Plum Pie — in all it’s many variations — is a staple of German summer baking (recipe for this variation here: . I swear that “As American as Apple Pie…” could apply to Germans and their plum cakes also known as Pflaumenkuchen, Zwetschgenkuchen, Zwetschgendatschi. Mostly they are made from Italian Prune Plums (damson plums), but in this case, I used little “purple cherry plums” — small and very juicy. Tart and sweet, and very delicious.
Turnovers… I’m never quite sure if they are meant as breakfast items (yum), dessert with ice cream (also definitely yum) or just a snack with tea or coffee (certainly a yummy option). These were a last minute afterthought as I had some frozen blueberries and some jarred tart cherries taking up room in the fridge, so I went with cherry blueberry, but really any filling works — raspberry or apple also come to mind. Ready in under an hour (that is if you remember to thaw the puff pastry!). Can be re-frozen for a few months or kept in the fridge and reheated for about a week.
Rainy day catch-up date here in greater Boston. I had company in for the weekend, and made a bunch of things to eat; got around to photographing then, but it took until today for me to write out the recipes and edit the photos. First up, these Raisin Brioche. I know: raisins are controversial, but everyone eating them here loves them. Light and airy and sweet, these are great for breakfast with a bit of European butter.
More on the Farmer’s Market side-dish theme… bean last time, peas this time. I am calling this one “Peas + Pears” — peas for the freshly shucked, perfectly “pearl” sized peas from the farmer’s market this morning and pearls for the pearled couscous and the perlini mozzarella. It’s sweet and savory, got a variety of textures and I think would go great with a seafood dish — salmon or scallops come to mind. This is super easy and quick to make, so it didn’t heat up the kitchen too much!
I seem to be on a little bit of a “side-dish” tangent these days. There is such an abundance of yummy veg at the farmers market. These here are just your run of the mill green beans , but I made this “bacon panko crunch” that make it both textually different and bacony. And what’s not to love about bacony, right?