How to turn a glut of summer fruit into a delicious jam tart – recipe | Food

We’ve bought an enormous, lovely, red-leafed cherry plum tree in our again backyard, and proper now it’s raining plums! Have you ever seen the sheer abundance of fruit this yr? The branches are heavy and the bottom is scattered with fallen fruit. Final weekend, I harvested about 10kg plums from our tree, and my daughter instructed we make a jam tart. It turned out to be among the best I’ve ever eaten, candy but sharp, sticky and wealthy. A easy, seasonal deal with.Raining plum jam tartFrom plum to pear, each fruit tree I cross this yr appears to be laden with fruit. This sort of bumper crop is named a mast yr. Some fruit bushes swing naturally between mild and heavy harvests from yr to yr, relying on whether or not they’re focusing vitality on progress or fruiting, and it’s thought that this cycle could also be an evolutionary tactic to assist seed dispersal. By producing a glut, extra fruit is eaten and unfold by animals. This recipe is an effective way to show that glut – whether or not that’s a reduced punnet of berries, windfall apples or a bag of scrumped plums – into one thing to savour. Jams are one of many easiest and most scrumptious methods to protect the season. When you’re making your personal pastry, don’t neglect to save lots of any scraps to weave a lattice topping or form into biscuits. I prefer to season mine with just a little olive oil and complete spices earlier than baking.For the jam500g plums250g unrefined sugar½ unwaxed lemon, ideally natural, reduce into 4 wedges1 massive blind baked tart case, home made (see beneath and methodology) or purchased in150g shortcrust pastry, for the lattice topping (non-compulsory)For the pastry (non-compulsory)300g wholemeal flour (eg, khorasan, emmer or spelt), plus additional for dusting150g chilly butter, dicedA pinch of salt3 medium eggsWash and stone the plums, then put them in a thick-based saucepan with the sugar and lemon wedges. Carry the pan to a boil on a medium warmth, then flip right down to a simmer (take care the combo doesn’t boil over). After 20-Half-hour, as soon as the jam has began to scale back and switch thick and sugary, take it off the warmth (when you’ve got a thermometer, boil the plum combine to 101C, to make a unfastened jam).To make your personal wholemeal pastry case, in a meals processor mix the flour, chilly diced butter and a pinch of salt for 30 seconds, till the butter is finely blended into the flour. Add two of the eggs and two tablespoons of chilly water, then pulse for about 30 seconds, till the pastry comes collectively right into a ball; add a contact extra water, if want be.End up the dough on to a frivolously floured floor and knead very briefly, till evenly blended. Form right into a thick spherical disc, place on a plate, cowl with an upturned bowl and chill within the fridge for Half-hour. In the meantime, warmth the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gasoline 6.Roll out the pastry on a floured floor to the thickness of a £1 coin, turning the dough as you go and dusting with extra flour if it threatens to stay. As soon as the pastry spherical is massive sufficient to line the bottom and sides of your tart case, roll it on to the pin and unroll it instantly into the case. Gently ease the pastry it into the corners, then wrap the overhanging pastry up and over the rim, urgent it in opposition to the periphery with a fork. Don’t fear if it cracks or any holes seem: that’s an indication of a pleasant “brief” pastry – merely fill any gaps with leftover pastry or seal any cracks by urgent it again collectively. Subsequent, utilizing a serrated knife, trim the surplus from the highest and collect the offcuts right into a ball. Chill and save for the lattice.Prick the bottom with a fork to cease it puffing up, then bake for about 18 minutes, till simply cooked and frivolously browned. In the meantime, make an egg wash by beating the remaining egg with 30ml water. Take the baked case out of the oven, brush with the egg wash (this can fill any fork holes) and return to the oven for an additional 5 minutes. Take away and depart to chill earlier than filling (although in order for you an additional glazed tart, repeat the glazing and baking for 5 minutes course of as soon as extra).Fill your home made or purchased in pastry case with a 1cm layer of the plum jam. When you’ve made your personal pastry, roll out 150g extra pastry right into a rectangle the size of the within of the case, reduce into 1-1½cm-wide strips, then prepare in a lattice on prime of the jam.Bake in a preheated 200C (180C fan)/390F/gasoline 6 oven for quarter-hour, then take away and brush the lattice with an egg wash made out of just a little milk or a overwhelmed egg thinned with a splash of water. Bake for a remaining 5 minutes, till golden, then take away, depart to chill and luxuriate in with creme fraiche, yoghurt or vanilla ice cream.