A ploomin disaster Sunday lunch for friends

Plum harvest 2012, preserved with WD40

A Sunday lunch menu for friends

Moules mariniere with homemade bread

Beef and oxtail casserole

No plum crumble

Here's a post which has been 99% written for about a year and a half - I have no idea why I didn't finish and publish it sooner. Coincidentally I just wrote a beef and Guinness pie post last weekend. 

Last year (2013) I had a complete plum harvest failure, and had to beg, borrow and steal apples to make chutney. 

In 2012 I had a bumper plum harvest. 

I froze a hefty amount (almost 1.4kg) to make plum crumble for when I had friends round for Sunday lunch. 

I even made the crumble topping by combining flour, butter, demerara sugar and hazelnuts in the food processor, and froze that too. I hoped the sugar and hazelnuts would give a lovely crunch to the crumble. They may well do but I've yet to try it - it ended up festering in my freezer for a few months before being chucked out.

Plums, it turns out, do not freeze well. They turn to a pulpy mush that is 95% juice. 

We ended up skipping the crumble and moving straight onto the cheese. And another fail: I forgot to serve this with my plum chutney. D'oh.

Moules mariniere ingredients

• 2 banana shallots 
• A wineglass of dry white wine
• A large knob butter
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 or 4 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• Splash of double cream  
• Mussels. A lot. I asked my fishmonger for enough museels for 6 as a starter, then asked him to add more. The whole massive lot came to under a tenner. Wow! In a restaurant these would probably cost the same amount per portion. We had so many we couldn't even eat them all. 

How to make moules mariniere

Scrub the mussels clean in plenty of cold running water, discarding any that don't close when tapped sharply with the back of a knife. I guess this means they are still alive, but I'd rather not think too much about that. Remove the beards from any mussels that still have them by pulling them to the corner of the mussel then yanking vigorously.

You will need a very large pan to cook the mussels in - I use a stock pot. 

1. Boil the wine rapidly for about 30 seconds to get rid of any harsh flavour, then remove from the pan. 
2. Chop a couple of banana shallots very finely.
3. Melt the butter in the pan then add the shallots and bay leaves.
4. Stir to coat in the butter then add the wine and bring to the boil.
5. Add the mussels then cover with a lid.
6. Cook for a few minutes, shaking the pan vigorously about every minute, until the mussels open. 
7. Add the cream and parsley and stir.
   Serve in a large bowl in the middle of the table, with another bowl for the discarded shells, and crusty bread.
8. Do not eat any mussels that have not opened. 

Home-made white bread, perfect with mussels

White bread

I can't tell you how I made the bread in case I am asked to remove the recipe. I chose it because it was quick to make, and since it turned out very well its a shame I can't share it with you. 

Beef and oxtail casserole ingredients

• Onions - 4 medium/large
• Carrots - 4 large
• Swede - 1 small
• Celery - 2 sticks
• Guniness - 2 bottles
• Thyme - about 10 sprigs
• Flour - about 3 tablespoons
• Stewing steak - about 1.5kg, cut into chunks
• Oxtail  - 8 pieces
• Parsley, to serve*

*Personaly, I hate parsley. But some recipes, such as this one,  do taste better with a little sprinkling of the chopped herb. And for some recipes, such as moules mariniere (above), it is absolutely integral. Hence I had some to add to the casserole. 

Don't be tempted to put tinned tomatoes or tomato puree in this - I think it distracts from the flavour of the beef, whereas the Guinness enhances it. 

How to make beef and oxtail in Guinness

1. Heat the oven to the Magic Cooking Number, 190 degrees C fan. 
2. Heat a little rapeseed oil in a large casserole pan.
3. Add the onions and fry gently for about 10 minutes, till they become translucent and very soft.  If you don't overdo it, this will give the onions a lovely caramelised taste. If you overdo  it will taste burnt. 
4. Add the carrots, celery and swede.
5. Fry for about 5 minutes, till the vegetables become slightly softened.
6. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir to coat.
7. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, stirring pretty much constantly.
8. Turn up the heat and add the pieces of steak. 
9. Brown the steak then add the oxtail pieces and brown too.
10. Add the Guinness and bring to the boil.
11. Cover with a lid and put in the oven for 2 hours.

 
I know this is going to cause controversy, but I served Yorkshire puddings with this casserole. Normally, my Yorkies rise well and are huge; for some reason this time they were a little flat. So another fail.