Plum Tart (Page 783)

RECIPE #1181
Date: Sunday, July 4, 2010 -- 8pmLocation: East Lansing, MIKitchen: Our New House!Dining Companion: MattyRecipe Rating: B+

I am trying to finish off the Pies, Tarts, and Pastries section of The Book (although I will be sad to see it go!) and this was one of the last couple recipes in that section. I started by making the crust. I combined flour, butter, sugar, salt, lemon zest, and egg yolks in a food processor, then pressed the mixture into a tart pan. Then I pitted and halved some plums and tossed them with sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. I let the plums macerate for a bit, then arranged them on top of the crust. I then baked the tart. Note: it took much longer than indicated in The Book for the juices to start bubbling. This tart was pretty good. The crust was more cookie-like than crust-like, which I enjoyed. The fruit was cooked just the right amount and the juices thickened nicely to give the filling some body. My only complaint was that it was very tart. I'm sure the tartness depended heavily on the plums I used. I used ripe plums though and it still turned out too tart for me. With sweeter plums it could have been excellent!

The recipe is here.

With around a hundred recipes left to go in this project, I am getting to the point where I have in my head a list of ingredients I still need to find, and recipes that I have left to make. I would venture that, if pressed, I could name off the top of my head at least 80 of the 112 recipes that remain. I have flipped through those remaining recipes many, many times! I used to go to the grocery store with specific recipes in mind, looking for specific ingredients. While I still do that, I have taken the attitude that if I see ingredients I know I am going to need eventually, I buy them. If they are perishable, I make the dish that day or the next. If they aren't, I throw them in the pantry. Sour cherries at the farmer's market on Saturday morning meant Sour Cherry Preserves on Sunday morning. Green tomatoes at the grocery store meant a batch of Green Tomato Pickles was in the works a few days later. I have photocopies of the remaining recipes in my purse at all times so when I stumble across a hard-to-find ingredient I can look up the recipe and buy the rest of the ingredients to go with it. My special gentleman just laughs at me. Yesterday evening we went to the grocery store on what was supposed to be a quick stop just to pick up some beef I needed for dinner tonight. Soon I was throwing all sorts of things into the cart: canning salt, pickling spices, white balsamic, etc... My special gentleman kept asking, "What is that for?" I would answer, "I'm not exactly sure, but I know I need it." When we got home I threw them in the pantry for the day I decide to make the Tricolor Pickled Peppers or Bread-and-Butter Pickles (turns out, that's what they were for).

I am starting to have real confidence that I WILL finish this project, and it WILL be in the year 2010!!