Paleo Plum Tart with Ultra Flaky Pastry (Paleo, GF, DF, RSF)

With stone fruit season in full swing, we thought it was high time we bought you a delicious way to utilise some of the most delicious fruit around: plums!

Whilst this tart would work with any plum variety or other stone fruit such as nectarines, apricots and peaches, we opted for a deep red plum.

This tart case involves a couple of specialty ingredients, but the result is so worth the extra trouble! It's an extremely versatile tart crust and works for both sweet and savoury bakes. Next on our list is a caramelised onion tart ?

One of the ingredients used is ghee - something new we have added to the store here at Nourish & Thrive. We're proud to now be stocking New Zealand Grass Fed Ghee! We stock both 250ml and 500ml and since this product has had the lactose removed, it's suitable for dairy free folks too. Our Grass Fed Ghee is a premium product of the highest quality and has a beautiful flavour to suit. It is better than any other ghee products we have seen on the market!

The other harder to find ingredient we used is Leaf Lard. Leaf Lard is a specific type of lard from pork. Leaf lard specifically comes from the visceral, or soft, fat from around the kidneys and loin of the pig. As such, it has a very soft, super spreadable consistency at room temperature. Leaf lard is considered the highest grade of lard. This may seem weird to go into a tart casing for something sweet - but trust me when I say this is the most flaky yet buttery paleo tart case I've ever eaten. We got our Leaf Lard from Woody's Farm online where it's $4 for 100g, but I'm sure you could ask your local butcher if they have access. Just remember it needs to be rendered before you can use it - the Woody's lard was already rendered when we purchased it.

I wouldn't recommend any substitutes for either of these - except maybe butter for ghee, but certainly wouldn't sub the lard as I can't guarantee you'd get the same delicious result. It would still produce a beautiful tart pastry if you didn't use the lard, but I don't think it would be the buttery, flaky deliciousness that it is!

 

Paleo Plum Tart

3 cups Nourish & Thrive Almond Meal
1/2 tsp Salt
55g Grass Fed Ghee, cold and cubed
55g High Quality Leaf Lard, cold and cubed
1 large Egg
Tapioca Flour, for dusting

12 Plums (we used organic, dark red plums), sliced thinly and stones removed
1 tsp Lemon Juice
4 tbsp Nourish & Thrive Organic Coconut Sugar (our plums were super tart so this was necessary!)
1 tsp Nourish & Thrive Organic Tapioca Starch

Begin by making your tart case. In a food processor, pulse together almond meal and salt until combined. Add your cold (ie straight from the fridge) ghee and lard as well as your egg and process for around 40 seconds until combined with no lumps.

Dust a piece of baking paper with tapioca starch and turn your dough out on top and push together. Sprinkle the top with tapioca and pat into the dough until it becomes less sticky. We used a smaller, 20cm tart pan and had some leftover dough (which freezes beautifully) so it should fit into a larger pan just fine. Place 3/4 of your dough into the pan and press into the tart pan evenly. To get an even top, roll the remainder of the dough into a long rope and line it around the top of the tart pan then press into shape.

Place the crust into the freezer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 220c. Once chilled, remove your crust and prick the base and sides with a fork.

Place into the oven to parbake for 7-8 minutes then remove and cool. Use this time to prepare your plums!

Turn the oven temperature down to 180c. Mix your plum slices with the lemon juice, coconut sugar and tapioca starch and toss. Arrange 2 layers of plums on the bottom evenly for height. Arrange the remaining plums on top in whatever way you like. We decided to fan them out for a beautiful pattern!

Place into the oven to cook for 30-40 minutes until the plums are cooked and juicy, and the pastry golden. If you find your pastry darkening quickly, simply cover with foil to protect it.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Served beautifully warm with dairy free ice cream, or tastes delicious cold too!