Sunday, September 02, 2012

A bounty of plums

This year's summer fruit crops have been a disappointment. We have very few apples, compared to the thousands we normally deal with. The cherries were few and far between this year in the neighborhood trees. And the plums, with one exception, have been thin.

Plums are called 'prunes' in French. What we call prunes are called 'pruneaux' here.

Our neighbors across the road have a plum tree (mirabelles, I think) that has gone bonkers this year. Last week Maryvonne gave us a basket full. While I talked with her outside, her husband was back at the tree nudging the branches with a broomstick. The ripe plums just rained down.

This is the clafoutis fresh from the oven. I didn't take pictures of the tarte.

Maryvonne told me that one of her daughters took home a huge bushel basket of plums a day or two before. And there are still more out there. I made a plum tarte one day, then a clafoutis of plums the next. We had enough left over for a small batch of compote. And, I will bet, there are still plenty of plums on that tree.

5 comments:

  1. Delectable! Your pastry looks perfect. Is that a Pillsbury pastry sheet? (Just kidding. I know the truth.)

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  2. Beautiful. Save me the dark parts of the crust, please.

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  3. I have got to make a clafoutis some day-- I have been reading about them for years, but have never tasted one.

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  4. @Judith... they are not hard to make. They are delicious. Of course, Walt's creations set a high standard. But it's hard to screw up clafouti. Be adventurous!

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  5. mitch, there's no crust in this one. Just custard and fruit.

    carloyn, I like those parts, too.

    judy, very simple to make. And you can use almost any fruit you like.

    cheryl, right-o!

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