I have had strep throat for 5 days and all I keep thinking about is how much I love Alexander Flemming.
If I could, I would give him this tart.
It is not very sweet, just a good buttery pastry crust with tart fruit and a little apricot jam for a nice shine.
Plum and Apple Tart
(serves 8)
Pastry Crust:
½ or so of cup ice water
2 cups all purpose flour
12 tablespoons salted butter cut into small cubes
Topping: (substitute any stone fruit or use only apples)
3 apples such as Granny Smith, Rome, Macintosh, peeled
3 plums
4 tablespoons apricot jam
2-3 tablespoons of sugar
2-3 tablespoons melted butter
-pulse together flour and butter in a food processor and add ice water slowly until in forms itself into a loose shaggy ball. Alternately, cut butter into flour and add ice water slowly until the dough just comes together.
-pat and lightly knead dough just so it forms a smooth ball that you can press into a disk.
-cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or so.
(you can also make a smaller tart and divide the dough in two, freezing 1 disk for another time)
- peel and core apples and sprinkle with a little lemon juice
-slice apples into ¼ inch slices
-slice plums into ¼ slices
-take out dough and let it soften (about 15 minutes)
-Preheat oven to 400
-dust surface with flour and roll out dough to about 1/8 of an inch (you can also do this directly on parchment paper which makes transferring it to a baking sheet easier)
-gently roll it up on the rolling pin and unroll it on your baking sheet
-dust with very little flour, then lay fruit in whatever way you want but it should be snug and slightly over lapping- leave a ½ in border of crust that you will then fold over the fruit when you are done.
-brush crust generously with butter and brush a little bit over the fruit
-sprinkle the fruit and crust with sugar
-bake for about 45-50 minutes
-while tart is warm, brush with heated apricot jam (you can add a tablespoon or so of water to the jam to loosen it even more.)