Stone Fruit Season
I’m not going to lie to you, the waning days of summer are undoubtedly my favourite time of year. As the sky grows darker a little earlier each day, the days still warm and the nights a little cooler. The soft breezes carry the scent of stone fruits as they ripen gently on the trees in the last weeks of an ever distant growing sun.
Warm ocean currents along the east coast of Australia brings a perfect opportunity to spend hours floating in the ocean as we say goodbye to summer for another year.
This is the perfect time of year to eat plums.
Greengage, yellow plums and the sweet dark and beautiful blood plum. My favourite varietal of the latter is most certainly the Queen garnet. High in antioxidants, good for stimulating a healthy immune system, good for your heart health and beneficial in reducing systemic inflammation.
They also taste delicious!
In the following recipe i have paired them with cashew milk yoghurt, fried almonds and fresh sliced green almonds. A good fruit and veg shop should be able to supply you with green almonds. Or if you have the space, growing an almond tree can give you a ready supply of fresh almonds.
Green almonds have a sweet, delicate taste and texture and are well worth seeking out if you have the time. If you live in the illawarra, Passion in fruit in Coniston is your best place to seek the out
The fried almonds on this dish are a tribute to the famous Spanish Marcona almond. Smaller and sweeter than its more readily available cousin, they are traditionally gently fried in olive oil and showered in sea salt. In this recipe we have replaced olive oil with grapeseed oil and sprinkled them with murray river pink salt, for added texture.
This dish, consisting of just a handful of ingredients can be enjoyed for breakfast, as a snack, or as a sweet treat after dinner. You may want to add some extra sweetness depending on your taste, such as honey or maple syrup if you follow a plant based diet.
If your plums are at optimal ripeness you shouldn't need any additional sweetness.
All you need to make this simple dish is 6 ingredients and 10 minutes of your time:
Ingredients:
100ml grapeseed oil
100g blanched raw almonds, unsalted
6 green ( sometimes known as fresh almonds)
2 ripe queen garnet plums
200g cashew milk yoghourt
Murray river pink salt
Method:
Heat a heavy based pan over medium heat. Add grapeseed oil and warm the oil, add almonds.
Gently cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until the almond sbeging to take on a light caramel colour.
Be careful not to cook the almonds on too high a heat, as they will burn on the outside and the natural oils in the almonds will also burn and become bitter.
Once the almonds are cooked, take the pan off the heat, gently remove the almonds from the oil with a slotted spoon. The oil, once cool, can be strained through a muslin or any other fine cloth and used for salad dressing or low temperature cooking.
Place the almonds in a metal or glass bowl lined with paper towel. Sprinkle with murray river pink salt while still hot. The salt flakes will stick to the hot oil much better than cold oil.
Green almonds have a thick furry outer shell that needs to be removed, inside you will find the soft kernel.
To remove the shell cut lengthways with a small sharp knife, being careful not to damage the delicate nut inside.
Finely slice the nut and set aside.
Following the natural indentation in the contours of the plum, gently run a sharp knife around the fruit, you want to go deep, try not to touch the seed though. Slice the whole circumference of the plum. Twist the two halves of the plum, gently, being careful not to bruise the fruit.
One hand moves towards the body, the other hand moving away.
The plum should split cleanly in half, the seed in one half.
Cut each half of the plum into three even pieces.
Repeat the process with the second plum.
Remove the seed from the plum.
Spoon the cashew milk yoghurt onto a plate, using the back of a spoon, spread it gently into ribbon 10cm long by 3cm wide and approximately 1/2 cm high.
Top with the slices of the plums, and green almond slices.
By now your fried almonds should be cool. Roughly chop them and sprinkle over the top.