I believe I have written, in the past, of how as the seasons move along, the "color" of the season changes. When it is early spring, it seems to Annalena that all is pink (strawberries, rhubarb), and light green (asparagus). As we move through the summer, the colors become more varied, but still pale until we get to late summer/early fall, when the colors are very intense, and now, in late August, the dominant colors are dark red (peppers; some peaches and necatrines) and purple (eggplant, peppers again, and plums). Indeed, the year is moving along. There are no more cherries, the abundance of apricots is slowing down, and the first grapes are here (nimrods. One of my favorites). And plums are at their peak. You could eat a different plum every day for two weeks. And perhaps you should. Get to know the differences. During the course of a year, you will eat different types of peaches, but probably not know it. With plums, you know. Green ones. Blue ones. Purple ones with red flesh. Purple ones with green flesh. And so on, and so forth.
Annalena had a large bowl of plums begging to be used for something. They were the "Italian plum" variety. Slightly dry, dark purple skin, and green flesh. They are ideal for baking, because unlike many plums, it is very easy to cut them and remove them from their pits. And the baking process makes them unbelievably sweet.
This is arecipe from one of David Lebovitz's books. I like it because it is ideal for the baker/cook who wants a pie, but fears pie crust.
Believe me, I understand that one. Even though my pies are now good, I still believe that every good pie crust is a gift from beyond. But this one, well, it's very easy, and it's not really a pie crust: it's a "tart" crust, and you know what's so great about it? You don't have to roll it out.
Ok, let's start. You need a tart pan. Nine inches. Let's not get into size arguments, bring a tape measure with you to the store and measure the removable bottom (and again, let's not get into the question of whether all bottoms should be removable, shall we?).
Once you have your pan, we can make the crust. Now, if you have a food processor, use the sliced nuts I call for in the following. If you don't, then get some almond flour, which is very readily available. And if you are allergic to nuts, substitute more flour.
To make the crust in the food processor, dump in a cup of flour, a half cup of skinned almonds, whatever cut you have, a quarter cup of granulated sugar and a pinch of salt. Pulse that together, and then cut up a stick of cold, unsalted butter, add that and pulse some more until it's all incorporated. Now, add an egg yolk and process until a ball forms.
Remember the substitutions above if you need. And if you don't have skinless almonds, hell use the whole ones. Or use hazelnuts. In any event, you will have a soft dough. This is sort of what we call a "cookie crust." Instead of rolling it out, you're going to take that ball of dough, put it into your tart pan, and push it around with your hands and fingers, up the side of the pan, and all the way through the bottom.
This is actually fun, and don't get frustrated if you find that you're doing this unevenly. Everyone does. The way to perhaps overcome that frustration, is to push the dough up the sides of the pan first, and then pat it all around to make it as even as possible. You can do this. It will take less than five minutes.
Now, the patience part. This is very soft, and if you were to bake this crust now, it would collapse into a pile and you would not be happy. So, put it into your fridge for about three hours.
When you're read, preheat your oven to 400, and take the tart out of the fridge. Prick it all over with a fork, and then put it in the oven, and after nine minutes, go in with a spatula, and push it down to flatten it.
When I read these instructions I didn't understand why you did that, and then when I saw it puff up... So, yes, do it. And then bake for another nine minutes.
While this is happening, cut up a pound and a half of plums. I cut them in halves which was a good choice. And mix them with a hefty tablespoon of corn starch, and a quarter cup of sugar.
When the tart crust is out of the oven, let it cool for about five minutes, and then put your plums in. I put them in, cut side down, so that we could have the lovely purple color showing.
IF you like - and trust me, you do - make a crumb topping. Do this by mixing half a cup of flour, 1/3 cup of brown sugar, 1/3 cup of almond paste, about a quarter cup of almonds, and half a stick of butter in your food processor, and pulse it to a fine grain. Again, if you don't care for nuts, leave them out and increase the flour. And if you don't have a food processor, use the nut flour we already talked about.
Change the temperature of your oven to 375, and then put the crumbs over the fruit. Put the thing on a baking sheet so that if any fall, you don't get clouds of smoke from your oven. Get it back in the oven for thirty minutes. The plums will bubble and give off a very thick juice and your home will smell of toasted nuts, if you use them. And then... the prettiest tart you can imagine comes out of your oven.. Look above.
Ice cream, anyone?
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