Warm Plums With Cinnamon Toast And Red Plum Sorbet Food

WARM PLUMS WITH CINNAMON TOAST AND RED PLUM SORBET

Steps:

• Make the sorbet: Combine chopped plums and 2 tablespoons of the water in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat until soft, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth, set aside.
• Place the remaining water and sugar in a clean saucepan and boil for 4 minutes. Combine plum puree, sugar syrup, vanilla extract and lemon juice in a glass or ceramic bowl. Refrigerate until chilled. Pour the mixture into an ice-cream maker and proceed according to manufacturer's directions.
• Prepare the plums: preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the halved plums, cut side up, in an earthenware dish or heavy skillet. Sprinkle with the sugar and water, and dust with 1/2 teaspoon of the cinnamon. Bake until tender, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and keep warm.
• Meanwhile, make the cinnamon toast. Preheat the broiler. Place the toast on a baking sheet. Spread with butter and dust with the remaining cinnamon. Broil just until the butter starts to bubble, about 2 minutes. Remove and set aside.
• To assemble the dessert, arrange 3 plum halves like flower petals on each of four dessert plates. Place a small scoop of sorbet in the middle, drizzle with a spoonful of the plum juices and serve with cinnamon toast.

CINNAMON PLUMS WITH FRENCH TOAST

Steps:

• For the plums: Put the cranberry juice and sugar into a wide saucepan and stir to help start dissolving the sugar. Then put the saucepan over a low heat until the sugar dissolves entirely.
• Halve the plums and remove the pits, then halve them again if they are big brutes.
• Once the sugar's dissolved into the red liquid, add the cinnamon stick, then turn the heat up, bring to the boil and let the pan bubble away for a couple of minutes until the mixture is on the way to becoming syrupy.
• Now turn the syrup down to a simmer and add the plum halves or quarters and cook them gently for about 10 minutes, although note that this is based on starting off with viciously unripe fruits so you might need less time.
• Once the plums are tender but not disintegrating, remove the pan from the heat, cover and leave to keep warm. You can make the plums in advance and either serve them at room temperature with the French toast or warm them up again.
• For the French toast: Whisk together the eggs, milk, ground cinnamon and sugar in a pie dish.
• Sit 2 pieces of bread in the eggy mixture, turning after each side has soaked up enough to color the bread yellow, so that it absorbs the liquid but doesn't fall to pieces.
• Melt half the butter in a frying pan and cook the 2 soaked pieces of bread for a couple of minutes each side. Transfer the yellow, eggy bread, scorched golden in parts, to warm waiting plates. Meanwhile, soak the next 2 slices.
• Melt the remaining butter to cook the last 2 slices in the same way.
• Serve alongside the beautiful scarlet plum compote.
• Make Ahead Note: The compote can be made 1 day ahead. Transfer to bowl to cool, then cover and refrigerate. Warm the compote gently in saucepan before serving.
• Freeze Note: Cooled compote can be frozen in airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat as above.

PLUM AND RED-WINE SORBET

Steps:

• Stir together all ingredients and a pinch of salt in a heavy medium saucepan and cook, covered, over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until plums fall apart, about 25 minutes. Discard cinnamon stick and zest. Purée in batches in a blender until very smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids). Force purée through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding solids. Cool, uncovered, then chill, covered, until cold, at least 2 hours.
• Freeze purée in ice cream maker, then transfer sorbet to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 1 hour.