Thinking Outside the Tart

Ok, I maybe was a little crazy today. To quote one of my favorite Jack Nicholson quotes "Go sell crazy somewhere else, we're all stocked up here". Here's my story:

See plums are one of my favorite fruits in the summer. They have a nice mix of sweet and sometimes sour, they don't make a mess when you eat them, and they are made for baking. I never ate them much growing up, but ever since I've started my "healthy eating revolution" about 3 years ago, fruits and vegetables have become good friends of mine. So I had these nice, firm, dark purple plums chilling in the back of the fridge, and I got an idea. Plum tart. Plums go with tarts just like coffee goes with mornings, or wine goes with good times.

So I was throwing together my verison of a more healthy tart dough. I've watched my Alton Brown before, and I know about how butter and flour work together... and how butter is the secret to a flakey, crumbly crust. So I went to the fridge and I only had a like 2 Tbs of butter. Bummer. What's a guy to do? If you're looking for someone who likes to run out to the market for one thing, you're not going to find him here. So... I thought back to making pierogi dough with my grandmother, and it came to me. Sour Cream. Beautiful. If you're Polish, you ALWAYS have Sour Cream in the house. So, I put on my best MacGuyver hat, and went with it.

The house was hot. It's about 87 today. I really, really, really didn't want to use the oven. I looked over at the grill and a lightbulb went on. I've grilled pizza before... and a tart is sort of a fruit-ish pizza right? So how about that? Once I assembled the tart, I turned on the grill, got the temperature where I wanted it, and put it on a baking sheet on the grill. Fingers crossed, I waited for about 30 minutes, and I realized something...

Crazy and genius is a fine line, ladies and gentlemen.


Chill it and Grill it Summer Plum Tart
Recipe by Adam

-1 1/2 cups AP flour
-1/4 cup sugar
-1/2 tsp salt
-2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
-4 Tbsp light sour cream
-1/4 cup of cold water, about - give or take a Tbsp

-4 ripe, firm, purple plums, cut into ~1/8ths
-1/2 cup almonds, chopped semi fine
-2-3 Tbsp cherry jam/preserves
Powdered sugar, for dusting

In a medium sized bowl, add flour, sugar, and salt. Place small butter pieces in the bowl and mix with a food processor, or your hands (if you're poor like me) until it resembles crumbs. Add sour cream, mix until it sticks together, and add water slowly until a wet, very soft dough forms. Form into a disc and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough until about 1/8" thickness, into a circle or rectangle. Spoon jam/preserves over the dough, leaving about 1/2 inch border around the outside. Place sliced plums, cut side down, in a few rows, over jam. Sprinkle chopped almonds over the plums, and fold edges up and over the plums, so a loose border is made. It should look "rustic" or like a tart only a mother could love.

Place tart on a baking sheet, and onto a preheated grill. The grill should register about 425-450* on the thermostat. Bake on the grill, checking occasionally, until the crust is golden brown, and plums soften up. Remove, cool on a wire rack, and dust with powdered sugar when completely cool.

For kind of throwing this together, I really like this tart. I'm going to try it in the future with other seasonal fruits. If it isn't sweet enough for you, try adding some brown sugar with the fruit before baking/grilling. I think I'm going to enter this into Lore's Culinarty "Originals Recipe Round Up".

So that's it. End of story. Whew. If you're still reading this, I put a poll on the right about whether I should start a weekly post about exercise/nutrition/workout advice. I'll still post a recipe or two a week, but on weeks that I can't bake, I think this would be a great idea to educate anyone that has any questions about gaining/losing weight, or about being more healthy in general. I am not a registered dietitian, but I have training through my undergrad, chiropractic, and what I read on my own. Let me know what you think, and if you have any particular questions I should address. Thanks cool cats.