prunes in armagnac
rating:Recipe from the wonderful Valerie Kiertzner (valerie@cix)
if you decide to make a prune's day by smothering it in Armagnac, make sure you use a preserving jar with a new rubber seal, so nothing evaporates. They're usually best done about three months prior to eating, or longer. You can help them along by buying the wizened little dried prunes and very gently cooking them in Armagnac until they've plumped up (and letting them get completely cold before bottling.) It will use more Armagnac this way, due to evaporation and prune-soakage, but they'll be vair vair nice!
a lovely way to serve them is warmed through, with double cream that you have previously whipped with a little sugar, a little real vanilla extract, some cinnamon and some nutmeg scraped on top.
if you find yourself with a few damaged or very soft prunes you don't want to put in the jar, chop these fellows into small pieces and add them to good quality vanilla or coffee ice-cream then re-freeze.
