Around here, Italian plums are the zucchini of fruit. Almost everyone has a tree in their yard and come harvest season, they're desperately trying to find someone to take bags of them off of their hands.
I am one of the unfortunate souls who does not have a tree in their yard, although (to be completely honest) I am more than happy to not deal with the tree itself and just take other people's overflow.
The other night, I was gifted with over 30 lbs. of ripe plums and have been trying to come up with new and exciting things to do with them before they go south. So far, I have made a plum cobbler, two pints of Chinese plum dipping sauce, and three pints of this WONDERFUL bbq sauce. It's sweet, spicy, tangy goodness works especially well with poultry and pork.
3 1/2 C chopped Italian plums
2 C ketchup
1/2 C finely chopped onion
1/2 C maple syrup
1/4 C honey
1/4 C red wine vinegar
2 t. paprika
1/2 t liquid smoke
1 T Dijon mustard
1 t ground black pepper
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t red pepper flakes
Combine all ingredients in large saucepan. Bring to simmer over medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, until plums are soft, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat and blend with immersion blender until smooth (you can also do this in a food processor). Makes 3 pints.
Tonight, I applied it liberally to grilled Cornish game hens.
