Saturday, August 26, 2006
Plum Tart After a Wild Night
It's been a while since I've posted a recipe here and I fear (and hope) that after all my talking about dinners during the past days you are eager for a more hands-on approach. I was actually going to experiment with the vegetables in my
fridge last night, which would hopefully have resulted in some post-able concoction. But as you can see I am talking in the conditional form and there is no post in sight for last night. But I do have a good excuse.My colleagues convinced me to break with my unsociable habit of heading straight home after work and go to the pub with them after work. Now, as you may have noticed, I rarely go out in the evening and I never drink alcohol. Both have partly to do with the fact that I have epilepsy and am technically not supposed to mix my medication with alcohol, but they are also due to my general laziness. If I drink half a glass of wine, I am well merry (and always have been - I have a very low tolerance to the stuff). So one sip of one of my colleagues' drinks combined with a late return home (I got in at 7.45 p.m., which is the latest I've been out in weeks) were enough to render me unable to function in the kitchen. (Yes, I am aware that this is ridiculous and you may laugh hardily at my expense... I can't imagine how I used to survive all nighters...) At first I was going to get take-out, but then I realised that in the time it would take them to deliver my food I could easily rustle up some fried rice with stir-fried vegetables. So that's what I did.
Today I made up for my failings, though, by getting busy with an almond and plum tart to go with my after-market tea.
2 rectangular sheets of puff pastry, about 40 x 60cmThis is not a very sweet desert, so if you like it sweet, serve it with a generous helping of vanilla ice cream or some sweetened whipped cream.
500g plums (or mirabelles, damsons, cherries or any other stone fruit you like)
125g butter
½ cup sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 tbsp dark rum
1 tsp almond extract
100g ground almonds
5 to 10 tbsp flour (more if needed)
1 small egg, beaten, for the egg wash
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line a large baking tray with baking paper or spread with a thin layer of butter and dust with flour. Remove the stones from the plums and cut into bite size chunks. If you are using smaller fruit, simply remove the pip and otherwise leave them whole. You don't want small bits that are going to cook down to a pulp and make the whole tart go soggy.
In a large mixing bowl, whip the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add the egg, rum and almond extract and beat until well incorporated. Don't worry too much if the mixture separates, it will come together again once you add the dry ingredients.
Gently stir the fruit into the egg mixture. Don't overwork it. Now add the almonds and stir until incorporated. Finally add just enough flour to form a soft, but not runny dough.
Place one of the pastry sheets on the pre-prepared baking sheet. Add the plum and almond mixture in a large heap in the middle. Brush the exposed edge of the puff pastry liberally with the beaten egg. Cover with the second pastry sheet and press down well to seal the edges. As you can see in the picture, if you're too gentle, your tart will split during baking. Brush the top of the tart with the remaining egg. Make a small hole in the centre of the tart at the top of your fruit pile to let the steam escape and prevent the tart from exploding in the oven. If you like, you can also draw a pattern in the top with a knife, just make sure not to cut through the pastry. Place in the centre of the oven and bake for about 25 to 35 minutes until golden brown.
Christine at 3:00 pm
