Erica De Mane

Still Life with Plums, by Georges Braque.

Recipe: Italian Plum Tart with Cardamom and Basil

As all my cook friends know, this was an incredible summer for fruit. There was so much heat that the sugar content went through the roof. I’ve just started tasting this year’s apples, and they are amazing—firm, heavily perfumed, and just packed with flavor. Global warming is, sadly, good for something.

I’m still finding plums at my Greenmarkets. My favorites to cook with are the pointy dark purple Italian variety. You’ve only got maybe a week left to find those gorgeous things in the New York area, so I say get ’em while they’re hot or you’ll have to wait another year to make a plum tart. I’ve done a little flavor mix with cardamom and fresh basil for this version, putting a bit of the two ingredients in both the pastry and the filling. Wow, what a beautiful combination. With the dark, almost electric-looking purple juice that runs out of these plums, it’s regal.

You’ll need a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom.

Italian Plum Tart with Cardamom and Basil

(Makes 1 9-inch tart)

For the pastry:

1¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus a little extra for rolling
¼ teaspoon ground green cardamom
A generous pinch of salt
A few quick grindings of black pepper
2 tablespoons sugar
1¼ sticks unsalted butter, chilled
¼ cup dry white wine, maybe a bit more

Plus:

About 14 or 15 purple Italian plums, cut in half lengthwise and pitted
A splash of Kirsch
¼ cup sugar

For the custard:

½ cup heavy cream
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey
⅛ teaspoon ground green cardamom
A few quick grinds of black pepper
3 small very fresh basil leaves, minced

Put the flour, cardamom, salt, black pepper, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor, and pulse briefly to blend. Add the butter bits, and pulse quickly two or three times, just to break them up. Drizzle on the white wine, and pulse once or twice more, just until you can squeeze a bit of the dough with your fingers and it holds together. If it’s still dry, add a drizzle of white wine or cold water, and pulse again. You don’t want to pulse until it forms a ball. The texture should be crumbly. Turn out the dough onto a work surface, and bring it together with your hands into a big ball. Give it a quick one-two knead, just to make sure it’s holding together. Cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Take the dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it, and place it on a lightly floured work surface. Give it a few whacks with a rolling pin to get a flat surface going. Now roll it out, adding a little more flour if it starts to stick, until you have a round about 2 inches wider than your tart pan. Drape the dough into the pan, pressing it into the sides. Run the rolling pin over the top to cut off excess. Build up the sides a bit, so the dough extends a little past the edge of the pan. Give the bottom a bunch of light pricks with a skewer or pointy knife.  Stick the tart shell back in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes, or until the oven heats up.

Now you’ll want to blind bake the tart crust. Cover it with a big piece of aluminum foil, and load the foil with dried beans or those little ceramic thingies some people buy just for this purpose, to hold it down. Bake for 20 minutes. The tart’s edges should be very lightly golden. Take the tart shell from the oven, and let it sit on a rack for a few minutes to cool off.

While the tart shell is baking, place the cut plums in a bowl. Drizzle on a splash of Kirsch, and add the sugar. Give them a good toss.

Whisk all the ingredients for the filling together in a bowl.

Line the tart shell with the plums, cut side up, working in a circular pattern. Add any plum juice left in the bowl to the custard mixture. Slowly pour the custard over the plums, making sure none of it seeps in between the pan and the dough (if you have a little extra, just leave it in the bowl, or drink it). Place the tart on a baking sheet, and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the top is set.  Let the tart rest for about 30 minutes before slicing.