Nearly autumn

I know when autumn is approaching, the belladonna lillies start to unfurl.

It is also when blood plums are at their best.  I bought some the other day and decided to make a pudding.  I snipped a recipe out of a newspaper ages ago but it ripped and I lost half so there was a degree of guess work in this.

PLUM AND ALMOND THING

This amount will do about 6-8 plums.  

60g soft butter

55g castor sugar

1 egg

40g almond meal

30g slivered almonds (flaked would work as well)

Preheat the oven to 170c.

Cut plums in half and place in an ovenproof dish.  I threw in a broken cinnamon stick for good measure.

Cream the butter and sugar and add the egg.  Fold in the almond meal and the almonds.  Dot the mix over the plums. 

Bake for about an hour until it is nice and brown on top.  Serve with cream.

This gaping hole is where my fridge belongs.  It packed it in last week so has gone to Mortlake for repairs.  We are operating out of the beer fridge which is inconvenient in itself, but the beer (and wine) is sitting on the laundry floor because we expected to be a temporary arrangement.  Thank god, though, for the beer fridge.

Been having salads galore lately.  Love this one in particular, with beetroot from the garden.  Just grate some carrot and beetroot (easiest in the food processor), add some grated ginger, and loads of chopped mint or coriander or both.  A drizzle of olive oil, lemon juice and lots of salt and pepper is all it needs.