A Wee Doch and Doris

 Read more from Gerald

I think I am becoming a Grumpy Old Man… Donna says I have been one for years… but I am reduced to speechless Mr Meldrew-like disbelief at the thoughtless way some people behave in large supermarkets. Most of the people who shop at my local supermarket drive there, they know their road code…one hopes…why then can’t they apply some of that common sense and courtesy to their trolley pushing. I realise that in a big supermarket a trolley can be the size of a small family car and it can get very busy but the shop has marked lanes in the aisles for a purpose so why not use them; there is even an overtaking lane. But no; instead we often have two trollies parked side by side while the owners chat and their children clog up the third lane or they park directly opposite a shelf-stacker working amidst their piles of stock and wander off to find something further down the now blocked aisle.

I found a quick stop to pick up a few things on Waitangi Day almost too much with dozens of families saving petrol by going for a leisurely holiday outing down the tinned goods and up household cleaners before parking somewhere in the way and having a game of hide and seek. I was debating either to abandon my wheels and shopping and go for a lie-down in a dark room or to give in to incandescent trolley-rage when I saw some beautiful Black Doris plums on special and my day changed.

I think that plums, as with all fruit and vegetables, are best in their season. I would rather wait and enjoy them at their finest for a relatively short time than have them year-round when they are not so good; even when preserved in-season plums are better.

I would bottle some later but I wanted to enjoy most of my Black Doris fresh and raw, perhaps for breakfast or with some cheese for lunch. I did have another use for them though, which I hadn’t tried for a quite few years. With lamb being briefly less expensive, I cannot bring myself to use the word “cheaper” I braised them with a shank-end of leg that Donna had bought.

Black Doris' Lamb

Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C. On top of the cooker melt some butter in a casserole or similar deep oven-proof dish with a lid and brown the lamb on all sides. Add 300ml of red wine (or port if you have some that needs to be used), cover and put in the oven. After 30 minutes add 8 – 10 Black Doris plums together with 2 crushed cloves of garlic and a medium onion, chopped. Cover and return the dish to the oven for about another 30 to 40 minutes or until the lamb is cooked to your liking.

Remove the lamb and allow it to rest, keeping it covered and warm.

Skim the fat from the pan juices and then sieve them into a clean saucepan, pushing as much of the pulp through as possible. To the sauce add a pinch of ground nutmeg, one of ground cinnamon and ½ tsp brown sugar; the sauce should not be overly sweet. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with the lamb together with roasted potatoes and a selection of fresh green vegetables.

Another member of the plum family I am looking forward to a bit later in the year is the sloe. Far too astringent and tart to be eaten raw, the sloe, the fruit of the blackthorn which grows wild in New Zealand, can be used to make preserves but many consider it best used in sloe gin. A warming old-fashioned cordial it is easy to make and is a delightful tipple on a cold winter’s evening.

Sloe Gin

Half-fill a large wide-necked jar with ripe sloes that have been pricked. The pricking can be done with any sharp implement although traditionally if metal it should be made of silver; most old recipes however call for it to be done with a thorn from the tree from which they came.

Add 100g of sugar for each 500ml of sloes then fill the rest of the jar with gin. Add 4 cloves and a small stick of cinnamon and seal the jar. Turn the jar to mix then store in a cool, dark place for at least 4 months, turning once a week.

After this time the liquid will be a deep and pleasing red. Strain and discard the sloes and the spices then carefully decant the liquid into clean bottle(s) leaving out any sediment. Seal and store.

A tot of this after a meal of Black Doris’ Lamb and even the most trying day in the aisles fades into insignificance.

And then there are damsons… but that’s another story.