Plum Preserves - Erik Reçeli

Plum Preserves

At the peak of summer, local farmers markets are bursting with colorful fruits and vegetables. I bought two different kinds of plums. One had deep purple skin, yellowish meat inside. It was very juicy and sweet. The other kind had greenish skin and bright red meat inside. As mouth watering as it looked, it was very tart. I thought it would make great preserves, and it did indeed!

This is good with cream cheese over toast, but, you can also use it over ice cream or cakes as you would use raspberry sauce. Recipe calls for 2 cups of sugar, however, depending on how tart the fruit is, you may need to add more sugar.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb plums
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:

Wash plums, remove pits and cut each one into slices. Place plums in a bowl. Pour sugar over them. Leave for about 4 hours or overnight (in the refrigerator). Plums will release their juices, forming a syrup. Place plums with the syrup in a pot. Add lemon juice and bring to a boil over medium heat. When it starts to boil, reduce heat to low and let it simmer. Remove any foam that might form on the top with a spoon. Take a small spoonful of the cooking mixture, place on a plate, let it cool and taste to see if it is sweet enough. Add sugar if necessary, stir gently. Cook until plums are translucent and the syrup thickens, about 20-30 minutes. Skins of plums will be floating in the sauce. Let the preserves cool to room temperature. Place in a food processor or a blender. Blend for a few seconds until the plum skins are blended into the sauce forming a fairly smooth texture. Pour preserves in glass jars and keep in the refrigerator.

Plums

Sugar poured over sliced plums

Plums start releasing their juices

Plums in syrup formed by sugar & released juices

Plum preserves

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

Arugula Salad with Tuna and Roasted Eggplants - Ton Balıklı Roka Salatası

Tuna Salad with Arugula and Roasted Eggplants

Ingredients:

• 1 5 oz can of Solid Tuna in water
• 1+3 table spoons extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of ½ lemon
• ½ cup cooked garbanzo beans
• ·         2 small to medium Japanese eggplants
• 1-2 cups fresh Arugula leaves
• 1 slice of goat cheese or feta cheese
• Crushed red pepper (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

If you use canned garbanzo beans, drain well. In a non-stick pan sauté garbanzo beans in 1 table spoon of olive oil for 3 minutes, set aside.

Drain tuna well. In a small bowl, mix remaining 3 table spoons of olive oil and lemon juice.  Add 1 table spoon of this dressing to tuna, mix well. Add black pepper (optional) to your taste. Set aside.

Wash and dry eggplants. Peel  portions of the skin lengthwise, leaving it with a striped look. Cut the eggplants in half and cut each peace into thin slices. Roast eggplant slices on a grill until they are tender.

Wash arugula leaves. Cut them into bite size pieces. Place the leaves on a serving plate. Drizzle the olive oil-lemon juice dressing over the arugula leaves. Put tuna on top of it. Add garbanzo beans and the slice of cheese to the plate. Sprinkle crushed red pepper (optional), salt and pepper to your taste.

Peeled and sliced eggplants

Roased eggplant slices

Roasted garbanzo beans

Tuna Salad with Arugula and Roasted Eggplants

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!