Recipe: Fall Plum Tart

Are you one of those people who clips recipes from magazines or is forever jotting down a random idea or another (a pepetual notebookist)? I am, or at least I was, until I realized that they kept building up.

So I started folders for my different interests. But the folders kept building up. So now, at least for the "recipes" folder, I've resolved to cook my way through them, beginning with this Italian Plum Tart recipe that I found off goodness-knows-where.

It was though, very good. We brought it to a family event and there was hardly a slice left for me or D. at the end of it, so I'll have to make it again and not share it this time *grin*

The recipe was also pretty simple and didn't call for anything esoteric. The only thing I had to pick up from the store was a punnet of black plums but you can also use purple or pink plums.

Ingredients:
Crust-

(this can be made one day in advance)
1 1/4 C all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 Tbsp (23.95g) sugar
1/4tsp sale
7 Tbsp (113g) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled

Filling-
1/2 C sugar
3 Tbsp (75g) unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 pounds plums (about 24 small prune plums)
2 Tbsp (30g) unsalted butter

1. In a medium bowl, rub the butter into a mixture of the flour, sugar and salt till it resembles a coarse meal. Work quickly to keep the butter cold.Stir in 3-4 Tbsp of cold water, adding just enough each time for the dough to hold together without getting wet. Flatten teh dough into a 6 inch disk and chill for an hour or until the next day.

2. Preheat the oven to 425F, roll out the dough and cover a pie pan. Prick the surface of the dough and bake it blind, by lining the bottom with aluminium foil (or parchment paper) and filling the pie with pie weights or rice/beans.

3. Bake 10 minutes, then remove the paper and bake for another 5 to get a nice golden-brown colour. Whisk together the sugar, flour and cinnamon to make a filling ,which you will use to sprinkle on the bottom of the pie and on tht top of the sliced layers of plums.

4. Dot the top of the plums with butter. For myself, I found that the plums dried out a bit in the baking, so perhaps you could also experiment with a frangipane almond filling as in here


5. When slicing the plums, try halving them, then shearing them into thin layers. Arrange in a concentric pattern around the tart and bake 10 minutes. reduce the oven temperature to 350F and bake until mixture begins to bubble around the edges, 30-35min. Cool and serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Should serve about 8-10pp.