plum tart.

in an attempt to branch out in the fruit arena, i bought a costco-sized container of plums last week. whenever i buy produce costco-style, i always get anxiety. hawaii groceries are so grossly overpriced that it's always a better deal to shop at costco, even when there's only two of us; buying a colossal bag of spinach there, however, is a set up for failure. it isn't humanly possible for us to ingest that much spinach before it goes bad. plums, on the other hand, sandwiched between warm, brown sugar & walnutty goodness, we can eat in bulk. i literally made 3 of these tarts in the past week. the last round i made in baby ramekins to spice things up, but i'm still not sick of em.

plum tart

(thanks to ina garten)

ingredients:

2 cups flour

3/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped

3/4 cup brown sugar

12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced

1 egg yolk

8 firm, ripe plums, pitted and quartered

1. preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. combine the flour, walnuts, and sugar in a large bowl. add the butter and the egg yolk. mix, either by hand or with an electric mixer, until crumbly.

3. press 1 1/2 cups of the crumb mixture in an even layer into the bottom of a 9 1/2-inch springform or tart pan. arrange the plums in the pan, skin side down, to form a flower pattern; begin at the outside and work your way in.

4. sprinkle the rest of the crumb mixture evenly over the plums. bake the tart for 40 to 50 minutes, or until it's lightly browned and the plum juices are bubbling. remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. remove from the pan and transfer the tart to a flat plate. serve warm or at room temperature.