Marian Burros' Plum Tart, a little out of season

Some years I make this with the small purple plums you get in August, but last year they were missing in action, and I didn't. And this morning, in the Asian store, there was a terrific price on what they call Dinosaur Plums.  So I thought, hm, let's try them. I know they're from Chile, which I usually don't buy, too much lost in transit, but for once I figured it wouldn't hurt.

So in the middle of setting out ingredients this afternoon, using the ancient NYT clipping I saved years ago and put in my recipe binder, found that since I don't often buy sugar, I was out of it. Except for some rather lumpy brown sugar.  But oh well, I already had the wrong plums, why not try the wrong sugar too and see what happened.  I needed unsalted butter and only had salted. And I used for the first time an eight inch round pan a friend gave me since he was never going to use it again.  Nice and dark with use, and now I know it needs a shorter baking time than the glass I often use.  Thinner walls, I suppose.

Sooooo, long story short, and remembering yet again I have to buy a deeper bowl for use with electric mixer, to avoid the hurled bits of ingredients flying all over me, the kitchen walls, the cat and the general environment, I set to work.  And it came out okay considering I was also paused in the middle by a visit from  a neighbor wanting to see me before she left for India on a deathbed, very sad, mission, so she got priority.

It was baked in time for afternoon tea.  I do like a little something in the middle of the afternoon if I'm home then. It was in fact pretty nice.  You sprinkle with lemon juice, sugar if, unlike me, you have some, and cinnamon after you've put the batter in the pan and studded it with plums.

The plums, though ripe, were actually quite tart, and I might make a plum sauce with what I have left, to go with chicken.  For 88 cents a pound, not a bad buy. The plums, not the chicken.

And this blogpost was paused to see another neighbor, saying goodbye before also leaving for India with Neighbor One, except they're on vacation, so finally I get back to finish..and to recommend this great recipe, which you can probably find online.  You could use other fruit, too, as long as it's tangy and interesting, not too sweet.