A Little Tart, A Lot of Character

A perfectly ripe plum of the perfect variety, harvested on the perfect summer day, shipped and stored in the perfect way and delivered to you when you are in the perfect frame of mind to enjoy it--this is a rare pleasure indeed.

When you hit upon this set of circumstances, there’s only one thing to do. Rinse this heavenly fruit under cold running water; gently pat it dry, then lean far out over the sink and gobble it in huge, dripping bites. Anything else is superfluous.

But for even the canniest fruit picker, this confluence of perfect circumstances comes only a couple of times a summer. So what are you supposed to do when the fruit gods haven’t delivered perfect plums?

Cookbooks, oddly enough, aren’t much help. Plum recipes are even scarcer than perfect plums. Even the sources that are usually most reliable include only a couple--most ignore them altogether.

The situation is so extreme it borders on the conspiratorial. There is not one single dish that uses plums in the “Joy of Cooking.” Nor was there one in an old “Fannie Farmer” I checked, or in Madeleine Kamman’s “The Making of a Cook.” As usual, Julia Child can be relied upon--there are two recipes in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” That’s a bounty by plum standards.

The new “Chez Panisse Fruit” cookbook, so admirable in so many ways, adds insult to this grievous injury. Of the seven recipes included in the plum chapter, three are for prunes!

It’s hard not to take it personally, and in fact, maybe that’s exactly what it is. Plums, like certain people, are a little too, well, definite for easy appreciation. While peaches and pears, apples and strawberries are pleasantly convivial, lending themselves to all sorts of endeavors, plums are acerbic. They are tart, often nearly to the point of astringency. There is no mistaking a dish that contains plums; no “Oh, this is nice, what is it?” When you’re served a plum dessert, you know it.

But since when was assertiveness a bad thing? While plums may be out of favor with those who prefer their fruit sweet and easygoing, they are magical when combined with ingredients confident enough to hold their own.

Plums are also a great boon to cooks. They don’t need to be peeled (indeed, much of the pucker is in the peel--removing it will make them sweeter, but less plum-like). You can just whittle them straight into the mixing bowl. Best of all, unless a plum is really ripe, it will have a near-perfect balance of pectin, sugar and acidity--it’ll turn to jam at a hot glance, no need for thickeners.

There are two ways to deal with their assertive nature: either complement it, or play against it. (Though there are hundreds of plum varieties and they come in different colors, for the purposes of recipes, they’re pretty much interchangeable.)

To complement a plum, think of things it tastes like. Cotes du Rhone, the big red wines from Southern France, are usually described as “plummy,” but other common adjectives are “spicy” and “peppery.” Plums not only do well poached in red wine, they are also improved by a generous hand with cloves, cinnamon and even black pepper. (Rhones are also frequently described as “leathery” but, somehow in a dessert, this does not appeal.)

Plums also play well with almonds. This is only reasonable, since they’re both members of the drupe family of fruits. The likeness is more than hereditary. The browned, buttery flavor of toasted almonds rounds out and lends warmth to the fruit’s tart personality.

You can also go the other way, using flavors that are definite enough to stand toe to toe with plums without backing down. Be cautious here: While assertiveness is needed, if it’s not carefully considered you could wind up with strong flavors that do nothing but clash--an Albee play in a dessert bowl.

The combination of cornmeal and plums is a particularly apt example of how this competition can work. A bit of cornmeal in waffles, crepes or cake batters adds both old-fashioned grainy sweetness and a faint trace of lingering bitterness that brings out the best in plums.

And somehow, no matter the dessert, a little bit of plain old vanilla ice cream or lightly sweetened creme fraiche smoothes out even the tartest plum. Think of it as soothing balm for a troubled fruit.

Total Preparation Time: 20 minutes

NOTE: If you find really small plums, handball-size or slightly bigger, they are absolutely beautiful when poached this way. If they’re bigger than that, you can cut them in halves, quarters or smaller wedges.

4 cloves

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

1 stick cinnamon

1 cup red wine

1/3 cup sugar

1 pound plums

Vanilla ice cream or lightly sweetened creme fraiche, for serving

Place the cloves and peppercorns in the center of a 4-inch-square piece of cheesecloth and tie the cloth in a bundle with a piece of kitchen twine. Combine the bundle, the cinnamon stick, red wine and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the plums and cook, keeping the wine at a bare simmer, until the plums are just tender. Depending on the ripeness of the plums and the size of the pieces, this will take between 5 and 10 minutes.

Drain the plums, discarding the cheesecloth bundle and the cinnamon stick, and transferring the syrup into a smaller saucepan. Return the syrup to the heat, and cook at a bare simmer until it has reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and return the plums to the syrup. Set aside until ready to serve.

Serve at room temperature with the ice cream or creme fraiche.

6 servings. Each serving: 89 calories; 4 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 0 fat; 0 saturated fat; 17 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 1.25 grams fiber.

Cornmeal Buckle With Plums

Active Work Time: 40 minutes

Total Preparation Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

A buckle is an old-fashioned American dessert, so named, supposedly, because of the way the center collapses when it is removed from the oven. This recipe is a twist on a boysenberry and peach buckle from the newest revision of “Joy of Cooking.” Replacing some of the flour with cornmeal provides a bittersweet complement to the tart-sweet plums.

TOPPING

1/2 cup sugar

6 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cut into 1-tablespoon pieces

In a food processor, pulse together the sugar, flour, salt and butter until the pieces are the size of coarse crumbs.

CORNMEAL BUCKLE

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened, plus more for preparing pan, divided

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup yellow cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1 pound plums (about 4), cut up

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch glass pie plate and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.

In another large bowl, beat the 1/4 cup of butter with the sugar and egg until it is fairly light and fluffy. Add half of the milk and beat until smooth. Gradually add the remaining milk while beating.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until well moistened. It will be the texture of cake batter. Fold in the plum pieces. Pour the batter into the pie plate and spread evenly. Scatter the topping mixture evenly over the top. Bake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let stand 20 minutes before serving. (If you serve the buckle the next day, warm it briefly in the microwave before serving.)

6 to 8 servings. Each of 8 servings: 412 calories; 468 mg sodium; 59 mg cholesterol; 13 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 70 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 1.76 grams fiber.

Plum-Almond Galette

Active Work Time: 20 minutes

Total Preparation Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Galettes are carefree tarts. They are homey and casual and open to all kinds of improvisation. Because the plums are so much on display here, their sweetness is critical. Taste them and adjust the amount of sugar accordingly. They should be tart, but not bitingly so. If the fruit is extra ripe and juicy (not likely in June), scatter a couple of tablespoons of ground almonds between the crust and the fruit to absorb the moisture.

DOUGH

1 1/4 cups flour, plus more for kneading

1/3 cup slivered almonds

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into 8 pieces

2 to 3 tablespoons ice water

Grind the flour, almonds, sugar and salt in a food processor until the almonds are fine. Add the butter pieces and pulse until the mixture is the texture of coarse crumbs. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of ice water over the dry ingredients and pulse 4 or 5 times. If the mixture begins to come together, stop now. Otherwise, keep sprinkling the ice water, 1 teaspoon at a time, and pulsing until a dough begins to form.

Remove the dough from the food processor and quickly and lightly knead on a floured work surface into a solid mass. Press into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

ASSEMBLY

1 pound plums (about 4), cut up

1 to 3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons slivered almonds

1 tablespoon coarse sugar

Combine the plums and the sugar in a work bowl and toss well to mix. Set aside at room temperature until the dough is chilled.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out into a rough circle about 1/4 inch thick. Transfer to a baking sheet.

Drain any accumulated liquid from the plums. Spoon the plums into the center of the dough. Fold the outside 2 inches of the dough circle toward the center to make a hexagon, leaving the inner 4 or 5 inches of plums uncovered. Scatter the almonds across the plums, then scatter the coarse sugar over the plums and the pastry.

Bake until the pastry has browned and the plums are cooked through, about 30 minutes.

6 servings. Each serving: 336 calories; 255 mg sodium; 41 mg cholesterol; 20 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 37 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 2.41 grams fiber.