Upside Down Blood Plum Tart

Cookbook Adventure #8 - "food fast" 

With plums in season I couldn't resist finding a recipe which used them. In particular blood plums, because of their velvety redness, which when cooked looks fabulously vibrant.

So I delved through my recipe book collection and found this recipe, which was perfect as I also had some almonds to use up. And the added bonus was that it promised to be fast (as per the name of the book) ... it was!

Photo from p108 of food fast

This recipe book was my first marie claire cookbook (I now have three large ones (all by Donna Hay) and 4 small ones) and I've always loved how each recipe has a delicious looking photo to accompany it (I like to know what the cooked product is supposed to look like!)

In this instance, since I was making dessert for 8 people, and couldn't be bothered mucking around with 8 individual bowls, I thought I would experiment with doing it in a flan tin. I know, a bit risky with an untested recipe, but the occasion was not a do or die and the result was worth the risk!

Here's my Thermotalk version:

Ingredients
4-6 blood plums (depending on what will fit into your tart tin), stone removed 
165g almonds
160g raw sugar
190g butter, cubed 
85g plain flour
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method
Preheat oven to 200C.
Grease a flan or tart tin and line the bottom with non stick baking paper. (Check out Jamie's website for an easy way to make a circle of baking paper (aka a "cartouche"). I learnt this from watching his first tv series!)
Cut plums into six even segments and place into the tin in a circular pattern or however you want it to look when turned upside down!
Place almonds in TM bowl. Grind for 10 seconds on speed 8. Set aside.
Place sugar in TM bowl. Mill for 3 seconds on speed 9.
Add butter, mix for 20 seconds on speed 5.
Add flour, eggs, almonds and vanilla and mix for 30 seconds on speed 4.
Spread mixture evenly over plums in tin. Smooth top to make it even.
Bake for 20 minutes or until filling is puffed and golden. 
Leave in tin for 5 minutes and then turn out onto the serving plate to cool.   

Eat by itself or serve with Thermomix vanilla bean icecream (see EDC page 150 but use a real vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste and not just vanilla essence.) 

Variation: Try substituting yellow nectarines or golden peaches for the plums.