Ginger Plum Relish

With Jane Ward

A bite into a raw plum perplexes my mouth: a mouth-puckering sour skin is the gateway to mildly sweet flesh?  For me, the two tastes and textures don’t go together.

But apply a little cooking heat to that same plum and it’s kitchen alchemy.  After cooking, the tough, tart, astringent skins melt down into silk, the watery flesh thickens into syrup.  Best of all, the skin and the flesh seem to meet in the middle to live together harmoniously, a place that is tartly sweet and unctuously velvety.  Oh, how I love cooking with plums!

Plums are a late summer fruit, available from August through mid-September, in several varieties.  To make this gingery plum sauce to accompany turkey, duck or pork, I like to use purple plums, either the standard lunch bag black plum, or the later-in-the-season Italian prune plum. Plums freeze well, so you can buy more than you think you need when they are in season, and keep them stored in the freezer wrapped in a heavy-duty freezer bag for at most 2 months.  To use frozen plums, thaw only partially and they will be easy to cut and store for any recipe. 

We love this savory Gingered Plum Relish because it is so different yet tasty, a salty-sweet-almost smoky substitute for even the more traditional cranberry sauce on your Thanksgiving table.This video was filmed in the Doyon's Kitchen & Appliance Showroom at the Doyon's location in Gloucester, MA. You can obtain more information at their web site; www.doyonsappliance.com

Ingredients

Ginger Plum Relish 1 pound dark purple or Italian prune plums 1 large garlic clove, minced 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated peeled fresh gingerroot 1/4 cup soy sauce 2 tablespoons cider vinegar 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar Garnish: finely chopped scallion tops

Instructions

1. Quarter and pit plums.  Chop larger plums into large chunks, or leave the smaller prune plums in quarters.   2. In a 12-inch heavy skillet, heat oil over moderate heat. Add garlic and gingerroot to skillet and sauté, stirring constantly, 30 seconds.  3. Stir in soy sauce, vinegar, and brown sugar and bring to a simmer.  4. Arrange plums in a single layer in the sauce. Simmer mixture, covered, over moderately low heat 20 minutes, or until plums are tender and sauce is thickened. 
Give a few stirs then garnish with scallion.  Serve warm or cold.
Recipe courtesy of Jane Ward, author and blogger at Food & Fiction, 2011.

Jane is the author of HUNGER (Forge, 2001) and THE MOSAIC ARTIST, and is currently at work on her third novel, THE WELCOME HOME.  A former baker and caterer, Jane hosts a new video blog for an internet recipe resource, and regularly contributes articles to the online regional food magazine, Local In Season. Jane also blogs weekly about food, and is writing a cookbook/memoir entitled TATTOOED WITH FOOD based on the blog entries.  From Food For Thought column: "Jane shows how ridiculously easy it is to make a loaf of ciabatta bread with a gutsy crackling crust that tastes like it was baked in a Tuscan panetteria. She teaches that the holes in ciabatta are specifically engineered to hold roasted peppers, pesto, gooey melted cheese, as it is the bread of bruschettas and picnic sandwiches. That purposely definitive crust holds everything inside, like a perfectly designed suitcase for foods, more than a sandwich."