Crumbs carry a reputation as crummy. But they can come in handy, breading chicken or bolstering meatball. Once, I watched a chef slip a layer of crumbs between fruit-tart pastry and fruit-tart fruit. Fascinating. Could crumbs + juice = lovely?
I filed away the question and dug it out recently for a plum tart. I liked the idea of crumbs shielding crisp pastry from juicy fruit, transforming, in the line of duty, into something tender and tasty.
I tried cookie crumbs and cake crumbs and croissant crumbs. All stayed true to their nature: crummy. So I tossed the crumbs and reverted to almond paste, which always equals lovely.
Plum Tart
Prep: 1 hour
Bake: 35 minutes
Makes: One 9-inch tart (serves 8)
Tart pastry, see recipe at bottom
6 Tbsp. almond flour (aka almond meal)
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 pinch kosher salt
1 drop almond extract
5 plums, pitted and thinly sliced
1 tsp. ground ginger
Chill: Roll pastry between 2 sheets of waxed paper to an 11-inch circle. Slide pastry (in its paper) onto a baking sheet and chill, 15 minutes. Peel off paper, and fit pastry into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. (Or skip rolling and simply press pastry across the bottom and sides of the pan. Shell with be a little thicker.) Poke pastry several times with a fork. Freeze at least 30 minutes.
Swirl: Drop almond flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the butter, salt and almond extract into the food processor. Swirl to a paste.
Fill: Press paste over the frozen pastry. Arrange plums over paste in a pleasing pattern. Toss together remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and the ginger; sprinkle over plums.
Bake: Slide tart into a 400-degree oven, and bake until shell is crisp and plum juices bubble at the edges, about 35 minutes.
Tart pastry: Pulse together 1 cup flour, 1/3 cup sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Pulse in 6 tablespoons unsalted butter until largest lumps are pea-size. Turn out into a bowl. Whisk together 1 egg yolk, 2 tablespoons cold water and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract. Drizzle egg mixture over flour mixture, folding with a soft spatula until pastry clumps. Press into a disk.
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