Plum Tart

Colin brought me a bag of plums along with the peaches that I posted about previously. What to do with them? Well, sometimes you just feel like doing something different; I recalled seeing a recipe for Tarte a'la Alsacienne, basically plums in custard in a tart, in Larousse Gastronomique and thought that I'd give it a go. A quick Google offered a few alternative recipes and this is my take on it from a mixture of those - mainly this one:

Recipe


Pastry
8oz Plain Flour
2oz Lard
3oz Butter
1oz Sugar
1 Egg
A pinch of salt

Rub the fats into the flour, add the salt and sugar and mix. Add the egg and form into a dough. Leave it to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes or so and then roll it out and line a greased 8 inch flan tin with it. It's a pig to roll out and you may end up having to 'patch' the pastry in the tin. Leave in the fridge for 20 mins to rest and then line it with baking parchment and 'baking beans' and cook it 'blind' for about 15 minutes at 180°C - turn the oven down to 150 - 160°C. Remove the beans and parchment and cook it for a further 5 minutes, or until cooked but not too brown.
In the meantime make the...

...Filling
7 - 10 plums (depending on size)
2 Tbsp Raspberry Jam (seedless) or other jam of choice
2 Eggs
2 Tbsp Sugar
6 fl oz Double Cream

Cut the plums in half and remove the stones. Brush the base of the pastry case with the jam and arrange the plums in it, cut side down. Whisk the eggs and sugar together then add the cream and mix well.
Pour this mixture over the plums and bake at 150 - 160°C for about 45 minutes until the custard is set.
Dust with icing sugar before serving.

I think I went a little overboard with the plums - it tastes superb, but would look nicer with the plums spaced further apart so that the custard surrounds them.