Plum Preserves

To read the very long account about how I got the plums go to http://www.petersonabcs.blogspot.com/. To make some crazy good plum preserves use this recipe and add 2 cinnamon sticks to the mixture as it boils. I also made ice cream using the many plums currently in my possession and adapted a recipe from this man who is kind of a genius. Here's the recipe:

Plum Ice Cream

1 lb plums, halved and pitted

1 c sugar

1/3 c water

1 c cream

1/2 t pure vanilla extract

Combine the plums, sugar, and water in a nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes or until plums are tender. Remove from heat and puree in a blender. Add cream and vanilla and blend until thoroughly combined. Pour through a sieve into a container and refrigerate until cold. Put mixture in ice cream maker and make ice cream. Eat ice cream. It is tart and delicious and the vanilla is the perfect accompaniment to the tartness of the plums and brings out the flavor of the cream. And it looks pretty.

20 lbs of apricots

I saw a listing on craigslist for 20 lbs of apricots for $15, which seemed too good of a deal to pass up. I planned on making apricot lavender jam, but quickly decided upon realizing how many apricots make up 20 lbs that I needed some other quick things to use up all of the lovely produce. I found this recipe and changed it by omitting the vanilla bean (although that would also be perfectly wonderful), doubling the recipe, and adding 5 tsp of culinary lavender buds that I ground up in a coffee grinder with some of the sugar. I also left the peelings on because I love the color and didn't want to peel that many apricots, and after combining all of the ingredients I let it sit overnight in the fridge (covered of course) to really let the flavors meld. This jam is fantastic - on a spoon, on bread, or mixed with some vinegar to make a lovely apricot vinaigrette for a salad. So that's the jam.

Then I saw this recipe for apricot ice cream and decided to puree a bunch of the apricots, add a bit of lemon juice to preserve the color, and freeze the puree in ice cube trays (which were later emptied into gallon freezer bags) so that we can eat apricot ice cream all year long. I haven't made any yet, but it looks quite good.

Apricot pie also sounded idea but rather than make the entire pie I decided to just make the filling, put it in a gallon ziplock bag, shape it in a pie dish and freeze. Once frozen I removed the pie dish and now when I need a pie I can just make the crust, pop in the filling, and bake it. I haven't tasted the finished product yet, but the filling is very good.

4 c apricots, peeled
1 T lemon juice
1 c sugar
1/3 c flour
nutmeg to taste
1 to 2 t vanilla extract

Just toss to combine and you are ready to go.

By this point I had just enough apricots to fill a cookie sheet, so I lined the cookie sheet with parchment, spread out the apricot halves, drizzled them with 2 T olive oil, 1/2 c melted honey,
1 t vanilla, and a sprinkling of cinnamon. I then roasted them in a 375 degree oven for about 35 to 45 minutes, until meltingly soft and a bit caramelized. These are delicious on their own, but especially over French Toast.