Back for another year, 2021. Hope everyone had a great Xmas and a bit of time off.
We pretty much stayed at home on the farm for Xmas, I kind of felt like we didn’t really need to go anywhere. We had the farm to ourselves and the beach (as packed as it was) just down the road. Hector, our dog loved to have all the attention and a daily run down the beach.
It’s hard to know what to open the year’s recipes with as we have so much happening on the farm at the moment. Angus our beekeeper has just harvested our honey. The chickens are in full swing of laying. The citrus is just growing new shoots and our beef are just about to go to the markets (pity the pricing is so terrible!).
But the kitchen gardens have enjoyed the summer break most of all. We managed to connect up our irrigation before Xmas which not only allowed us to control the amount of water going on the gardens, but also give consist watering.
One thing that has done exceptionally well over the summer period, were our plum trees. We have 4 of them, which were already on the farm when we brought it, so we are still struggling to find out what varieties they are. I know we have a black Doris plum tree which ripens last, but the others are red skin with a yellow flesh and red skin with pale red flesh. All of which are incredibly sweet and full of juice. We have a big net over them all at the moment to stop the birds but I can tell you that the rabbits have now come out in force to eat the ones that have dropped. So next week we may have a recipe for a rabbit pie!
Plum pudding, it’s a recipe that I’ve adapted to allow you to have it not only hot with a good dollop of ice-cream or served cold with a nice cup of tea.
Plum Sponge Puddings
- 125g unsalted butter
- 150g light muscovado sugar
- 6 plums, cut in half and de-stoned
Cake batter
- 225g butter, softened
- 225g caster sugar
- 4 eggs
- 3 Tbsp milk
- 100g LSA
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 150g plain flour
- Vanilla ice cream for serving
Grease and line 6 small ramekins or pudding dishes. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add sugar and stir over heat until the mix becomes foamy and pale (2-3 minutes). Pour evenly into the greased ramekins. Place two halves of a plum in each ramekin and set aside.
Preheat oven to 180*C. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. In another bowl, lightly beat eggs together with milk. Gradually add eggs to butter and sugar, beating well after each addition. Stir in LSA, baking powder, salt, and vanilla. Gently fold in the flour. Pour cake mixture over plum halves, place on a baking tray and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Remove from oven and rest on a wire rack for 5 minutes before sliding a warm knife around the edge of each dish to loosen. Carefully invert to turn puddings out onto serving plates.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.