I’m up to my ears in plums this week. I came across a few 19p punnets in the Co-op near my house and I couldn’t resist. We had a plum tree in our back garden when I was little, but back then I wouldn’t touch the things. Now, I can’t get enough.

We’ve had porridge with stewed plums, plum and apple crumble, and a plum jam is in the works. But I realised I was missing out on something fresher, something that really let the almost-ripe plums stand on their own. I was missing this recipe.

This was inspired, as are most of my best ideas, by Catriona White, who also (co-incidentally) taught me everything I know about salads. Once a personal chef and now a cheesemonger, Catriona’s grasp of flavours taught me how to cook in an entirely new way – and most definitely gave rise to this recipe.

While I’ve put pearl barley in this recipe as a way to plump it up a bit and make it into more of a full meal, you really don’t have to; you can use more plums and no barley at all if you wish. However, don’t miss out on the vinaigrette. It’s a doozy.

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