Robert Reynolds Chefs Studio

Before their visit to the culinary garden last Saturday, the students had turned their thoughts to making fruit tarts. When Caroline suggested using plums, they realized they could easily create a delicious tart. They proceeded to make a tart crust made with egg, because their tart would have a custard, or wet filling. The egg crust, they learned, is best because the egg in the crust seals the dough and prevents it from getting soggy when the custard is added.

The recipe calls for baking the crust without any filling, a technique called blind baking. When the dough had dried and developed enough pale golden color to ensure doneness and flavor, they arranged the fresh plums onto the pre-baked crust. For the filling they simply mixed egg, sugar and cream with a fork in a bowl. Nothing could be easier. Since they’d used Armagnac or Cognac to flavor a fruit tart with prunes, they were safe in assuming it would be the right thing to flavor the tart with fresh plums. At home they could also have used vanilla.   –Robert Reynolds

TARTE WITH FRESH PLUMS

(as Grande maman might have made it)

Serves 8

For the pastry

1-1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup confectioners sugar

10 tablespoons cold butter in pieces

1 whole egg

1 yolk

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling

1 pound fresh plums, halved and pitted

Brandy or vanilla to taste

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoon butter, in pieces

3 egg yolks

1 cup heavy cream

For the pastry. Sift flour and sugar in a bowl. Add butter and blend into the flour (sabler). Beat egg, yolk and vanilla with a fork. Add to flour and mix until dough holds. Turn onto floured board and “fraiser” - smear with heel of your hand. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate.

For the filling. Moisten plums in Armagnac . Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Roll out dough. Set into a 9- or 10-inch tart pan. Prick with fork and blind bake.

Drain plums, and arrange nicely in pastry shell. Sprinkle with half the sugar and dot with butter. Return to oven for 10 minutes. In a small work bowl, whisk egg yolks, adding the other half of the sugar, then mix in leftover Brandy (or vanilla), and the cream until just mixed. Remove tart from oven and pour custard over the fruit. Return to oven until custard just sets, about 10 minutes. Remove tart and allow to cool.