Jackson Jambalaya

For whatever reason, black plums are in season for only a couple of months each year and we are now in the later part of this year's season. Being able to find what I need to make a black plum tart at Kroger (or your favorite grocer) is one of the reasons why I am not as happy a guy when they are gone. 

I know a tart is not bread. However, IMO, when desert time rolls around, it is better.

I can and will eventually post my experiences making bread with you guys. The biggest bread problem I have is that when I think about bread for very long, I usually move toward spiritual thoughts.

In the fourth chapter of Matthew’s gospel, the ex-tax collector, brought into discipleship by The Master shares his recounting of the time where Jesus encountered the devil during his time of fasting in the wilderness.

¹Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 
²And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.
³ Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
⁴ But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’…. 

There is a wonderful lesson on faith, belief, and obedience to God’s word that uses these verses as a base, but this is not the time for that, so please forgive me when I alter the words of scripture and write that ‘man (or woman) cannot live by bread alone’ (shame on me for now twisting the words of Christ) – We must, at least occasionally, have a nice plum tart. I bet I could use the words ‘plum tart’ as a metaphor in my spiritual message, but it is still not the time, so let me go on with my desert recipe.

Black Plum Tart with Crumb Crust

When the fruit you will need to make this is in season, a nice black plum tart is a really good eat in addition to (or the replacement of) bread.

To make a black plum tart, you will need:

A pie crust.

Sadly I failed to take photos when I made my pie crust, but the recipe follows:

Note: They sell great premade crusts in the dairy and biscuit section at Piggly Wiggly or (if you are an uppity snooty grocery shopper) at your Publix or Kroger.

The store brands are just as good as the name brand product, and usually a little cheaper.

To make a crust from scratch, you will need:

2 1/2 cups AP Flour
2 sticks Cold, Unsalted Butter (cut into pieces)
1 Tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 - 6 Tablespoons (give or take) of cold water

Directions:

Add salt and sugar to flour and sift into a mixing bowl. Mix butter in flour with fingers until the blend is uniform and crumbles. 

Place in refrigerator for 10-20 minutes to re-chill the butter. Incorporate water a bit at a time into flour mixture while mixing. Stop adding water when you are able to work the mixture into a ball, adding only enough water to make the ball stick together. 

Some folks will use a half vodka and half water mixture to reduce the water content in their crust even more. If you worry about getting your crust too wet, this does help. After cooking, the vodka will have evaporated, and your crust will not be drunk.

I usually make my crust in the food processor by adding the dry ingredients, pulsing once to mix them, then the butter, pulsing three or four times to make the uniform crumb, then the water, pulsing and adding only enough water to form a ball. The food processor method works great and keeps my fingers clean.

Either way, when you have formed the dough into a ball, separate it into two portions and shape them into 1-2 inch thick rounds, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes, then roll one round out to size on a floured surface. (Save the other for later use, for stuff like dried apple fried pies).

I’m not sure how Martha Stewart and Snoop Dog make their pie crust when they get together to make pies, but I bet their recipe is close to mine. I bet Snoop Dog doesn’t like the butter and flour mixture sticking to his fingers either.

To make the tart you will need:

A fluted tart pan as shown below, a pie crust for the bottom of the tart (you will partially precook the crust to help set it before adding the fruit), 4 or 5 black or red plums depending on size and how tightly you arrange the slices. I used 3 3/4 black plums in the recipe I photographed. If you can’t find black, red plums work fine, with a slightly different taste. Fresh peaches and nectarines also work but will need to be peeled. You also need brown sugar and honey to make the crumb topping for the tart.

To make the topping you will need:

1/4 cup old fashioned oatmeal
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 Tablespoon AP flour
1/8 teaspoon of salt
2 Tablespoons almond slithers
1 Tablespoon honey

 

Add all of the topping ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix with a spoon until a crumbly mixture has formed. Set this aside until needed.

Roll out crust (thin) and form into fluted tart pan (Most tart pans have a removable bottom panel). There is no need to coat most of these pans with oil or butter because many of them are non-stick, usually Teflon coated. If your tart pan is not non-stick, coat it with butter.

Do not pierce the crust with a fork. If there are holes in your crust, the juice from the plums will pass through and cook under the crust, making the crust stick to the pan and ruining it as the tart cooks. However, it is important to keep the crust flat as it cooks – here is how I do that.

Cut a circle out of parchment paper and place over the crust. 

Dump dried beans over the crust to keep it flat while pre-cooking. We keep a jar of beans in the pantry for this use and reuse them when needed to pre-cook a crust. (WARNING) I have mistakenly tried to cook some of these pie crust beans and after a passage through the oven at 400 degrees once or twice, they will never boil to tenderness – not even when simmered for five hours – I tried.

Pre-cook the crust at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, until it is a light tan.

After taking your crust out, remove the beans (cool and return them to the bag, then store them in the pantry for use next time). Remove the parchment paper and discard.

With a sharp knife, slice the plums - each plum into 16 slices - Half the plum, then quarter, then 8ths, then 16ths. I love the way ripe black plums look and taste, but you need to be sure to have enough to make your tart, so don’t sample too many as you cut them. Better to eat any that are left over after making the fruit layer of the tart.

Black plums are free stone fruit and easy to cut, since the stone pops right out after making the first cut.

I slice my plums one at a time and then place them on the crust before going to the next plum, starting with the outside row and continuing working toward the center until the plum layering is completed – from the photo I show, you may decide your slices should be more artistically placed than mine, but I get the job done and regardless of whether your plums are neater, prettier, or not as nice as mine, the taste should be the same.

After placing the plums on the precooked crust, sprinkle the top with the honey, brown sugar, oatmeal and almond crumb coating we made earlier.

The tart then goes into a 400 degree oven, on the middle shelf, for 30 minutes give or take. The intent is to dry the fruit and set the crumb top. Since you precooked the crust, it will still be great when those things are accomplished.

Sadly, when you take it from the oven, the tart still needs to cool. For about 30 minutes. It will slice easier when it has cooled. You should be able to see from the photos below that the crust pulls away from the fluted edge as it comes out of the oven and cools.

I can't imagine why you wouldn't want to serve this desert with some vanilla ice cream.

This tart recipe calls for black plums, but you can use red plums, fresh prune plums (which are nearly impossible to find in this part of the country), nectarines, peaches, or apples. I am sure there is a fruit I forgot, but you get the idea. Trust me, while they are in season, you should try this tart using black plums.

And buy enough of them to eat several that are not needed for your plum tart.

As always, thanks for looking at my post. God bless you.