring the syrup to the boil
3. Boil the syrup for a couple of minutes – your kitchen will start to fill with lovely Christmassy aromas
4. Now, add the plums to the liquid and simmer very gently until beginning to soften – 5- 10 minutes
5. Taste, and IF the syrup is too watery and the plums are soft – remove the fruit with a slotted spoon and boil the syrup down for a couple of minutes
6. Put the plums and syrup into a serving bowl
7. Now, you decide whether to serve the poached plums warm or cool – but, whatever you do!! Remember to remove the limp orange peel and the cinnamon stick before serving.

Serve as suggested above and keep any left-over juice to add to porridge, granola or yogurt in the morning.

If you like you could use red wine in your poaching liquid and replace the cinnamon with 2-3 pieces of star anise (but remember to remove it as soon as the fruit is cooked).

Katie Verling
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