Plums for Mojca

This is a recipe born out of haste, but nevertheless adored by my friend Mojca. It’s best to use the small variety of plums for this dish that are available in the Central Market. They’re sweeter and more bite-sized than the Mercator variety. Mojca tells me these little plums are known as “bosanke,” which also happens to mean Bosnian women.

Ingredients:

For the plums:

½ kilo of small plums

¼ stick of butter

¼ to ½ cup of breadcrumbs

½ teaspoon of cinnamon

2-3 tablespoons of fruit liquor

For the sauce:

500 g of mascarpone cheese

1 to 2 eggs

¼ to 1/3 cup of sugar

2-3 tablespoons of fruit liquor

First prepare the sauce:

1) Separate the yolks and the whites of the egg. The number of eggs you use depends on how you want the texture of the cream to be. For a fluid sauce, use two eggs; for a more compact cream, use one egg. For the cream seen in the photographs, I have used only one egg.

2) Mix together the mascarpone cheese with the egg yolk(s). When it is thoroughly mixed, it will become a smooth cream with an off-white color.

3) Add in the sugar and mix until dissolved. I’ve left the sugar measurement a bit vague because you will require at least ¼ cup of sugar, and maybe more if you want it sweeter. I personally like it a little less sweet since I want the buttery flavor of the cheese to stand out and contrast the sweetness and tartness of the plumps.

4) Mix in the fruit liquor. I happen to have pear liquor (with a pear in the bottle!) at home, so I use that.

5) Beat the egg whites to a stiff and then fold them into the mascarpone mixture. Be careful not to stir too much!

6) Allow the cream to set in the fridge for about an hour.

Then the plums:

1) Wash plumps and cut each along its cleft. Remove the seed and separate the two halves.

2) In a wide saucepan, heat up the half of the butter on a medium low heat. When the butter begins to brown, it will give off a nutty smell. At that point, add in the cinnamon and let it fry undisturbed for about half a minute.

3) Then toss in the plums and stir them around, coating each in some cinnamon brown butter.

4) Allow the plums to cook for about seven to ten minutes. The very ripe plums should disintegrate into a sauce. If you see that the pan is a bit dry, add in about ¼ cup of water. This will encourage some of the riper plums to boil and fall apart, thus creating a sauce.

5) Set the plums aside in a dish. Some of the sauce will inevitably stick to the sides of the pan, but you can deglaze it with 2-3 tablespoons of the fruit liquor. Once you have scraped off as much as possible, add it to the plum mixture.

6) In the same pan, heat up the remaining butter on a medium low flame. When the butter has browned, toss in the breadcrumbs. Whether you use ¼ or ½ a cup of breadcrumbs depends on how much liquid the plums have released. While the breadcrumbs should soak up most of the liquid, the end result should still be very moist.

7) Allow the breadcrumbs to fry in butter for about three to four minutes. Stir regularly so that they do not burn.

8) Mix in the breadcrumbs with the plums, and set uncovered in the fridge to cool for about an hour.

9) There are two ways to serve this dish. If the mascarpone cream is thick, spoon it over the plum mixture after the plums have cooled for about half an hour. Dust the top with finely ground cinnamon. Then allow the two to set in the fridge for another half hour. The end result will be like a parfait that you can scoop out and serve. If the cream is thin, mix the two together only when serving. Pour out a ladleful of cream over a scoop of the plums, and finish off with a sprinkle of finely ground cinnamon.