So I've been doing civic duty this past week as Juror #3 in a trial. By the luck of the draw (and the fact that for years I was registered to vote in California instead of New York) and previous postponements, this is the first time that I've been on a jury.
One of the perks of jury duty include the food and wine magazines lying around in the deliberation room. That's where I got the idea of baking an Italian plum tart. Italian plums are smaller and oval-ish than the regular kind and their skin is a pretty violet-blue.
This recipe is a simplified form of the one that Wolfgang Puck makes.
- 2-1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 10 oz. butter
- 3 eggs
- 16 Italian plums, pitted and sliced
- Start by making the pastry shell. Combine flour and 8 oz. of the butter in a food processor and add 2 egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar until smooth.
- Make a ball of the dough and chill in the refrigerator for 30 min.
- Pit and slice plums into 1/4 inch thick slices.
- Sautee plums in 2 oz. of butter for 3 min. with 1/4 cup sugar.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Let plums cool to room temperature.
- Press dough into flat circle and place in a pie tin.
- Place plums in the center.
- Bake until crust is golden brown, anywhere from 30-45 min. depending on the oven.
Servings: 8, Prep Time: 15 minutes (+30 min. to chill dough + 45 min. bake time), Calories per Serving: 120, Pair with: Sauterne
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