№ 39Plūmju zupa

Plum soup with buttered croutons Serves 4 · 40 minutes · Adapted from the 1796 recipe; not yet tested.

The book gives no quantities; the amounts below are ours.

Ingredients

• 750 g ripe plums
• 750 ml water
• 2 strips lemon peel
• 100 ml red or white wine
• 1–2 tbsp sugar, if the plums are tart (our addition)
• 3 slices white bread, cut into cubes
• 30 g butter
• To serve: 1 tbsp sugar mixed with ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Halve the plums and remove the stones. Put them in a saucepan with the water and lemon peel, bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes, until very soft. 2. Add the wine (and the sugar, if using) and simmer for 2 minutes more. 3. Press everything through a colander into a clean pan, pushing the pulp through and leaving the skins and lemon peel behind. Reheat. 4. Fry the bread cubes in the butter over medium heat, turning them, for 4–5 minutes, until golden and crisp. 5. Put the fried bread into the soup, or into the bowls with the soup poured over, and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.

Notes

• What the book says vs. what we added: the book has you stone fresh plums, boil them in water with lemon peel until very soft, add a little wine, pour everything through a colander, put in pieces of white bread fried in butter and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top. The amounts, the times and the sugar in the soup are ours.
• The colander: izliet caur duršlaku (pour through a colander) could mean just draining, but that would throw away the plums. We take it to mean pressing the soft fruit through, which gives a thick purée soup.
• Wine: the book doesn't say red or white. Red gives a deeper colour.
• Sweetness: the book's only sugar is sprinkled on top; with sweet, ripe plums that's enough.