Late summer plum tart recipe with no fuss puff

Making puff pastry from scratch can be the stuff of nightmares but luckily pre-made options exist and they can be used to make some fairly elegant fare, like this wonderful summer plum tart

(Julia Platt Leonard)

I’m sure someone out there makes their own puff pastry but I’m equally sure I haven’t met them. I learned how to make puff pastry at cooking school and I still have nightmares about it. And trust me, once I graduated I never made it again.

There’s nothing off putting about the ingredients: flour, butter, salt. So far so good. But then you start to make it and the true horror emerges. Why you ask? Puff pastry is literally hundreds of layers of butter interspersed in a flour and water dough. Those aren’t my words – those come from the inimitable Anne Willan, founder of École de Cuisine La Varenne in Paris. Anne knows a thing or two about puff pastry and her detailed directions go on for several pages.

Making your own puff pastry is fiddly business. You need to treat it with the utmost care in order to get those layers – lots of rolling and folding, rolling and folding. It’s called turning and after two turns you have to refrigerate the dough. Heat is the enemy of puff pastry – that is until you pop it into a very hot oven.

The good news is that you can buy really lovely frozen puff pastry. You can even find it ready rolled so your job is laughably easy. And it’s tasty too – lots of crisp layers of buttery goodness. My only caveat is to search out and use all butter pastry. It’s simply the only way to go. Anything else isn’t really puff pastry in my mind.

The nice thing about frozen puff pastry is that it thaws quickly so you can whip up dessert at a moment’s notice. Sliced fruit with a sprinkling of sugar and a lick of melted jam to burnish it once it comes out of the oven and you’re sorted. Top quality puff pastry isn’t cheap but all together this tart is less than a £1 per serving which isn’t bad for something this elegant.

By all means, give making puff pastry a go. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

(Julia Platt Leonard (Julia Platt Leonard)

Late summer plum tart

Plums are at their peak now so enjoy them. I used Victoria plums but let your eyes and hands do the choosing. Look for plums that are ripe but not soft with a rich colour. They need to be able to hold their shape in the oven and not dissolve into a plummy mush. This is best served warm right out of the oven but a slice the next day wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Serves 8

500g plums, such as Victoria
½-1 Tbsp caster sugar
325g all butter frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp jam, such as black currant 

(Julia Platt Leonard (Julia Platt Leonard)

Preheat oven to 225C

Place the puff pastry on a non-stick baking sheet. Place the sheet in the refrigerator to keep cool. Slice the plums in half. Give it a slight twist to separate the two halves. Gently remove the stone using your fingers or a small spoon, being careful not to tear the plum flesh.

(Julia Platt Leonard (Julia Platt Leonard)

Place a plum half flesh side down on a chopping board and cut it into slices. Repeat with the remaining plums.

Remove the pastry from the refrigerator. Using a very sharp knife, trace a line about 1 3/4cm from the edge on all four sides of the pastry to give the tart a border. Place the plum slices on the tart in rows. Ensure the rows come up to the border but not over it. Brush the border with the beaten egg.

Sprinkle the plums with the sugar. If you like it sweeter, use the full tablespoon (or more if you like). I prefer it a bit tarter so I use less. Place the tart back in the refrigerator to chill.

(Julia Platt Leonard (Julia Platt Leonard)

When the tart is nicely chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and place directly in the pre-heated oven. While the tart is baking, put the jam in a microwaveable ramekin and heat for 20-30 seconds until melted. Alternatively, you can warm in a small saucepan.

(Julia Platt Leonard (Julia Platt Leonard)

Bake the tart for 10-12 minutes until the pastry is nicely browned and you can insert a knife into the plums easily. Remove and brush with the melted jam to give it a lustrous sheen.

Slice into squares and serve hot with a dollop of crème fraiche or Greek yoghurt. You can add a hit of rum or whiskey to the cream if you like.