The tail finish of a protracted summer season, and one in all my favorite factors within the 12 months for meals procuring. The final of the damsons sit in a cardboard punnet on the desk alongside the inexperienced leaves of bunches of beetroot. The purple plums are destined for each breakfast deal with and as a sauce for chilled rice pudding; the beetroot is for a late-summer salad.
These deep maroon roots, a solidly reassuring presence within the fridge, are most welcome at my desk when their sweetness is tempered by vinegar, citrus fruit or sharp-as-a-knife dairy, similar to labneh, yoghurt or feta cheese. In tune with the crossover from summer season to autumn, I made a dressing with honey and grapefruit juice and tossed the cooked beets with pomegranate, fats segments of pink grapefruit and a handful of pumpkin seeds. The salad sat comfortably subsequent to a wood board of thin-sliced gravadlax.
Beetroot involves life with the briefest flash of a pickle (gherkins, onions or chillies will do the trick), but additionally from a splash of the pickling juice. Whisk just a little into your traditional French dressing or make one from scratch with olive oil, honey and chopped dill. And when you've got made a beetroot gratin with cream and cheese and discover it too cloying, you may make good by serving it with a jar of fats wallies or elegant cornichons. Their piquancy will mood the richness of the gratin.
The plum season is slowing down, the damsons are on their method out (I hope you froze some for winter), however are nonetheless making a each day look in my kitchen. Chilled, stewed plums have been turning up at breakfast (with bowls of runny, pure yoghurt) and underneath the sugary pastry lid of a pie, but additionally as a candy asset for plain sponge cake or trickled on to a relaxing rice pudding.
Beetroot and pomegranate salad
I recommend cooking the beetroots on the hob, but when the oven is on for one thing else, you might bake them as an alternative, which brings an earthy depth and sweetness.
Serves 4
beetroots 650g, small, the dimensions of a golf ball
pink grapefruits 2
pomegranate 1, medium to massive
pumpkin seeds 2 tbsp
For the dressing:
white wine vinegar 2 tbsp
olive oil 4 tbsp
juice from the grapefruit above 2 tbsp
runny honey 2 tsp
Take away any leaves or stalks from the beetroot, taking care to not minimize by means of the beetroot pores and skin. Put the beets in a pan, cowl with deep water and convey to the boil. Decrease the warmth barely and depart to prepare dinner for about half-hour, testing them often with a skewer. The precise cooking time will rely upon the dimensions and age of the beetroots, however begin testing at half-hour for the smallest. Something bigger than 3cm in diameter will take just a little longer.
Slice away the peel from the grapefruit, taking care to take away any white pith. Slice into segments, eradicating any pores and skin as you go and catching the escaping juice. Put 2 tbsp of the juice right into a small bowl, then use a fork to combine within the white wine vinegar, oil and runny honey. Season with salt and just a little black pepper.
Reduce the pomegranate in half and take away the seeds. Drain the beetroot however don’t depart it to chill – they're greatest dressed heat. Reduce the small beetroots in half, the bigger ones into quarters or sixths, then put them in a serving bowl. Add the grapefruit segments, pomegranate and pumpkin seeds then pour over the dressing and toss all the things collectively.
Rice pudding and damson sauce
There are such a lot of methods to prepare dinner rice pudding, however this technique – an adaptation of my recipe in Tender: Quantity II – produces probably the most luscious end result. A pudding that's thick and creamy, the grains swollen with cream and scented with vanilla. If there aren't any damsons, use plums, the darker the higher, although you could want much less sugar than if you're utilizing damsons.
Serves 6
For the rice pudding:
full-cream milk 500ml
double cream 250ml
vanilla extract 2 tsp, or vanilla bean paste ½ tsp
caster sugar 50g
pudding rice 80g
To complete:
double cream 125ml
For the damsons:
damsons or darkish plums 400g
caster sugar 80g
Put the milk and cream in a deep, ideally nonstick, saucepan (I exploit one about 20cm in diameter), then deliver virtually to the boil. Stir within the vanilla extract or paste, then add the sugar and rice.
Decrease the warmth so it simmers gently and depart for half-hour, stirring repeatedly to stop it sticking to the saucepan.
Take away from the warmth when the rice is plump and tender (take a look at just a little with a teaspoon) and put aside to chill.
Wash the damsons and put them in a big saucepan. Add the sugar and 125ml of water and convey to the boil. Let the damsons prepare dinner for about 10 minutes till their skins have burst and the juice within the pan is deep purple. Take away from the warmth and put aside.
Stir the cream into the cool rice pudding and divide between six glasses or fairly dishes. Spoon a number of the sizzling damson sauce over the rice.
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