Just catching up with the backlog of recipes held elsewhere and not entered here yet. This is yet another Kaliyoga one. Tiny tartlets make lovely petits fours with coffee. Left-over poached plums can be eaten on their own, with cream, ice cream — or mascarpone of course.
Plums
Sugar
Butter
Sweet wine such as Muscat or Marsala
Small tartlet cases made of sweet shortcrust pastry, pre-baked
Mascarpone
Fresh ginger
Syrup from ginger jar (optional)
Pre-heat the oven to 140C. Rub an ovenproof dish with butter and sprinkle liberally with sugar. Halve and stone the plums and arrange in the dish cut side up. Bake for 10 minutes, then pour over a small glass of wine and return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes. The plums should hold their shape and must not collapse. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Meanwhile grate the ginger finely and beat into the mascarpone a little at a time, tasting until the flavour suits you. If you want you can add a bit of syrup from a jar of stem ginger. Set aside in the fridge.
Just before you want to serve, place a half-plum (or two, if room) in each tart case and glaze with a teaspoon of the cooking liquid. Top with a teaspoon of the ginger mascarpone and serve immediately.
Note: if the plum syrup is very runny, a refinement might be to boil it down and/or mix with some redcurrant jelly before using as a glaze.