Impress your friends: "Gateau Breton" with aromatic plums

 Ciao, ragazzi.  Today, we're making dessert.  We're making it with plums, which are still aplenty in the market.  As the weather turns closer to freezing,  it's good to know, though, that we can make this ultimately, very easy cake, with many things.

The cake we are making today, is a variation on a classic dessert called a "gateau breton".  The crust we use, is essentially what is used in that cake.  Traditionally, the filling is a mix of dried, spiced fruit.   Those of you who have had the fortune to eat Basque food, will recognize elements of gateau basque, where a custard is sandwiched between two layers of rich dough.  Use dried fruit, or apples, or pears, or if you want, get some of the wonderful products American Spoon makes, and do this.  It is really not that hard.

When Annalena read the recipe, the instructions were "you can make the components ahead of time, but make the cake the day you wish to eat it.  "YESSIR YESMAAM."  In fact, leftovers kept well for a day.  They didn't last beyond that.  Annlena does see, however, that this is a wet filling, and it will make your pastry soggy.  With that in mind, lets make the components when we have time, and then make the cake.   Here we go.

First, the filling.  You will need 3 pounds of plums.  Any variety will do.  Wash them if you must, and then cut them into slices.  No surgical precision needed.  You will add these to a pot, and add a few ingredients, some which are a bit unusual.  First, add a teaspoon of cinnamon (not so odd.  If you have cinnamon sticks, use one of those), then add 2 teaspoons of honey  (not so odd, but not common).  Here's the odd one:  a big stalk of fresh rosemary.  And, if you have it, a bit of grated fresh ginger doesn't hurt.  Put that all in a big, heavy pot, and add 1-3 tablespoons of sugar, depending on how sweet you like things (Annalena used 1).

You will cook this, at very low heat, for 20-30 minutes.  You're looking for something jammy, and thick.  Please read what Annalena says about this, below.   Here is what things look like after 15 minutes:

And then, after 30:

That doesn't look particularly jammy, does it?  Well, as it cools, the magic happens.  So pluck out the rosemary, pluck out the cinnamon stick, if the cooking released any plum pits, pull those out, and store this stuff until it's cold.  Now, we're going to make the dough.  We start with a cup of sugar.  You put this in  your food processor, and pulse to make it fine (DO NOT take a "short cut" and use confectioner's.  Annalena would rather you not do the step than make that change)

 You then add to this, 2.5 cups of flour, more cinnamon (a teaspoon of ground this time), and a bit of salt.  Pulse this, and you'll get what we have above.  

Now, we add our rich ingredients.   We need half a pound of unsalted butter, and 5 eggs:

Separate one of those eggs, so you're adding four eggs, and one egg yolk.  See how Annalena cut the butter in cubes?  Yup.  Do that.  Add the butter first, and pulse until  you get really granular stuff:

Add the eggs and egg yolk to this.  First, pulse.  You'll get what looks like a hopeless mess:

Pazienza.  You'll eventually get:

Dump that out, form a ball, and then cut that ball into halves:

Wrap each half, and let it chill.  You want this to be at the same temperature as your filling. 

The wonderful thing about this dough, is that it remains very soft.  So, while you CAN use a rolling pin, what will follow is something  you can do with your fingers. 

Get a springform pan: 8 inches is better, but 9 inches is just fine.  Seal it up, and put it on a baking sheet.  Grease it, perhaps with the butter from the paper of the butter used in the dough.  Start pressing the first piece on the bottom.  You'll be amazed how easy it is to do.  Don't get fancy, it's not important.  It IS important that you cover the whole bottom.  Then dump the filling in.   Then, you have to press out the rest of the dough.  Use the plastic or foil you just used to wrap the stuff.  Not sure if you have a big enough piece?  Put the pan over it.  You want something just a little bit bigger, and if it's not right, then just keep pressing with your fingers.  YOU CAN DO THIS.

Put that on top of the filling, get a fork, and seal the layers.  Don't worry about plum juice escaping.  It's all good.  

Finally, get one more egg, and beat it with a tablespoon of water.  Make a little pattern on the top, brush it with egg, and get it in the oven .  Your temperature is 350, and your baking time is an hour.   And....

Let this cool, and run a knife around the edge to break the carmelized layer, which you can see.  Leave it at room temperature, and serve it with something on the sweet side, because the tart will be rich, but not that sweet.  Annalena used raspberry ice cream, sort of as a homage to late summer.  Whipped cream is fine.

So, there we are ragazzi.  Annalena  hopes you like the two recipes this week.  She has no idea what the week will bring, but she'll be back with something new.  Until then,  INTO THE KITCHEN WITH ALL OF YOU!!!!