Tart of Autumn Fruits

This is a dessert beautiful to see as well as delightful to taste in its blend of flavors and textures. Preheat the oven to 400°F, then prepare the pastry and bake the tart shell (see page 21). The fruits for this tart are baked separately. When both the pastry and the fruits have cooled, fill the tart and glaze with the reduced fruit juices.

If you oven-cook the fruits instead of poaching them, they will keep a better shape, and—important to the flavor of this tart—the juices from the fruits will blend together to make a delicious syrup for glazing the tart.

• 2 pounds fresh purple plums

• 2 pounds fresh peaches

• 1 pound fresh apricots (or ¼ pound dried apricots)

• ⅔ cup granulated sugar

• 1 9” baked tart shell (page 21)

1. Use dried apricots if fresh ones are not available, and follow the directions for cooking given in the apricot custard tart on page 84. Substitute frozen peaches if you cannot find fresh ones, but bake them for only half the time suggested for fresh peaches.

2. Because peaches take longer to cook than other fruits, prepare them first. Peel them, slice in eighths, and arrange the slices so that they slightly overlap in one section of a baking dish large enough to hold all the fruits. Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons of the sugar and place the dish in the middle rack of the oven for 15 minutes.

3. While the peaches are baking, prepare the plums and apricots by cutting them in halves and removing the pits.

4. Remove the baking dish with the peaches. Arrange the plums with the cut side up in one part of the dish, and the apricots, cut side down, in another. Sprinkle over the remaining sugar and return the dish to the oven. Bake the fruits another 15 minutes, basting 2 or 3 times with the juices.

5. When all the fruits seem tender (if a toothpick pierces the fruit easily without any resistance, it has baked long enough), remove the casserole from the oven and spoon off the syrup into a small saucepan. As the fruits cool, spoon off any more juices that appear.

6. Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring the syrup to a boil. Let it continue to boil rapidly for about 4 minutes, until it thickens. Be careful not to overcook the syrup or you will destroy its delicate flavor. Set aside to cool.

7. When the syrup has cooled, coat the bottom of the tart crust, brushing the syrup on with a pastry brush or smoothing it with the back of a spoon.

8. Arrange the fruits in the tart shell with the plums cut side up and the apricots cut side down, the same way as for baking. Begin with an outer circle of plums, then make a circle of overlapping peach slices. Continue with 2 circles of the plums, 2 of peaches, and 1 of apricots. Place an apricot in the center of the tart; or, if you like, fill the center with fresh raspberries.

9. Glaze the fruit by spooning over the remaining syrup.

10. Serve the tart at room temperature with a bowl of vanilla-flavored sweetened whipped cream.