The Chic Life - Food Challenge and Plum Traybake

This Week's Challenge Item (3/8 - 3/14) - Prunes:

According to Parker-Pope, from her article "The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating", "Dried plums: Okay, so they are really prunes, but they are packed with antioxidants. How to eat: Wrapped in prosciutto and baked."

According to Jonny Bowden in The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, "Prunes are high in fiber." "Prunes are also a good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, and iron." "Prunes boast more antioxidants than any other fruit" - more than twice that of blueberries! Not too shabby, eh?

I love prunes so I had no problem with this challenge. I've made this Braised Pork with Prunes before and it is really delicious and easy to make. However, I didn't use the wine suggested in the recipe (what a waste!) I had some cranberry juice in the fridge so used that instead, it tasted great. I also had some red cabbage in the fridge so baked that with apple and 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar, a little brown sugar and some cinnamon and cloves.

Braised Pork with Prunes LO - TGIF Kits by Pixelgeek Designs

Beth posted this recipe on Bubbly Funk Forum. As there was a special offer on fruit at Morrisons this week. I bought some plums so thought I'd give it a try. I replaced the ground hazelnuts with coconut and the hazelnut topping with pecans. I also used self-raising flour rather than plain to make a more 'cake-like' base. It was really lovely and the coconut worked well. Plum Traybake LO - Pineapple Plantation Designs (Shauna Burke-Smith) for Scraporchard

Plum Tray Bake (Beth from Bubbly Funk)

(Serves 8)
Ingredients:

125g/4oz butter (softened)
1 tsp vanilla extract
275g/10oz soft brown sugar
3 medium eggs
110g/4oz plain flour (sifted)
125ml/4fl oz milk
50g/2oz ground hazelnuts (or use desiccated coconut)
6 small round plums (halved and stoned)
40g/1oz dried cranberries
40g/1oz toasted hazelnuts (chopped) OR pecan nuts

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160°c/140°c/Gas mark 2-3.
2. Grease a deep tin (35 x 23cm) and line with greaseproof paper.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together with a wooden spoon in a large mixing bowl, then stir in the eggs, flour, milk and vanilla extract, along with the ground hazelnuts.
4. Spread the mixture into the baking tin. Place the plums on top and sprinkle with nuts and cranberries.
5. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, ensuring the tray-bake is cooked thoroughly. Leave to cool for 20 minutes.