I have been obsessed with buying fresh produce at the Farmer’s Market in our small city. I look forward to the summer produce all winter long. Most Saturday mornings I wake up early to take a walk with Ron and Bijou. We grab a latte or soy chai at the indie coffee house on the corner before making our way to the market.
This past Saturday vendors were selling sugar plums and Japanese Plums, which are now in season! We bought one carton of Japanese Plums. If you have never tasted a Japanese plum, they are slightly similar in flavor to the plums from the grocery store. Smaller and reddish, the sweet, juicy inside and the sour skin are a fabulous palate combination.
Last night I was cooking up some organic chicken with dill for dinner. Ron was keeping Bijou busy in the loft, and with that moment of respite, I decided to take things up a notch and make a new, special sauce for the chicken. The Japanese plums were employed with a little butter, virgin coconut oil, rice vinegar and agave. It was sweet and sour and turned out more like a chutney, which was fine with me. Ron had no complaints, either!
Japanese Plums. ©Reel Chow
Ingredients:
Serves 2
- 5 Japanese plums, cut from the seed into quarters with skin on
- 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
- 1.5 tablespoon of rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon of agave
- 2 tablespoons of virgin coconut oil
- sea salt and black pepper to taste
In a medium-sized sauce pan over medium heat, add the butter and coconut oil. Once the butter melts, add the plums with a pinch of sea salt and pepper. Sauté for about a minute, then add the rice vinegar and turn the temperature to medium-high.
Let it boil and cook down a bit. The sauce will thicken as you cook for two minutes while stirring to prevent burning. Then, turn the heat down to medium-low and add in the agave. Stir well. Turn the heat off and serve immediately.
Organic chicken breast with Japanese plum chutney and basil. ©Reel Chow
If you can’t find Japanese plums then try this recipe with the standard plums you find at the super market. Since they are larger, use two plums for this recipe. The flavor will be different, but you should be able to get the texture similar, and it will still be a very different approach to a standard chicken meal.
As we were eating this dish last night, I couldn’t help but think how good this would go with roasted pork tenderloin. I think I will have to try it before the plums go out of season! Stay tuned, experiment to make it your own, and bon appétit!
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