Sour Cream Tart With Santa Rosa Plum Compote Food

FRESH PLUM TART WITH SOUR CREAM TOPPING

Steps:

• Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Line heavy large rimless baking sheet with foil. Roll out puff pastry on lightly floured work surface to 14-inch square. Cut off 1-inch-wide strips from each side of square. Brush strips with beaten egg. Place strips atop edges of pastry square, egg side down, pressing to adhere. Trim ends to fit. Transfer pastry square to prepared baking sheet. Combine almonds, 2 tablespoons sugar and flour in small bowl. Sprinkle evenly over bottom of pastry. (Can be made 3 hours ahead. Chill.)
• Place plums in large bowl. Add 4 tablespoons sugar; toss to coat. Arrange plums decoratively over almond mixture.
• Bake tart until pastry is golden brown and puffed and plums are tender, about 30 minutes. Transfer pan to rack. Using metal spatula, loosen tart from baking sheet, leaving tart on sheet.
• Stir preserves and water in heavy small saucepan over low heat until preserves melt. Brush over warm plums.
• Beat cream, sour cream and 1 tablespoon sugar in medium bowl until soft peaks form. Serve tart warm or at room temperature with sour cream topping.

SOUR CREAM TART WITH SANTA ROSA PLUM COMPOTE

Steps:

• Butter bottom of 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Finely grind flour, nuts, sugar, and salt in processor. Add 6 tablespoons butter. Using on/off turns, blend until coarse meal forms. Add egg yolk; blend until moist clumps form. Press dough over bottom and up sides of pan. Pierce crust with fork. Freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake crust until golden, 13 to 14 minutes. Cool completely.
• Place water in very small cup. Sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand until gelatin softens, about 10 minutes.
• Whisk egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch in medium bowl to blend. Place milk in medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring milk to simmer. Gradually whisk hot milk mixture into yolk mixture. Return to same saucepan. Stir over medium-high heat until custard thickens and boils, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Scrape in gelatin mixture and stir to dissolve. Let stand 5 minutes.
• Transfer custard to metal bowl. Discard vanilla bean. Set bowl over another bowl filled with ice and water; stir until cool but not set, about 15 minutes. Fold in sour cream. Spread filling evenly in crust. Chill tart until filling sets, at least 2 hours and up to 6 hours.
• Cut tart into wedges. Spoon plum compote over and serve.

SANTA ROSA PLUM GALETTE

Steps:

• To prepare dough, in a food processor, combine flours, sugar and salt and pulse a few times. Add butter and cream cheese. Process until mixture just comes together. Turn dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, press it into a disk, wrap it well and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours or overnight.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cut dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece between sheets of plastic wrap into 1/8-inch-thick rounds (about 6 inches in diameter). Place pastry rounds on one or two baking sheets that have been lined with parchment paper or nonstick liners. Chill rounds while preparing filling.
• For filling, in a food processor, combine almonds with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Pulse until mixture becomes a fine meal (avoid over-processing). Add butter, 2 eggs, flour, vanilla and salt and process until combined.
• In a bowl, beat remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water. Brush this egg wash over prepared pastry rounds. Spoon about 2 tablespoons almond filling in center of each pastry round and spread it to within 2 inches of the edge. Arrange plum slices in a spiral over filling. Sprinkle raw sugar generously over plums. Fold edges of tart dough up over edges of plums. Dough will overlap.
• Bake tarts until pastry is golden brown, about 18 to 20 minutes. Serve warm with whipped creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream.

DAMSON TARTLETS

Steps:

• Make pastry dough:
• Pulse flour, butter, and confectioners sugar in a food processor until it resembles coarse meal. Add egg yolks and pulse just until a dough forms.
• Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and divide in half. Form each half into a 4-inch square (about 1 inch thick) and wrap in plastic wrap. Freeze until solid, at least 2 hours.
• Make compote while pastry freezes:
• Bring whole plums, sugar, wine, and bay leaf to a simmer in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat, covered, stirring occasionally until sugar has dissolved (be careful juices don't boil over). Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until plums fall apart, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and chill, uncovered, until cold, then cover. Discard pits and bay leaf, then add a little confectioners sugar to taste if desired.
• Bake pastry:
• Coarsely grate pastry from one frozen square into tartlet pans, dividing it evenly. (Reserve remaining dough for another use.) Press dough flakes into tartlet pans to line bottoms and sides evenly. Prick bottoms all over with a fork, then freeze tartlets until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in middle.
• Put tartlets in a shallow baking pan and put in oven. Turn oven temperature down to 400°F and bake until shells are golden all over, 15 to 18 minutes.
• Transfer tartlet pans to a rack to cool completely, then remove shells from pans.
• Make cream filling:
• Put cream in a large bowl, then scrape seeds from vanilla bean into cream. Beat in sugar and zest with an electric mixer until cream just holds stiff peaks. Fold in about 2 tablespoons plum compote, then divide cream among tartlet shells. Serve topped with some of remaining compote (you will have a lot left over).

SANTA ROSA PLUM COMPOTE

Steps:

• Combine plums, 1 cup sugar, and cinnamon sticks in large saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Stir over low heat until plums are very tender and compote thickens, stirring often and adding 1/3 cup sugar if desired, about 45 minutes. Remove from heat. Cool completely. Transfer compote to bowl, discarding pits, vanilla bean, and cinnamon sticks. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover; chill.