Halfway down the garden, in the middle of the thick yew hedge, a wild plum tree is heavy with fruit, each one hanging like a bauble on a Christmas tree. The tree was never intentionally planted and is probably the result of my habit of throwing plum stones into the garden. The first I knew of it was an arching branch of snow-white blossom that appeared from the hedge one spring. Late each summer, its branches are bent low with chartreuse gages, the size of a thrush’s egg. Tiny and sweet as honey, the fruits are almost translucent in the late summer sunshine.
Plums have been trickling into the market, too – the rare Reine Claude, the purple-red Opal and the ubiquitous but welcome Victoria among them. Ripe and jelly-fleshed, there is rarely a plum I don’t like, but I appreciate them most in the kitchen, where they will be bubbled down into sauces for pork or duck, tucked under pastry crusts or oat-freckled crumbles or thrown into the jam pan with sugar, a cinnamon stick and a few cloves.
This week, several have ended up as the filling for an almond shortcake that we ate with cream when it was just out of the oven, then, the following day as a cold pastry, tucked into a lunchbox. From a little further away, peaches are at last worth eating, even if I do have to ripen them myself on the kitchen window ledge, turning the fruits each day as they bask in the late sun. Ripened then chilled, they make a refreshing addition to a chicken salad. Especially one in which the dressing is hot and sour.
Roast chicken, peaches and mint
A refreshing salad for a hot day. Roast chicken with ripe peaches and mint, and a light chilli and lime juice dressing whose spiky heat is tempered by the sweetness of the peaches and the chicken’s roasting juices.
It is essential your peaches are ripe. The salad is at its best when the chicken is warm, rather than hot, and its roasting juices are incorporated into the dressing. Serves 4. Ready in 1 hour.
large, skin-on chicken breasts about 600g
olive oil a little
mint leaves a large handful
small basil leaves about 20
watercress or pea shoots 4 large handfuls
red or orange bell pepper 1
ripe peaches 4
For the dressing:
lime juice 3 tbsp
nam pla (fish sauce) 3 tbsp
caster sugar 2 tsp
small, hot red chillies 1-2
spring onions 4 thin ones
Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. In a small roasting tin, set the chicken breasts side by side and pour a little olive oil over them. Season with salt and ground black pepper and roast for about 20-25 minutes till the skin is pale gold and the juices run clear when the chicken is pierced with a metal skewer. Remove from the oven and set aside.
Make the dressing: put the lime juice and fish sauce in a small bowl or jam jar and stir in the sugar. Finely chop the chillies, then trim and finely slice the spring onions, discarding any dark, tough stems, and add both to the dressing.
Keep the mint and basil leaves whole and put them in a large mixing bowl. Wash, shake dry and then add the watercress or pea shoots to the herbs. Halve the pepper, discard the core and seeds, then finely slice the flesh into long, thin strips and add to the herbs. Halve, stone and thickly slice the peaches then add them to the bowl, too.
Remove the warm chicken from its bones, tear into thick pieces and add to the salad. Place the roasting tin over a moderate heat, pour the dressing into the tin and stir to dissolve any delicious chicken juices into the dressing. Pour the warm dressing over the salad and gently toss everything together.
Plum shortcake
A simple fruit tart without the need to roll pastry or fiddle around with baking beans. With its buttery, crumbly shortcake base, a layer of tart plums and a showering of crumble on top, this makes a splendid hot pudding with cream. Have a jugful chilled and ready.
Lightly pat the shortcake base into the lined tart tin with the back of a spoon, not hard enough to compact the mixture, but just enough to make it firm enough to slice. When you put the oven on to heat, slip a heavy, metal baking sheet on to the centre shelf. Bake your tart on this for a satisfyingly crisp base. Possible embellishments could include pine kernels or flaked almonds scattered over the rugged surface of plums and crumbs, or perhaps a few coarsely ground hazelnuts. Serves 6-8. Ready in 1.5 hours.
plain flour 260g
butter 180g, fridge-cold
soft, light brown sugar 125g
ground almonds 100g
ripe plums 650g
double cream to serve
You will need a tart tin measuring 26-28cm across the base and an extra baking sheet on which to bake the tart.
Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Place a baking sheet in the oven to get hot. Loosely line the tart tin with a sheet of baking parchment.
Put the flour and butter – the latter cut into small pieces – into the bowl of a food processor and reduce to fine crumbs. (If you wish, you can do this by hand, rubbing the butter into the flour with your fingertips until you have fine crumbs.)
Add the sugar and ground almonds, mix briefly, then sprinkle with about a tablespoon of cold water. Shake the bowl back and forth to bring the mixture to crumbs of assorted sizes. Tip two-thirds of the mixture into the lined tart tin and press down with the back of a spoon, firming it without compacting it.
Cut the plums in half and remove their stones. Place the fruit, cut-side-down, on top of the shortcake base then scatter the reserved mixture on top. Some of the fruit will peep through.
Bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes until the crumble is biscuit coloured and the fruit is soft. Remove from the oven and leave the tart to settle on its baking sheet for 20 minutes or so before serving with cream.
Follow Nigel on Instagram @NigelSlater