Fragrant plum crumble

The blossom is out and people look happy. But while we wait for spring to properly arrive and the chill to go, here is a comforting plum crumble. In my (humble) opinion it is exactly how a crumble should be – with just as much crumble as fruit and with a punch of flavour. In this case orange zest, cinnamon and toasted almonds.  Next time I may add a little chopped ginger. Hopefully you like the sweet gooiness of cooked plums and don’t just scoop up and eat the crumble topping like my philistine boyfriend…

The crumble takes about 20 minutes to prepare and 40 minutes to cook. Serve it with custard, obviously..!

Fragrant plum crumble (serves 6)

750g ripish plums, cut in half and stones removed

50g brown sugar

Finely grated zest 1 orange

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp plain flour

For the crumble

250g plain flour

150g butter

160g sugar (caster/brown/a combination)

50g toasted flaked almonds

Heat the oven to gas mark 6/200 degrees C.  Put the plums in an ovenproof dish skin up.  Mix together the sugar, orange zest, cinnamon and flour and sprinkle over the plums.  Spoon over 3 tbsp water.

Put all the crumble ingredients except the almonds in a bowl and mix together.  Use your fingers to rub in the butter so it clumps together.  Spoon the crumble over the plums and scatter over the almonds.  Bake in the oven for approx. 40 mins until golden brown.  Serve with custard.

Advertisement

Thai fish curry (20 mins prep/25 mins cooking)

It is hard to define this satisfying fish curry but I guess that the coriander, chilli, coconut milk, lemon and ginger are typically Thai flavours.  It is incredibly easy to make, by simply frying the peppers and onions, mixing in the other ingredients and pouring it over your fish to bake.  You could do it with any fish – I used trout and pollack.  Scatter over the coriander and chilli flakes at the end for extra flavour and effect and serve on it’s own or with rice to mop up the flavours.  The whole dish should be ready in 45 mins.  Delicious!

Thai fish curry (serves 4-6 people)

Oil, for frying

2 onions, chopped

1 yellow pepper, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1 tsp finely chopped/grated ginger

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tbsp lemon juice

400ml coconut milk

850g fish e.g. salmon/trout/pollack/cod

Small bunch coriander, roughly chopped

Good shake chilli flakes

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onions and peppers for approx. 8 mins, until softened.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180 degrees C.  Put the ginger, garlic, lemon juice, salt and coconut milk in a mixing bowl and mix together.  Stir in the vegetables.  Put the fish in a casserole dish and pour over the sauce.  Pop in the oven for approx. 25 mins, until bubbling well and the fish is soft and cooked through.  Scatter over the coriander and chilli flakes before serving.