Christiana Aretta writes a journal about food, photography, & toys.

I took a trip out to IKEA today to buy some prop plates and fabrics (keep your eyes open – they’ll all be appearing here soon…). I was wandering through the baking section when I spotted a stack of tiny white porcelain 6″ oven dishes.

If my neighbor hadn’t “forced” me to take a sack of incredibly ripe and juicy plums from Toigo Orchards (find them in DC at the H St and Dupont Circle Farmers’ Markets) this morning, I would have simply squealed in delight and moved on. But I could already imagine myself pulling them from the oven, with a golden crust full of hot, bubbling sliced plum goop… and into my shopping bag, they went.

I was inspired by this recipe on Epicurious. Of course, I modified it for an open-faced tart. Follow the link above for the original recipe; my modified recipe is below:

Crust

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick of unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons ice water

Filling

• 12 small plums
• 1/3 cup plum jam
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Mix the dry ingredients for the crust and put in a food processor. Add butter cubes and pulse until the mixture loses its fine consistency and looks like coarse corn meal. Add water and pulse until the mixture makes moist clumps.
2. Remove the dough from the food processor, roll into a ball and flatten into a disk. Place the disk between two pieces of parchment or wax paper and roll out to a 1/4″ thickness (placing the roll pin above the top piece of paper). Cut a circle about an inch wider in diameter than your pie pan. Gently peel the dough from the paper and place it in the pie pan(s). Let the dough drape over the edge of the pie pan, if you can. If you’re using two small dishes, repeat the process.
3. Slice the plums, leaving the skins on, and put them in a bowl. Add the jam, vanilla and allspice. Mix until the slices are well-covered. Pour into the pie pan.
4. Put the pie pan(s) on a cookie sheet and place in the center rack of the oven. Cover loosely with tin foil and bake for 20 minutes. Then, remove the tinfoil and bake for another 25 minutes. Crust should be golden brown and fruit bubbly.
5. Remove from the oven, let cool, and enjoy!



Canon EOS 5D: 1/180 sec @ f11, ISO 1600. Hotshoed 580EX II set at 1/32 power and bounced.

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