Fruit Packs A Mean Punch

    One of the great thing's about chefing for a living is that very rarely do thing's
stay the same. Chef's and owners change their menus and decor based on the season's.
Whatever's available at the market usually mean's it's in season, therefore fresh and ripe
and not grown in a hothouse somewhere. At this time of the year, autumn fruits and
vegetables are flooding the markets. As a chef, I like walking around these places for
inspiration. We all try and stay current with the "Cooking Trend Du Jour" and apply it to
whatever is available at the market. The colors and smells that are associated with
autumn make it a great time of year to cook, and be creative.

    We have an outdoor produce market down here called Rorabeck's, and I come here
often just to see what's coming out of the ground or off a tree. I know a lot of the
stuff they have here is grown around this area. We have a tomato farm a mile from
my house, a mango farm a few miles away, an herb farm, and a strawberry patch
all very close by. So I know that it's grown locally, and that's been the mantra of
chef's the past several year's. Purchased and grown less than a hundred miles from
where your restaurant is, when you can of course.

    While I was at the market the other day and I got smacked in the nose with the
smell of plums. Now I know plums aren't grown here, but my nose told me they were
ripe and ready. Your nose is one of the great tools to use when you're buying fruit.
Just smell the fruit, if it doesn't sock you in the nose, then maybe it's not ripe enough or
not in season. But if it does, buy it, and have your way with it., like I did with those
plums. I made a simple pound cake recipe flavored with cinnamon and dotted with
perfectly ripe plums. How bad can that be? AND when other fruit is season you can
use that fruit, like peaches or apricots or mangoes.

    Maybe you've heard this before, but try and wait a day before you eat it. You'll
be glad you did. Because as the cake sits, all of the juices mix with the cake and
make an almost gooey, puddingly texture. It's great, trust me.

    There's basically two types of plums out on the market, the dark purple European and the
Ruby Red Japanese kind and a whole bunch of hybrids, and they all taste great. The ones
used to make prunes are the European kind, because of their sugar content and skin thickness.
Other than that, have you way with them.



Plum Torte

1 cup all purpose flour
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup sugar, plus a little more if they're too tart
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp.
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
8-9 plums, cleaned, split in half and seeded
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Heat oven to 350 and prep a 9" spring form pan ( I use Pam)
2. Sift the flour and baking powder
3. Cream the butter and sugar (that means mix them until fluffy)
4. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well then scrape down the bowl.
5. Add the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined.
    -If you over mix it the torte will get tough, and who likes a tough torte?
6. Pour the batter into the spring form pan, level it with a spoon.
7. Arrange the plum halves on top, sprinkle top with lemon juice
    add the cinnamon and sugar.
8. Bake about 45 to 50 minutes, let cool on a rack.
    Remember, try and wait a day, but if you can't eat it and make another.

*This is a basic cake, it's very good. What makes it great is ripe fruit!




.