Loquats

This is a straightforward brunch recipe and takes about 20 minutes. It is a healthy dish that serves 4 people.

These beautiful things are loquats. I know that’s not what the sign says but it is what I know them as.

Loquats or or nisperos Japanese medlars are a fruit I have not seen in years. While I was in Croatia, they were growing and I ate a million of them off the branch. This is what they look like on the tree …

 

We had a loquat tree in our yard in Kenya, but I went for years without trying them. The tree was kind of behind the house in a place I didn’t venture much and there were plenty more obvious fruit to distract myself with like mulberries, pomegranates and tree tomatoes. Then I saw Dorothy, who worked for my family, eating them and wondered what they were. They are fleshy and sweet, but not overly so, and whether you have to peel the skin to eat them is debateable – I don’t. The inside is fleshy like a plum with two big seeds in the very middle.

They are currently in the markets from Italy and as my friend and I were putting together a brunch I thought I would do something with them. I was inspired by the Mediterranean basin and so decided to roast them and serve them with a sweetened labneh (a thick, tart yoghurt from the Middle East, usually served savoury).

You will need:

For the fruit …

• 4 plums
• 4 loquats
• 1 tsp orange blossom water
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp honey

For the yoghurt topping …

• 1 cup labneh
• 1 tbsp honey or to taste (I like it a bit on the tart side)
• 1 ball ginger in syrup diced very fine
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp orange blossom water

To garnish ...

• 16 pistachios – roughly crushed

Wash the fruit and cut each in half. Put them in a bowl and put the orange water, cinnamon and honey on top. Mix to coat.  Turn the oven grill onto the highest heat and put the oven shelf in the middle of the oven. Line a banking tray with tinfoil and put the fruit, skin side up on the tray. Put in the oven for about 4 minutes or until the plum skin is peeling back. Then flip the fruit and cook for a further four minutes.

Mix the second set of ingredients.

Pull the fruit out of the oven and immediately arrange 4 halves on each plate. Top each half with about 1 tbsp of the yoghurt mixture. Sprinkle all of them with the pistachios.