When plums are in season this simple, no frills tart makes for an easy dessert.
When plums are in season this simple, no frills tart makes for an easy dessert. You could make it with a mixture of damsons, greengages or even normal-sized plums like Victoria. When making this I had a bottle of plum spirit – a sort of local grappa – knocking around in my cupboard from a trip to Transylvania, which I used to whip up a zabaglione in keeping with the plum theme.
Serves 4
200g ready-made all-butter puff pastry
plain flour, for dusting
300–400g damsons, greengages or Victoria plums, halved and stoned
a couple of good knobs of butter, melted
2 tbsp caster sugar
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For the zabaglione:
40ml plum spirit or eau-de-vie
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp caster sugar
Preheat the oven to 220C/gas mark 7.
Content from our partners
Roll out the pastry on a floured table to about 3mm thick. Cut the pastry into four rectangles about 6cm x 12cm and prick all over with a fork.
Leave to rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
Arrange the damsons on the pastry cut-side down, leaving a 5mm margin around the edges.
Brush them with the butter and scatter over half the sugar.
Bake for 10 minutes, then scatter over the rest of the sugar and continue cooking for another 5–10 minutes, until the damsons are golden brown and caramelised.
Meantime, make the zabaglione. Put the plum spirit, egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water.
Whisk continuously for a few minutes until the mixture is light, fluffy and doubled in volume.
To serve, transfer the tarts to a warm plate and spoon over the zabaglione.
Read more: Damsons in distress! Top recipes for a very British crop
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