Thursday, September 8, 2011

a yes and a maybe


I made bread again today - Swedish Limpa Rye, from my Betty Crocker cookbook. Another good, chewy, crunchy thing which is particularly yummy with butter and marmalade or honey.



Last week at work, someone returned an issue of Food Network magazine - I didn't even realize we got it! The cover had an irresistable picture of an heirloom tomato tart, so I had to check it out and bring the magazine home.  I found seven recipes which I'd like to try!  We don't have cable here, so I've never seen the Food Network.

Anyway, one of the appealing recipes was for an easy plum tart. And the next time I found myself at the supermarket, lo and behold - in the reduced produce section I found these perfectly fine plums! Less than two dollars.


Today I made the tart. The recipe - by a lady named Sunny Anderson - is incredibly simple. You take one of those refrigerated pie crusts from the store, and thaw it out. Spread fig jam on it, leaving 2 inches around the edge free, put your sliced plums (don't need to skin them!) on top, and fold the edges in like a rustic tart. Bake at 425 F for 35 minutes on a parchment lined baking sheet. Voila! 

Well, I don't buy those crusts, I make my own. And I generally make oil crusts, but they're soft and not always suited to the rustic thing, so I decided to make a butter pastry. I chilled it. However, it ended up feeling more like pizza dough than anything, and I had a hard time handling it. It wouldn't go into a nice round shape.  Also, of course I don't keep fig jam in the house, so I used what I had - some orange apricot marmalade.  But it tasted delicious anyway - just looked odd, and the dough was too thick in places.



So, it came out a "maybe" but I highly recommend it anyway! It doesn't call for any sugar. It doesn't even tell you to mix up the plums with the jam to sweeten them up.  You don't need to peel anything.   Use whatever jam you have. There's no thickener in it, so it's juicy.  As for the plums, I halved them, pulled out the pits and sliced each half into three pieces. 

Try it!!

4 comments:

  1. I love plum tart since I found an easy butter-crust that you pat in the pan. Then it's just plums, sugar, tapioca, and a little cinnamon on top. I did blog about it, but I didn't post the recipe - email me if you want it! Your tart certainly looks pretty - I'm glad it was tasty too, after all that effort.

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  2. I'm going to take you up on that - thanks!

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  3. That bread is beautiful! What a great job. I can never get mine to look like that.

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  4. I think it looks more impressive because it has practically the same amount of rye flour as regular, and that gives it a dark appearance. It tastes so good!

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