roasted stone fruit – peaches, nectarines or plums

This is such an easy way to make sub par, inexpensive stone fruit taste delicious. Get into the habit of roasting a tray of fruit once a week and then you’ll have it in the fridge to add to yoghurt, granola, pancakes, crumble or porridge.

This recipe is for stone fruit (stone fruit is basically any fruit with a stone or pit in) so use it to make roast peaches, nectarines or plums. You can find my recipe for roast rhubarb here.

If you have perfect, ripe, juicy stone fruit, by all means, use that. But this recipe gives you an option when the only fruit on hand is rock hard supermarket bargain stuff.

Below I’ve also given you ideas how to turn this roasted stone fruit into an easy dessert by adding cheesecake cream and shortbread or a pastry tart case.

If you have the oven on for dinner, get into the habit of chucking a tray of fruit in at the same time.

Note – I don’t think it is worth doing this for anything less than 12 pieces fruit. You can always freeze some of the cooked fruit if you don’t think you’ll get through it in a week, as that’s how long it will sit happily in the fridge waiting to be eaten. But I bet you’ll find you eat it all.

Ingredients for roasted stone fruit

16-20 nectarines or plums – rock hard inexpensive supermarket ones work just fine and give an even more dramatic transformation

1-2 tablespoons white or brown sugar – you can leave this out and add it after cooking if you’re cutting down on sugar

To make roasted stone fruit:

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan)/ 430°f (390°f convection)
2. Wash the nectarines/plums. Cut them first in half around the stone then twist. If they split easy, take the stone out and cut each half in half again. If the stone is stuck, just use a knife to cut around it or leave it in while it cooks, it will pop out easily once the fruit is cooked and soft.
3. Place the fruit, cut side up, in a large ceramic or glass baking dish. I use the one I cook lasagna in. Sprinkle all over with sugar if using. Then take a piece of foil and cover the top of the dish, squeezing around the sides to tray steam inside as it cooks. Then put the pan in the oven.
4. Leave to cook for 40-50 minutes until you start to see juice bubbling and the edges of the fruit looking dark golden. When the fruit first comes out it may be juicy or may look a bit dry, but as it cools it will collapse and release sweet juices.
5. Set aside and serve at just warmer than room temperature. If need be you can pop the fruit in the oven for 5 minutes before serving. Leftovers can be kept in a container in the fridge for 5 days and eaten cold or warm , or freeze and defrost at room temperature.

Mix a cheesecake cream to serve with the roasted stone fruit

• Use a hand whisk or an electric whisk to whisk a tub of cream cheese and the same quantity of double (heavy) cream along with a tablespoon of icing sugar or runny honey in a bowl. Whisk until smooth and thick.
• Taste and add more sugar as needed. As the fruit can vary in sweetness I taste a bit of the cream with a piece of the cooked fruit to test. The cream can be made ahead and kept in the fridge for a day.
• Serve with homemade or shop bought shortbread. Or pile the cream cheese mixture into a pre-baked pastry tart case and put the fruit on top, scraping over any juices before serving. Get my shortbread recipe here

Equipment

You can now buy the equipment I use in this recipe via these links or through my shop. I’ve spent years testing my favourite bits of equipment so rest-assured that whatever I recommend is the best tool for the job and will give you great results without cluttering your kitchen with unused tools. I receive a small affiliate fee from Amazon if you buy via my link. The products don’t cost you any more. These small fees help me keep creating all the free content I share.