Recipes: Richly deserved

Published on Wednesday 20 May 2009 16:31

I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT prunes are no longer to be called prunes, but dried plums. This is just what they are, and I can only suppose the word "prune" is perceived to be somehow detrimental to their appeal. Not for me.

I really don't mind what they are called: I simply love them. I am thinking of the plump and luscious Agen variety, which are the ultimate for prune lovers. At the other end of the quality scale are the dried, slightly bitter-tasting ones – I can quite see how they could give prunes a bad name. They need a lot of care in cooking, but they can be transformed into a delicious state by simmering them in water mixed with an equivalent quantity of fresh orange juice – with the pared rind of one lemon added for extra tang. When the prunes are soft (about ten minutes of simmering should do) add two to three tablespoons of soft light brown sugar to the water, stirring to dissolve it. Continue to simmer gently in the sweetened water and orange juice for a further ten minutes, then tip the prunes into a serving bowl, cool, and remove the strips of lemon rind. This compote is very good for breakfast, with natural yoghurt or crme fraiche.

The prunes I usually buy are the Agen ones. These are useful in savoury dishes, in stuffings for duck, pheasant in season, and for goose at Christmas. And they are very good with pork, both as a stuffing for pork fillets and in the accompanying sauce, as for one of today's recipes.

Above all else, however, Agen prunes go perfectly with dark chocolate, in many different recipes. The chocolate cake recipe today contains a layer of chopped prunes, which, along with the dark chocolate, give a richly dense texture to the cake – sheer bliss for us chocolate lovers.

PORK FILLET WITH PRUNE STUFFING AND PRUNE AND RED WINE SAUCE

This makes a wonderful main course for a special occasion. I like it with a green vegetable, such as steamed sugarsnap peas or with Savoy cabbage, and with very well beaten mashed potatoes.

SERVES 6

3 pork fillets, each carefully trimmed of any thin membrane

18 Agen prunes

18 thin rashers of streaky bacon

For the sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus

1oz/28g butter

2 medium-sized onions, skinned and very finely diced

1 fairly level tablespoon flour

1/2 pint/285ml red wine

1/2 pint/285ml stock – use a good stock substitute such as Marigold powder made up with boiling water

1/4 pint/140ml double cream

1/2 teaspoon of salt about 20 grinds of black pepper

6 Agen prunes, chopped fairly small – have a jug of nearly boiling water to hand to dip the chopping knife into, to help prevent the prunes from sticking to the knife blade

With a sharp knife, slit each trimmed pork fillet lengthways, flatten open, cover with either a sheet of baking parchment or clingfilm, and bash the fillets as flat as you can.

Season each flattened fillet with black pepper. Open out the prunes and lay them down the middle of each fillet, trying to spread the prunes so that they form a continuous line. Roll up each fillet and arrange in a non-stick roasting tin.

Stretch each streaky bacon rasher by running the blade of a large knife down each rasher on a board – they elongate by at least half as much again. Wrap each rolled pork fillet in stretched streaky bacon. This can be done several hours in advance of cooking.

To cook, roast the fillets in a hot oven, 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6, for 35-40 minutes. Leave to rest for ten minutes once cooked, then place the fillets on a board and slice each one on the diagonal, allowing two to three slices per person. The roast fillets keep warm very well for up to 40 minutes before serving.

To make the sauce, heat the olive oil and butter together in a saucepan and fry the finely diced onions until they are completely soft, about 5 to 7 minutes. Then stir in the flour, cook for a minute, before gradually adding the red wine and stock, stirring all the time until the sauce boils. Let the sauce simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has reduced by about a quarter. Then stir in the double cream, salt, pepper and chopped prunes. Simmer again, for a couple of minutes, before serving. This sauce can be made a day ahead. Reheat to serve with the stuffed roast pork fillets.

DARK CHOCOLATE, TOASTED ALMOND AND AGEN PRUNE CAKE

This is really more suitable as a pud than as a cake. I serve it with crme fraiche – full fat, rather than reduced fat, which tends to taste too acidic. It is just as good, too, with slightly sweetened Armagnac flavoured whipped cream.

SERVES 6

8oz/225g soft butter

8oz/225g soft light brown sugar

4 large eggs

8oz/225g whole or flaked almonds, dry-fried to toast to a pale biscuit colour, cooled, then pulverised to fine crumbs in a food processor (these taste a million times better than ready-bought ground almonds, which to my mind have the faint flavour of dust)

8oz/225g dark chocolate, melted over a very low heat

a good dash of vanilla extract

10 Agen prunes, chopped

Butter a springform cake tin measuring 9in/20cm in diameter, and line its base with a disc of baking parchment.

Beat together the butter and soft brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time and beating each in well. Alternate the eggs with a spoonful of the pulverised toasted almonds. Lastly, beat in the melted dark chocolate and the vanilla extract.

Put half this mixture into the prepared spring-sided cake tin, smooth it even then cover with the chopped Agen prunes. Cover this layer with the remainder of the chocolate mixture, smooth even, and bake in a moderate oven, 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, for 35-40 minutes.

Cool the cake in its tin, then, when cold, run a knife around the inside rim, unclip the tin and carefully lift out the cake, removing the metal base and peeling off the base lining paper. Set the cake on a serving plate and sieve a spoonful of cocoa powder mixed with one rounded teaspoon of icing sugar over the surface and sprinkle on the surrounding plate.

AGEN PRUNE AND ROASTED PISTACHIO FOOL WITH VANILLA CREAM AND GRATED DARK CHOCOLATE

This is a simple pud which can be prepared entirely in advance.

SERVES 6

18 Agen prunes

1 pint/570ml water

4oz/110g granulated sugar

pared rind of 1 orange

1/2 cinnamon stick

3oz/85g unsalted and chopped pistachios, dry-fried for several minutes in a saut pan over a fairly high heat to toast them, and then allowed to cool

For the vanilla cream:

1/2 pint/285ml double cream

1 tablespoon caster sugar

1 level teaspoon vanilla extract

2oz/55g dark chocolate, coarsely grated

Put the water, sugar, pared orange rind and half cinnamon stick into a saucepan and stir until every grain of sugar has dissolved. Then boil the liquid fast for five minutes, take the pan off the heat and add the prunes. Leave to cool.

Remove the cinnamon stick and orange rinds, then liquidise the prunes to a thick pure. Divide this between 6 glasses.

Whip the cream to a soft consistency with the caster sugar and vanilla extract. Spoon this over the prune fool in each glass, and finish with a scattering of coarsely grated dark chocolate.

Chop up any leftover prunes and use as an easy and delicious topping for couscous or porridge.