Saturday, July 23, 2005

Davidsons Plums



Since everyone liked the Mangosteens so much I thought I would highlight an even more obscure fruit, The Davidsons Plum. What on earth is a Davidsons Plum( Davidsonia pruiens)? I can already hear the questions *grin*. Well it is that purple round thing in the top of the picture . They are a rainforest tree that produces these round fruits dark purple fruits with a reddish interior. They will be hard to comeby but if you live in Wollongong and up, try growing your own!. Whilst they are so acidic your mouth will pucker, they do have a nice flavour, they make excellent jam which is abit like rasberry but better! So what does this have to do with steak? Well my mum gave me 2 fruits (as she is making the rest into jam!!!! so I didnt want to steal too many). So I thought that they would help to make an excellent sauce for steak! and you know what? I was right! (The recipe will be located at the bottom of the post). They added a really nice flavour to the sauce!

To serve with the steak, I had a head of my mums organic broccoli. If there was ever a reason for home grown vegetables it is broccoli (tomato is a fruit ;). The broccoli is more flavourful, and much more tender when it grows in her garden. I could just have a bowl dressed with alittle butter, some parsley and salt and pepper for dinner. I know have to survive on the few heads that I am very happily given!

I also made a fennel and orange salad. The navel oranges which are avaliable in Australia are fantasticly sweet and cheap so if you live here go buy some!


Steak
A nice tender steak per person (we had sirloin) (so tender you could cut them with a butter knife!) each side with a nice coat of pepper and salt just before going into the pan
1/2 onion sliced
1 davidsons plum (perhaps a substitute would be redcurrant jam/jelly?) or fresh redcurrants! (or mushrooms to be traditional ;) )
2 tbsp of sour cream
salt and pepper
a good glug of red wine (Aussie shiraz of course!)
A nice knob of butter and/or olive oil

In a nice hot pan (preferably not non stick) add butter(or oil), when it foams add the steak and let it seal and cook on one side. When this side is crusty, flip the steak and seal on the other side, when this has browned and onions and davidsons plum, when onion is cooked add the wine, stir to degalze pan. When it has deglazed add the sourcream and turn the heat down (steak should be just about cooked. Stir the sour cream through. Remove steak, and allow it to rest on the plate. Adjust seasoning in the sauce and pour on top of the steak.

Fennel and orange salad
1/2 fennel finely sliced
1/2 red onion
2 oranges, segmented

Squeeze extra juice from oranges into a jar, add olive oil and salt and pepper to taste shake.
Put fennel, onion and orange into a bowl, pour on dressing serve. (is that easy or what!)

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21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Clare my mouth is watering so badly right now looking at your pictures. I love fruit so now you have me intrigued about the davidson plum. Oh broccoli from the garden, I am so jealous! LOL Your pictures are making it hard to type!  

Posted by milgwimper

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I'm pretty jealous of your mom's garden, too. First all that arugula, and now fresh broccoli. Awesome posts on the obscure fruits, too, Clare. I love reading this regional stuff! 

Posted by Amy

Anonymous said...

Hi Clare - Wow, I've never seen these. Plums are one the "Few" fruits that I really like. 

Posted by Kirk

Anonymous said...

I love fruit so this is driving me crazy! i still havent found mangosteens here yet. But now I am thinking about these plum...*sigh* ;>

Kirk:

Oh do you like Pluots too? hmmm maybe I will have to see about getting a ahold of some Santa Rosa Plums for you. 

Posted by milgwimper

Anonymous said...

Hi Milgwimper
LOL, pretty lucky huh? The steaks were great! But mine was not as big as this one!(it was caseys). The Plums are great, but they aren't really a plum.. that is just the australian name for them as they look kinda similar. I don't mind eating one raw, but alot of people find them wat to sour (good source of vit c ;) )

Hi Amy
Thanks :) I figure whats the point of reading an australian food blog if you dont get to hear about some australian only produce? I will try and get some jars put aside to send to you :)

Hi Kirk
I dont think you will find these in the USA. You can buy the jam in some specialty stores, I only get them as my mum has them frowing in her "rainforest" which is just a few rainforest trees..lol
http://www.realestate.com.au/objects/agents/XRWTHI/20050406133439,p,0,fagent.jpg
This is the beach.. and you can see the "mountain range" behind it well that causes a rainshadow (so rain on our side) so there is some temperate coastal rainforest in there still which is why we can grow some of these plants.

Hi Milgwimper..
pity about the mangosteens surely you will be able to find sooner or later? I hope. Or you wil just have to come visit somewhere nicer ;)
 

Posted by clare eats

Anonymous said...

Clare:

If I can't find any mangosteens here I will have to fly down there to see you and get sick on mangsteend before I leave! MUHAHAHA ;P  

Posted by milgwimper

Anonymous said...

hi clare, that sounds fabulous, as always. the combination of flavours so unique yet complementary...cheers,j 

Posted by J

Anonymous said...

I don't think we get any Davidson's Plums here - the plums we get seem to be from USA. Saw a green plum today which was kinda weird.

Yum, I love steak. Must try the redcurrant jam combo. 

Posted by boo_licious

Anonymous said...

Hi Clare,

This seems really interesting. I normally don't like sauces on steak, but I think I would try this. Did you say that the plums are sour? 

Posted by Reid

Anonymous said...

Hi Reid
The plums are really, really sour. But they have a nice taste at the same time. That is why I "think" something else sour like redcurrants might go really well in the sauce instead. The steak was thick (for an aussie steak) and nicely medium rare. This works really well with some nice "new" potatoes that have been boiled or a baked potato. 

Posted by clare eats

Anonymous said...

wow the sauce looks and sounds really good! am taking note of the recipe so i can try it someday! 

Posted by gwenda

Anonymous said...

Hi Gwenda
If I get a few more I will let you know (if you are in sydney) so that you can try this if you want? 

Posted by clare eats

Anonymous said...

Ooh, Clare--I mean Cybergirl--don't tease me unless you really meant it!!!! 

Posted by Amy

Anonymous said...

Hi Clare - Sour, huh? Man those little glands on the side of my throat are going crazy! Looks like I'll have to start "swimming" this time, huh? :) 

Posted by Kirk

Anonymous said...

yum, that looks really really good clare, i've never heard about davidsons plums!!! how big are they? 

Posted by stef

Anonymous said...

Hi Kirk
I thought you left last week? We should be about to meet in the middle LOL! Yep very sour.

Hi Stef,
The Davidson's plums are a native Asutralian bushfood so I am not suprised you haven't heard of them. They are pretty small, about the size of a ping pong ball? 

Posted by clare eats

Anonymous said...

Why would I tease you Amy? :)
Well I will try.... hopefully there will be a heap more fruit.. and I am going to try and grow the seeds from the fruit I recieved so if you can wait a few years! *grin* 

Posted by clare eats

Anonymous said...

That recipe sounds delicious Clare. Pity we don't have mangosteen and those plums here in Canada. There are some fruits we had in Africa that I'm sure you also have in Australia, but half of them I do not know the name in English. 

Posted by Ana

Anonymous said...

Hi Ana
Thankyou so much! :)
I suppose that is why it is nice to travle, I am jealous of so many things you get in Canada ....

The Fennel and orange salad is really nice too and I think you can get fennel? It is easy to grow and would look lovely in you beautiful garden! (See I am already jealous! ) 

Posted by clare eats

Anonymous said...

great recipe! care to ship any davidsons plums to new york? :)

we've been grilling steak frequently this summer. your picture makes my mouth water! 

Posted by ann

Anonymous said...

Hi Ann :)
I saw your yummy steak.... mmmmmmmm
I wonder what American Customs would think? If I managed to get some jam I will let you know ;) That should be acceptable  

Posted by clare eats

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