Free-Form Plum Pie

Phew, what a hectic April it was... I'm going to catch a few breather before I could concentrate here :D

Whenever I make shortcrust pastries be it for savouries or sweet items, I tend to double-up the recipe so that I can freeze the leftover to be used whenever I fancy some pies or tarts. To store the pastry, just roll into a thick disc and wrap with cling wrap tighly followed by another layer of aluminum foil. Label the pastry with a marker pen on the type of pastry and the date it is made. Chuck in the freezer. That's it!

For sweet shortcrust pastry, I loved the no-fail recipe from Donna Hay. I did an Apple Crumble ala Coffee Bean Cafe that has a pie layer, apples followed by crumbles. I did a couple of apple pies with this pastry as well.

This time round I have a small portion of the pastry (maybe just 1/4 portion) that I just want to get rid of from the freezer. It's too small for a proper pie but I could do a free form pie enough for 2 - 3 person. I also have loads of plums in the fridge so I decided a free form plum pie as it's really so easy.



I stoned and cut 3 plums into thick wedges. Set that aside.

I thaw the pastry out until it's pliable but not totally soft. Roll out the pastry into a round of about 3 mm thick. Remember to flour the work surface lightly before rolling out with rolling pin. Place pastry on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Sprinkle in about 3 tablespoons almond meal on the pastry leaving a 5 cm border all round. Place the plum wedges on top of the almond meal. Sprinkle sugar over the plums to prevent them from drying out. Fold the sides up to partially cover up the plums. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Bake in pre-heated oven 180C and bake until golden brown. Remove from oven a cool a little before dusting some icing sugar over. Serve warm with thick cream or ice cream... oh so yummy!



Here's Donna Hay's recipe from Modern Classics Book 2 if you wish to have it.

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

2 cups plain flour
3 tbsp caster sugar
150g cold butter, chopped
2-3 tbsp iced water

Rub flour, butter and sugar with fingers until resembles fine breadcrumbs. You can do this in a food processor. Then add in iced water to form a smooth dough. Knead dough lightly. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 mins.

Roll out dough on lightly floured surface or in between 2 pieces of non-stick baking paper to thickness required and line the tart tin.

Preheat oven to 180C. Place a sheet of non-stick baking paper over pastry and fill with baking weights or uncooked rice/beans. Bake for 10 mins then remove the weights and bake for another 10 mins or until pastry is golden brown.

Spoon in filling and top with the crumble. Bake until crumble turned golden brown.