PLUMBLE

Recipe: Apple and plum crumble

Time taken: 1 ¼ hours

Ingredients: 100g plain flour, 50g marg, 100g sugar, 50g oats, 4 plums and an apple

Hi readers,

Just a fleeting post today, I’m afraid. A quickie! Having slept til almost noon this morning (it’s Christmassss) and then committed to totally finishing all Christmas shopping today (ugh Christmassss) I’ve been running around like a loon! But I DID IT. I achieved! It is DONE for another year. No more. I have wrapped that shit and I’m freeee to move on. Live life again.

And yesterday, I also achieved. I got back to cooking! That’s right. I cooked! My best friend, who I haven’t seen since summer, came over for a wine at mine to catch up! It was a proper girls night in.

Me and the Besty through the years

And I cooked! I made my fabulous maple-roasted root veg to go with some Linda McCartney cheese n leek plaits, then for dessert I rustled up an apple and plum crumble! That’s right, I found ANOTHER USE FOR PLUMS!!

Me? Obsessed with plums? Nooooooo!

Here’s how to make the magic happen…

1.       Heat your oven to 180ᵒC. (I went for 200ᵒC and this was too much, I ended up with burnt patches on the top of my crumble! What a shame! I think 180ᵒC is a safer bet for you to try.)

2.       Remove the stones from your plums, then chop up your plums and apples.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Leave the skins on your fruit! That’s where all the goodness is. :)

3.       Grease an oven proof dish with a little butter.

4.       Tip your fruit into the dish and sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons of sugar.

5.       Measure your flour, marg and 50g of your sugar into a bowl.

6.       Rub together with your fingers, until the mix looks like fine breadcrumbs.

7.       Add your oats and stir them into the crumble mix.

8.       Spoon your crumble mix over the top of your fruit, so that all the fruit is covered.

9.       Sprinkle a couple more tablespoons of sugar over the top.

10.   Bake in the oven for 45 minutes! Serve lovely n warm, with a good dollop of custard.

And here’s how apple and plum crumble looks!

(Minus burning, that was my bad)

Plums in crumble is THE BOMB! I’m telling you, readers. I already loved apple crumble and this just made it even more tastier. This was a stroke of ChefBeHereing genius! Adding plums  to this crumble doubled the fruit and doubled the greatness. This was reeeeally tasty, if I may say so. And the Besty said so, too! Plus, she’d bought red velvet cupcakes along, so we literally had the biggest bowls of pudding, all smothered in custard. There were no complaints from either of us!

Alas, readers, I’m off now to go catch up with more friends. This is such a fun time of the year. But if you have any time to spare this Christmas, why not treat your friends and family to some plum and apple crumble?? Try it out! And let me know what you think! I was really happy with how this came out (despite the burnt bits haha) and I’m definitely going to be trying plums in crumble, again sometime soon. Maybe plums with berries might work to make a really red, fruity crumble? Mmm. Or plums with another stoned fruit perhaps, like peach? Not a bad idea. So shout out any plum crumble combinations you think would be a hit, readers, and go give them a go in the kitchen!

Crumble safely this Christmas,

Hayley

FED, DEAD AND READY FOR BED

Recipe: Plum pud

Time taken: 25 mins

Ingredients: 2 plums, 3 fig rolls, half a tin of custard, a teaspoon of honey n a smidge of butter

Hi there,

Readers, It’s the weekend! Hurrayyy! Mexican wave! Everybody standing! Shake that thing! The weeeeeekend! It’s the weekend! Ahhh. How’s your weekend? I bet it’s good. SO GOOD.

Sadly, readers, today was the day that I had an essay to write. Ugh. On a Saturday, I know. This morning I steeled myself, mustered together some determine, AND GOT OUT OF BED AT 8AM! I got out! Really, it was 8am readers and I was not in my bed. No quilt. No happiness. Before I knew it, I was en route to the library. Crunching frost again. I was in the library. Nobody in sight – where were the people? I was seated. Shoes off. Len was out (a non-affectionate term for my laptop). And 9 HOURS OF MY LIFE WERE GONE! GONE.

Literally, it was 6pm. I’d written an essay and an extra unnecessary thousand words – problem for another day. I was dazed. It was dark. Sub-zero? Probably sub-zero. I shuffled off into the night.

And I was home. Hooooome! Readers, I may never have been so happy to be back in my student house so I could sit in and do nothing on a Saturday night. And that’s what I’m doing right now. Strictly is on! The Christmas tree lights are on! I’m wearing THREE LAYERS of jumpers. THREE.

And my brain is fucked. I’m done, readers. Certainly for today; possibly for the weekend. Potentially for 2014. I visualise it this way: The PRESSURE of the amount of work that needs to be done in third year… and the SERIOUSNESS of how much it matters for my ENTIRE FUTURE is just, it’s just, it’s PRESSING DOWN on my brain. Reeeeally heavily. PRESSING. And my brain is just getting lower and lower in my head, and it’s just flat and it’s limp and my brain CAN’T GO ON MUCH LONGER.

But, readers, when life gets you down… you look towards pudding. Always pudding. Literally, pudding can cure ANYTHING. I wholly believe this to be true. I love a good pudding. And, today, I was too tired to bake anything lovely but I used my initiative and botched something together. ChefBeHere style!

Here’s what went down in crazy town…

1. I heated the oven to 200˚C.

2. I took 2 plums and chopped them in half, removing the stones and chucking those away.

3. I greased a little ovenproof dish with some butter and sat my plums inside it.

4. I drizzled a little honey over them.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: If you have cinnamon, sprinkle this on too! It pains me that I’ve run out.

5. I safely transported my plums into the oven to bake for 20 minutes.

6. I took ten minutes to myself. Lit some candles. Danced along to strictly. Sang it out.

7. I took a couple of fig rolls out of my cupboard and cut them into little chunks.

8. I took a tin of custard. Opened it. Poured half into a bowl and half into a Tupperware. Put the Tupperware of custard in the fridge to use another day.

9. I covered the bowl of custard with a plate and put it in the microwave to heat for 2 minutes. Took it out. Super stirred. Re-covered. Put it back for another minute.

10. Finally, I took my plums out of the oven and chopped each plum-half into quarters, then tipped my plum chunks and fig roll chunks into my piping hot custard… and stirred it up!

Here’s my little fruity Frankenstein

And I loved it! After the day I’ve had, this made for a bowlful of joy, readers. Want a bowlful of joy, too? Get on it! Shoo. Go try it out. Don’t have plums? Sub in a banana, maybe. I’m a firm believer in the classic banana and custard combination. Don’t have fig rolls? Not many young people do, I realise. Just a cake bar of any kind should do the job. Or a couple of them, if you like.

And how’s it taste readers? Godly? Like heaven in a bowl? The pudding of angels? A blessing in custard? Saturday night salvation? I’m pretty sure, in my eyes, you could make any kind of biblical reference and it wouldn’t do justice to the wonder that is this pudding. High praise!

What’s your take on the Plum Pud? Raving? Enraged? Hit me with it! I want to hear your thoughts on this, because if everyone’s raving, I may have just invented my million-dollar recipe. And I can stop writing essays.

Study safely kids,

Hayley

PLUMS... ON PORRIDGE?

Recipe: Winter Plum Porridge

Time Taken: Half an hour

Ingredients: Porridge oats, milk, honey, cinnamon, 3 plums, a smidge of butter

 

Good evening readers,

It’s Thursdayyyyyyyy. Literally, I’m losing enthusiasm for this week altogether. I hope today, on this Thursday, you’re significantly more cheer-filled than me! That you’re hogging all the cheer and this is the cause of my gloom. Someone deserves a cheerful Thursday.

I hope you're feeling like this little hero

 

I’m writing from Newcastle University’s Robinson Library and no one here seems to be having a cheerful evening. No one. ‘Cheer’ isn’t the word to describe the atmosphere here. General mood = tired, fed up, depressive, bleak. Cheerless, some might say.

It’s like the setting for a terrible event after which people look back and say “Oh, don’t you wish they’d all been living for the day and they were off somewhere spending their last moments being free and just running and living life to the full”. I sincerely hope to be out of this library, alive and well, sometime soon. And everyone else stuck here, too. There is (fingers-crossed) life post-library.

But meanwhile, I’m taking a study break to share with you the breakthrough I had earlier! It has been, by far, the best part of my day. I’d transcribed an interview by about noon (yay!) and needed food. I wanted plums again, but also I fancied porridge. A dilemma. UNTIL I thought…. Can you put plums on your porridge?

Answer? Hell yes.

Here’s the recipeeeeeeeeeee…

1. Heat your oven to 200˚C.

2. Take three plums, slice them in half, remove the stones and throw those away.

 

3. Grease a little ovenproof dish you arrange your plums inside.

 

4. Sprinkle them with cinnamon and drizzle with a teaspoon of honey.

 

5. Pop the dish into the oven and take a ten minute breather.

 

6. Measure half a cup (I use a McDonald’s LEGO cup) of porridge oats.

 

7. Tip them into a bowl and pour milk over the oats until they’re swimming and the bowl is about full to about the level of porridge you can imagine yourself being able to eat. Stir this up.

 

8. Microwave on full power for two minutes, then take your bowl out and stir before popping it back in the microwave to heat for abooooout just shy of a minute more.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Keep an eye on the bowl through the microwave door. Your porridge will expand, but you don’t want it to spill over the edges of the bowl. Stop it if it looks like this is about to happen. Your porridge is ready early.

 

9. Safely remove your dish from the oven and cut each plum-half into quarters.

 

10. Sprinkle some cinnamon and drizzle a teaspoon of honey over your porridge. Use a spoon to mix these in, before tipping your plums over the top of your porridge. Tuck in!

 

 

Here’s my gorgeous lunch (I miss it loads!)

 

I LOVE THIS COMBINATION. Literally, it’s so, so rich and indulgent. This is the recipe for someone looking for a big treat. Is this you? Get on it!!

How do people feel about putting plums on porridge? Yay or nay? This recipe gets my yes vote any day, every day, in a heartbeat, without a doubt, to infinity and beyond. Does it get yours?

Spoil yourself safely,

Hayley


 

I give you... THE YUMMY PLUMMY

YUM PLUMS FOR STUDENT TUMS

 

Here is a very tasty, very fruity winter warmer recipe I came up with this evening. It costs very little to buy the ingredients and it doesn't take long to whip together. And it's changed my life. Give it a go and you won't be let down, I promise.

So today I was barrelling round ASDA with my weekly food fund, on a mission to spend wisely. I had not that much money in my purse and felt bad about spending it. As usual.

I'm trying to be healthy in the run up to Christmas, so this morning I was seeing if I could make my money stretch for some healthy stuff. In the fruit n veg section, I was trailing along by strawberries and blueberries, mourning the mango-free zone that was my trolley, when I came upon plums. I don't think I've ever eaten a plum, but there was a big display, they looked good and they were 75p for a punnet of eight!

This evening I was feeling less enthusiastic about my fruit purchase. Huddled for warmth on an Artic-cold Metro platform at seven in the evening, thoughts were drifting to cake. In custard. So I had the idea to get creative with my plums! And it turns out that Plums. Are. Yum.

I invented a recipe that blew me away! In ten easy steps: here's my wisdom...

1.      To make this tasty treat for one person, heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2.      Wipe some butter around a little ovenproof dish.

3.      Cut 3 plums in half and spoon out the stones. Throw those away.

4.      Arrange your plums in your buttered dish.

5.      Sprinkle with a teaspoon of cinnamon.

6.      Drizzle with a teaspoon of honey.

7.      Bake in the oven for 15 minutes while you eat your tea.

8.      Open the oven door, inhale plum goodness and safely lift your dish out of the oven.
 

A Chef Be Here Top Tip: When you turn your oven off, leave the door open so that the warmth spreads through your flat!

9.      Plop a dollop of crème fraiche on top of your plums.

10.  Enjoy this plum-tastic treat while it's warm!

 

 

Does it look anything like this?

 

 

Since my eureka moment earlier, and my ensuing determination to spread the word to all of our friends that PLUMS ARE THE FUTURE, my flatmates have pointed out that I’m not the first person to have invented this recipe. Google’s heard of it, too. However, I hadn’t heard of it when I invented it tonight, so I’m still calling it mine!

 

Everybody, go give it a try and tell me you aren’t wowed. I challenge you. Fill me in on how you get on with the recipe and, honestly, what you think of the Yummy Plummy!

And does anyone have any ideas for variations on these terrific baked plums? Can they possibly be improved on? OR do you have any other recipe ideas for what to with plums? Please share them, because I’m definitely planning to try out more recipes with my new favourite fruit. Life is better post-plum.

Plums have rocked my world. I hope they bring you the same joy.

Bake safely,

Hayley x