I put a bunch of grapes in the oven to roast, the dark, sweet muscat variety you only find in late summer and autumn. The bunch emerged, looking like it had spent time in a flower press, a thin layer of sticky syrup in the roasting tin. We ate the purple-black fruit, picking them from the stalk with sticky fingers, stirring their juices into iced rice pudding, thick with cream and sweet with vanilla.
I have cooked with grapes before, kneading them into a soft-crusted foccacia for eating with goat’s cheese. They made a seasonal addition to a chicken escalope, too, sautéed in a little butter, the grapes added to the pan with a splash of Marsala. Hot, their sweetness intensifies, also their dark raisin notes. They taste curiously of Christmas.
The generosity of neighbours gave me a chance to make another unexpected pudding this week. I gladly took the plums from their tree and baked them between two crisp crusts, the first made from crushed ginger biscuits – the sort you might make for cheesecake – then a fragile top crust of warm, sweet oat-flecked crumbs. We ate our crumbly plum tart – not quite cake, not quite pudding – with tiny cups of black coffee. I don’t mind eating plums every day throughout the month because I know that this is my only chance until next September.
Plum and oat crumble tart
The base is best when prepared with open-textured ginger biscuits rather than the flatter, harder gingernuts.
Makes 12
For the base:
butter 75g
ginger biscuits 325g
For the filling:
plums 500g
caster sugar 3 tbsp
For the crumble crust:
butter 65g
flour 85g
oats 40g
almonds 30g, ground
pistachios 30g, shredded
water 2 tbsp
You will also need a baking tin, lined with baking parchment.
Make the base by melting the butter in a small saucepan. Crush the biscuits to fine crumbs in a food processor or bash them with a rolling pin, then stir them into the melted butter, making sure they are evenly coated. Spoon the buttered crumbs into the parchment-lined baking tin, pushing them right into the corners and covering the base evenly, then smooth flat. Leave in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4.
Halve and stone the plums, put them in a bowl, add the caster sugar, then toss them until they are generously coated.
Make the crumble crust by putting the butter and flour into the bowl of a food processor and process to coarse crumbs. Alternatively, rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips. Put the oats, ground almonds and shredded pistachios into the butter and flour and fold gently together. Pour in the water then stir or shake briefly so that the crumbs stick together in unevenly sized lumps.
Remove the tart tin from the fridge. Spread the stoned plums over the crumbs then scatter the crumble over the plums, leaving the fruit showing here and there.
Bake for 45-50 minutes, until the crust is pale brown and lightly crisp. Remove from the oven and leave for an hour to settle.
Slice the tart into 12 small pieces and serve. They are fragile, so use a palette knife to lift them.
Roast grapes and rice pudding
Two possibilities here. The grapes can be roasted whole on the vine and brought for each person to cut off their own little sprig. Alternatively, remove the fruit from the vine before roasting. The puddle of sticky roasting juices is essential, and can be spooned over the chilled rice at the table.
Serves 6
For the rice:
pudding rice (or arborio) 95g
water 320ml
full cream milk 320ml
lemon half
caster sugar 4 tbsp
vanilla extract a few drops
double cream 50ml
sweet black grapes 450g
caster sugar 1 tbsp
brandy (or Marsala or sweet sherry) 3 tbsp
olive oil 1 tbsp
Bring the rice, water and milk to the boil. As soon as the milk starts to rise up the sides of the pan, lower the heat to a simmer.
Using a vegetable peeler, remove four pieces of peel from the lemon and add to the rice, then leave on a low heat, with the occasional stir, for about 15-20 minutes until the rice is tender. Remove from the heat, stir in the sugar and the vanilla extract. Leave to cool, then tip into a bowl, cover and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours to thicken and chill.
Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6.
Place the bunch of grapes in a nonstick roasting tin. Put the sugar, brandy and olive oil into a small bowl and mix together. Pour the dressing over the grapes and toss them gently together. Roast for 45-50 minutes until the grapes have collapsed and the dressing and juice have formed a small amount of deep purple liquor in the roasting tin.
When the rice is chilled, whip the cream until it starts to thicken. It should be just thick enough to hold a shape, but stop before it is thick enough to stand in peaks. Fold the cream into the chilled rice.
Serve the rice in bowls with the grapes and juices from the tin.
Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @NigelSlater
