If prunes were called sun-dried plums and cost $15 a pound, they would be on the menu of every fashionable restaurant from here to Manhattan.
As it is, they don’t have a very upscale image, and that’s a pity. The California French prune (an offshoot of la petite d’Agen, a prune plum native to southwestern France) is a marvelous fruit.
Unlike other varieties of plum, prune plums can be dried without fermenting around the pits. That means that they’re good keepers and easy to ship.
As a child, I was at best unenthusiastic about the standard boarding-school dessert of stewed prunes and custard. I didn’t know about any of a dozen sublime French prune and Italian desserts, or the delights of Belgian rabbit and prunes in red wine, or pork fillet with prunes. Another treat that had to wait for adulthood: Unpitted prunes steeped in white wine and inexpensive brandy for a few weeks make a delicious cordial. The resultant amber liquid tastes of plums and apricots, and is wonderful for after-dinner sipping.
Botanists say that prune plums originated thousands of years ago east of the Caspian Sea in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. They took a while to get from Russia, via France, to California.
The first cuttings came ’round the Horn on a tall sailing ship in 1856. The slips were stuck in raw potatoes, buried in sawdust, and packed in two leather trunks carried by a Frenchman named Pierre Pellier, whose brother Louis had set up a nursery in northern California, near Mission San Jose.
As it turned out, the tree grows vigorously in California and bears heavily. And when the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, two decades later, a huge market opened up for California fruit growers.
Prunes have been used in dishes savory as well as sweet for centuries. At one time they were one of the very few fruits to be had in winter.
In French hands, prunes can be utterly delicious when combined with potatoes and bacon, with veal sweetbreads and with pork fillet.
In Scotland, the famous cock-a-leekie soup traditionally contains prunes: They provide a hint of sweetness to balance the strong flavor of the tough old leeks used when simmering an even tougher old rooster. (It’s actually a very good soup, but not what you might call fast food.)
In Scandinavia and Germany, prune-filled pastries are justifiably popular, and in Italy, centuries-old dessert recipes starring prunes are still popular, especially at holidays.
Sun-dried plums, in fact, deserve a second look.
FRENCH POTATO PANCAKES WITH PRUNES
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
The golden, crispy exterior of this potato tart contrasts beautifully with the tender, sweet-salty interior. An unusual appetizer, it’s also great as an extra-special lunch or supper dish.
2 pounds all-purpose potatoes, peeled
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons flour
6 ounces smoked ham or Canadian bacon, chopped
Salt, black pepper
1/4 cup clarified butter, see note
1 cup (6 ounces) pitted, ready-to-eat prunes, coarsely chopped
1. Coarsely shred half the potatoes into a bowl and combine with eggs, flour, Canadian bacon, salt and pepper. Using a mandoline, thinly slice the remaining potatoes into a second bowl filled with cold water. Drain slices and pat dry on paper towels.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of clarified butter in a 10- to 12-inch non-stick skillet. Line pan with half the potato slices. Cover with half the egg mixture and top with prunes. Cover with remaining egg mixture and top with remaining potato slices. Press down well and brush with clarified butter.
3. Cook over low heat until underside is browned, about 30 minutes. Loosen edges with a spatula. Invert a flat plate over pan and flip pan and pancake together; carefully remove pan from cake. Return pan to heat and add remaining clarified butter. Slide potato cake, browned side up, back into pan. Cook until well browned, 15 to 20 minutes longer. Transfer to platter and serve hot.
Note: To clarify butter, melt over low heat. Skim off white foam and pour into another container, leaving milk solids in bottom of pan. Refrigerate any unused portion and use in cooking; it does not burn as easily as regular butter.
PORK FILLET WITH PRUNES IN WHITE WINE
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
24 pitted, ready-to-eat small prunes
1 cup white wine, Vouvray or dry chenin blanc
1 cup fresh cranberries
2 pork tenderloins, about 12 ounces each
1/4 cup clarified butter, see note above
Salt, pepper
1 tablespoon red-currant jelly
1 cup whipping cream
Slivers of lemon rind, for garnish
1. Simmer prunes in wine for 20 minutes. Stir in cranberries and simmer until tender, 5 to 10 minutes more.
2. Meanwhile, trim any silvery skin or fat from pork tenderloins and cut into 1/2-inch thick diagonal slices. Cook on both sides in clarified butter until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Slices should be slightly pink in the middle. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Arrange pork slices in center of plate. Remove prunes from saucepan with slotted spoon, arrange around pork and keep warm. There should be about 2 tablespoons syrupy liquid left in saucepan from prunes. (If not, add a little wine and boil hard to cook and reduce.) Add red-currant jelly and stir in cream. Boil hard to reduce slightly. Taste for seasoning. Pour over pork and prunes and serve immediately.
SAVORY PRUNE STUFFING
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Yield: About 4 cups
Serve this quick side dish with roast chicken, turkey or pork.
1 tablespoon each: butter, vegetable oil
3/4 cup each: chopped onion, sliced celery, bite-size pitted prunes, diced apple
4 cups packaged, unseasoned dried bread cubes
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind (colored part only)
Salt, pepper
1. Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and celery and cook 3 minutes. Add prunes and apple and cook 3 minutes. Add bread cubes; toss and cook 3 minutes more. Sprinkle with poultry seasoning and drizzle with chicken broth. Cook 3 minutes, tossing occasionally. Add orange rind and season with salt and pepper.
PRUNE CORDIAL
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Standing time: 1 week or more
Yield: 1 1/4 quarts
1 pound unpitted prunes
2 cups sugar
1 bottle dry white wine
1 cup brandy
1. Combine prunes with sugar, wine and brandy in a glass, ceramic or stainless steel bowl. Stir to dissolve sugar. Cover airtight and set aside at room temperature at least 1 week, stirring once a day for the first 3 days. The flavor will be best after 3 to 4 weeks. Remove fruit after the 4th week. The cordial will keep indefinitely. Serve in small glasses or try it over vanilla ice cream.
MORE IDEAS FOR PRUNES
A brief prune advisory: One pound of prunes is the equivalent of 3 pounds of fresh prune plums. Prunes are sweet and tempting, but as with any fruit, eating too many can upset your system. Remember, you’re eating three times as much fruit as you thought you were. However, an average portion-say, four prunes-won’t bother most people, and contains generous amounts of iron and potassium.
Some appetizing ideas for whole, pitted prunes:
– Stuff pitted prunes with a salted almond, encircle with a strip of pancetta (Italian bacon), secure with a toothpick, and broil until bacon is cooked. Serve warm as an appetizer.
– Stuff pitted prunes with a nugget of almond paste. Glaze with melted apricot jam. Place in paper cases and serve with the after-dinner coffee.
– Stuff pitted prunes with a mixture of grated bittersweet chocolate and finely chopped walnuts. (Prepare mixture in food processor.) Serve this stylish Italian sweet in little paper cases.
– Slowly simmer pitted prunes in port or red wine with brown sugar and a hint of cloves or cinnamon until very tender. Juice should be syrupy. If not, remove prunes and boil hard to reduce. Serve this luxurious French dessert at room temperature with whipped cream or plain yogurt.
