Summer

Red-wine honey plum sauce

by:
August  3, 2010
4
1 Ratings
Red-wine honey plum sauce
  • Serves 2-3 cups
Author Notes

Lynne Rossetto Casper's book The Italian Country Kitchen has a wonderful recipe for soft plum jam that was my inspiration for cooking the plums in red wine. There are many ways to use this sauce, but my favorite is to layer it with sliced fresh peaches, blackberries, and creme fraiche, or mascarpone cheese lightened with a little half and half. - AppleAnnie —AppleAnnie

Test Kitchen Notes

It's Christmas in the summer! The ruby red color and subtly-spiced flavor of the plums are reminiscent of the holidays. I made these with a tasty cinnamon-pear balsamic vinegar and substituted vanilla rum for the amaretto. Thanks to AppleAnnie for the tip about letting it sit overnight. The plums really pick up the flavor of the sauce, and were a great addition to my morning yogurt. – frozenfoodie —The Editors

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 2 cups fresh plums (I used 20 small Methley red plums)
  • 1 cup red wine (inexpensive cabernet sauvignon or Beaujolais)
  • 2 tablespoons fragrant honey, such as lavender honey or lavender-infused honey
  • 1/2 cup turbinado or light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon fine balsamic vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • seeds from 3-5 cardamom pods, crushed
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon Amaretto
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
  1. Mix honey, sugars, and red wine in saucepan and heat until wine is bubbling and everything is completely dissolved.
  2. Cut plums in half over the pot (to catch all the juice) , adding the plums to the pot while removing the pits. (I cut my golf-ball size plums in half with a cooking shears, and snipped out around the pit, for a fairly easy job of pitting.)
  3. Add the cinnamon, cardamom and cook over medium heat until the plums have softened. Remove plums from the pan using a slotted spoon. Add the balsamic vinegar to the liquid in the pan. (I used Antonia James’ strawberry balsamic which I made in late spring.)
  4. Measure the cornstarch into a small bowl and slowly stir in about ½ cup of the hot liquid, whisking to quickly dissolve the cornstarch. Add more of the hot liquid if needed to get the cornstarch slurry to a pourable consistency.
  5. Dump the slurry into the pot, whisking steadily until the sauce thickens and clears. Return the reserved plums to the sauce, and cook for a few more minutes for additional thickening.
  6. Cool for 15 minutes. Stir in the Amaretto and vanilla. Refrigerate.
  7. Enjoy with yogurt, ice cream, in a “fool” with whipped cream or ricotta cheese, and also use it in a parfait layered with fresh fruit (peaches, nectarines, blackberries) and crème fraiche or mascarpone.
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6 Reviews

Sagegreen
Sagegreen August 19, 2010
Congrats on your EP!
 
AppleAnnie
AppleAnnie August 13, 2010
I forgot to note that the flavors really come together after a period of refrigeration. I made this in the evening, and by morning it was noticeably improved!
 
JoanG
JoanG August 5, 2010
This sounds lovely! Would also go well on almond cake or pound cake with any of your suggested toppings.
 
AppleAnnie
AppleAnnie August 7, 2010
Thanks, I'll try your appealing suggestion soon, possibly when I make Sagegreens' RoteGrotze, which is very smiliar but with white wine instead of red. http://www.food52.com/recipes/6068_rote_grtze_or_red_grits_with_white_wine
 
Sagegreen
Sagegreen August 4, 2010
This is comparable to my red grits, but I use a white wine. Your cardamom use is really nice.
 
AppleAnnie
AppleAnnie August 5, 2010
Thanks, I didn't know there was a German tradition, (since my inspiration was an Italian conserva) but I guess cooking summer fruits in wine with sugar and starch thickener could be universal. There is a famous Danish red raspberry pudding with cream (hard for a non-Dane to pronounce) which may be in the same family as your red grits. I look forward to trying your recipe with the white wine.