Your friends with plum trees will love you if you produce this simple tart with their plentiful fruit. I was given a box of Luisa plums, a sweet and juicy plum that requires no added sugar so have used in this tart.
Ingredients
| 250 g | Shortcrust pastry, thawed |
| ½ cup | Fresh white breadcrumbs |
| ½ cup | Ground almonds |
| 600 g | Plums, halved and stoned (Main) |
| 2 | Large eggs |
| ½ cup | Creme fraiche |
| ⅓ cup | Icing sugar, for sprinkling |
Directions
- Heat the oven to 200C.
- Line a 22cm loose-bottomed tart tin with the pastry and bake blind, see tips below.
- Increase the oven to 220C. Combine the breadcrumbs and almonds and spread in a single layer over the base of the pastry case. Arrange halved plums, cut-side-up in the pastry case.
- Beat together the eggs and crème fraiche and spoon over the plums. Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. The plums will collapse a little once removed from the oven.
- Serve tart warm or at room temperature with ice cream, cream or yoghurt and pass the icing sugar shaker for those with a sweeter tooth.
Tips – baking blind, lightly flour the bench top and roll out the pastry. If using ready rolled sheet pastry, roll a little thinner. Wrap pastry around the rolling pin then let it unroll over the tin. Press pastry into the tin, right into the edges, and leave about 1cm overhang of pastry (shortcrust pastry tends to shrink a little during baking).
Roll the rolling pin over the top of the tin to give you a clean edge. Pull away any excess pastry. Lightly prick the base with a fork. Place in the fridge and chill for 30 minutes to allow the pastry to firm up. Remove from the fridge and line pastry with crunched up baking paper and fill this with rice or baking beans.
I use rice then leave it to cool completely after use. You can then store for reuse time and time again. Bake pastry for 20 minutes then carefully remove the paper and rice or beans and return to the oven for another 5 minutes to bake any damp patches. Using breadcrumbs and almonds helps soak up excess juice released by the plums during baking.
If you are using especially tart plums then dredge prepared plums with 2-3 tablespoons caster sugar and leave to sit for about 20 minutes before placing in the pastry.I used a 500g packet Paneton ready rolled sheet sweet pastry. Once thawed, cut in half and roll each half a little thinner. Using 1 half of the pastry make up a tart case. Bake blind then cool completely, wrap well and freeze for next time. The remaining pastry I used in this tart.
