Farm
Leisurely long weekends, gardening, and unhurried mornings; crepes filled with custard cream, topped with poached plums in sticky, bright burgundy sauce. This is how I want our weekend mornings to be, every single one of them. And no, I will never tire of making or eating crepes with plums.
It has been a while since I last published a blog post, and it is something I have been yearning for. In the hectic rush over the last couple of years, I seem to have forgotten how to trully slow down. That's why I'm considering returning to my old habits, such as blogging and recipe sharing on a calmer platform like my blog. Perhaps it will help me find the sense of balance I have been missing lately.
We spent the past long weekend all together at the farm. It feels as if it has been months, although it's only been a few weeks, since all family members, including the furry, woolly, and feathery ones, were in one place at once. Family time is something I cherish a lot and always crave more of. It is when we are together enjoying days in gentle stride the true peace comes.
It is early autumn here, and our vegetable garden still has so many vegetables to harvest. Aubergines and peppers came in such abundance that I'm struggling to keep up with preserving them. If I were better at planning, I would have set up a stall on the road leading to the farm, but I'm putting this idea off until next year. For now I will preserve as many as I can and share the rest with friends.
Caspian
We have a new addition to our family, a kitten. We adopted him all the way from Collie. Yes, my kids were that insistent on getting a kitten that I drove hundreds of kilometers in one day to pick him up! We named him Caspian, but mostly call him Caspi. I chose this name as a little symbol of my heritage, as I grew up in Baku, a city on the shores of the Caspian Sea, which is technically the largest lake in the world. However, due to its salty nature and sheer size, it is often referred to as a sea.
Caspi is a ball of joy, but it wasn't smooth sailing when he first entered the house. Our 8-year-old labradoodle Marley wasn't too impressed with having to suddenly share his humans with this unknown furry, hissy creature. But after a few days, he warmed up to Caspi, and now they happily play and chase each other galloping from one end of the house to the other, just like little kids.
The Plums
In the Southern Forests Region, autumn holds a special place for farmers, including the Bamess family. During this season of golden light the apple and plum trees are laden with beautiful fruits and there is so much abundance in fresh produce. The Bamess family has been growing plums in the region for an impressive 15 years.
Rod and Sue Bamess, the dynamic husband and wife duo, are the driving force behind Bamess Farms. Their farms span across four properties in Channybearup, Jardee, and Deanmill in the Southern Forests. Together with their children and partners Shaun, Gemma, and Jasmine Bamess, they cultivate avocados, apples, plums, and cherries for both local and domestic markets.
Earlier this year, the lovely Gemma from Southern Forest Food Council reached out to me with an exciting offer to collaborate on creating recipes and photography content to showcase the stunning produce of our region. I was absolutely thrilled!
This plum-inspired recipe is the first in a series of recipes that I will publish in the coming weeks. In addition to the recipes and photographs, I will also visit fresh produce markets in Perth. My first stop is at Gilbert's Fresh in Midlands this coming Saturday, March 9th. There I will prepare and serve this very dish for the folks to try so if you are around please come say hi.
It has been a very much enjoyable experience putting together this decadent yet so very simple crepe breakfast, or you could even call it a dessert; syrupy poached plums with hints of cardamom, vanilla, and rosewater, all atop a luscious custard cream, wrapped in a soft, buttery crepe. It was so delicious that I ended up making it multiple times in the past few weeks.
If you're short on time or motivation to make the custard from scratch, you can use store-bought custard labeled as "thick custard." Instead of dollop cream, you can use thickened cream or whipping cream, but I find that dollop cream holds its shape better and has a rich creaminess to it.
I add the custard to the hipped dollop cream just before I set the table. Serve the plums warm or at room temperature.
If you are feeling particularly eager you can even turn this into a crepe cake.
This recipe can make both a decadent breakfast and an indulgent dessert.
Poached Plums with Vanilla, Cardamom and Rosewater
Serves 6
Ingredients:
6 Genuenly Souther Forests plums
4 tbsps raw sugar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 vanilla pod
4 cardamom pods, cracked
2 tsp rosewater
Method:
To make the poached plums, wash and cut each plum into 6 wedges, removing the pip.
Sprinkle sugar onto the bottom of a large pan and place plums on top of sugar. Using a
knife gently scrape the inside of the vanilla pod to remove the seeds and add the scraped
seeds, pod and cardamom to plums. Cook over medium-high heat until sugar melts and
plums released some of the juice. Flip the plums over and cook for 30 seconds then add
rosewater and gently stir. Turn the heat off and set aside.
Crepes
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
2 pasture raised eggs
1 1/2 cups full cream milk
2 tbsp melted butter plus extra for the pan
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
Method:
In a medium size bowl whisk the eggs, 1/2 cup milk and melted butter then sieve in the flour. Whisk until you have a smooth batter. Add rest of the ingredients and whisk well. Set aside for 15 minutes.
Heat a crepe pan over medium heat. Brush with a small amount of butter. Pour 1/3 cup of the crepe batter into the middle of the pan and swoosh it side to side in circles, so the batter covers the bottom. Cook for about 1 minute then using a silicon egg slice flip to cook the other side, it should take about 30 seconds. Repeat with the rest of the batter.
Vanilla Custard Cream
Serves 6
Ingredients:
For the Custard
200g milk
25g butter
1/2 vanilla pod, seeds scraped
2 large pasture raised egg yolks
45g sugar
15g corn starch
For the Custard Cream
Fridge cold custard
500ml dollop cream
Method:
To make the custard place milk, butter, vanilla pod and seed into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat. In a medium size heat proof bowl whisk eggs and sugar to a smooth paste then add cornflower and whisk till fully incorporated. Slowly pour hot milk while whisking continuously.
For a microwave method place the bowl (use only glass or ceramic bowl for this method) into microwave for 30 seconds on high then whisk well and return for another 30 seconds. Repeat this time 1 or 2 times or until your custard is at boiling point.
For a on stove method, return the milk and egg yolk mixture into the saucepan and cook stirring with a wooden spoon over low heat until custard is at boiling point and has thickened. Sieve custard into clean bowl through mesh sieve to make sure there are no lumps remaining. Closely cover with cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours.
To make the custard cream place dollop cream into bowl of stand mixer (ideally use fridge cold bowl) starting on low speed for 30 seconds gradually increase to full speed. Whip to hard peaks (watch closely while whipping so not to over whip). Once you have the hard peaks add quarter of the custard and whisk then repeat until all the custard is incorporated. Cover and refrigerate until needed. (It is best to add custard to your cream on the day you are planning to use it.)
To assemble the crepes, place a spoonful of custard cream in a crepe and roll into sugar shape. Dust with icing sugar and dress with a spoonful of poached plums.