ONE of the joys of summer stone fruits is the juicy plum.
The plump ripe fruits are delicious eaten as a snack and for my money, the juicier (and often unfortunately therefore, the messier, to eat) the better.
During my last visit to my greengrocer I noted a lot of the plums on sale were still rather firm and I was loath to buy them. They will soften if left on the bench for a few days, but plums won't ripen further and produce more sugar.
That said, firm plums can be stewed with sugar to serve over breakfast cereal or ice cream, and they are great to feature in this open tart, where the firmness of the fruit is essential for helping remove the stones and slicing the fruit evenly for the tart topping.
This tart is a great summer dessert, and of course works well with nectarines and peaches, too.
PLUM TART
- 100g chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1cm cubes, plus more for the baking dish
- 100g flour, plus more for the baking dish
- 95g sugar, plus 2 tbspns
- 1 tspn baking powder
- 1/4 tspn salt
- 6 tbspns milk
- 1/2 tspn vanilla essence
- 1 egg
- 450g firm plums, pitted and cut into eighths
- 1/2 tspn ground cinnamon
Heat the oven to 200C. Grease a 20cm square baking dish with butter and dust with flour; set aside.
Whisk together flour, 2 tbspn sugar, the baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Add 50g chilled butter and rub into flour mixture until pea-size pieces form.
Mix together the milk, vanilla and egg in a small bowl; add to the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined.
Transfer the dough to the prepared baking dish and spread over the bottom of dish. Arrange the plum slices in rows on top of the dough.
Combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the plums. Melt the remaining butter and drizzle over the plums. Bake until browned and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Let cool slightly before slicing and serving.
Serve with whipped cream, if you wish. Serves 6 to 8.
