Blueberry and Plum Crostata

Start with your favorite (or any) pie crust dough. This can also work with pastry dough if that is all you have. Just don’t be picky about the looks and leaks at teh end.

1 single pie crust dough OR puff pastry sheet

2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed

3-4 plums, cut into wedges (4-8 wedges per plum), pit removed, skin left on

1 tbl white sugar

1.5 tsp cornstarch

1 tbl butter, cut into 4-6 pieces

1 egg white, well beaten

additional sugar for dusting

flour for dusting

pastry cloth (if that is how you roll :-))

1 - place berries and plums in colander/strainer over a bowl. Sprinkle with sugar and stir.

2 - let berry/plum/sugar mixture sit as short as the time it take to roll out the dough, or up to a few hours.

3 - preheat oven to 400 degrees

4 - roll out dough to ¼ inch thick or just a bit thinner. if using pie crust, get it to a round shape. Best process here is to start just off center and roll out through the center, at 12/2/4/6/8/10 o’clock positions. I like to do this on a pastry cloth dusted with flour. You can sub a heavy, flat weave dish towel, or just do it on the counter top. If the dough starts to stick to the rolling pin, lightly dust the top of the dough with some flour as well.

If using the pastry puff, roll into a large rectangle.

5 - if any liquid has drained from the berries and plums into the bowl, pour the liquid into a microwave safe cup, add the cornstarch, and microwave on high for 10 seconds. If no liquid, proceed to 6

6 - place a piece of parchment paper or a silcone baking mat on a rimmed baking pan (i.e., jelly roll pan)

7- transfer the rolled out dough to the paper/mat

8 - scatter the blueberries/plums on the dough, leaving 1.5” clear rim around the outside edge. Don’t need to be exact, but will want to leave enough to fold the dough over the filling by about 1”

9 - IF you have cornstarch from the microwave (with juice from berries), pour that over the berries. If not, spring the berry mixture with the cornstarch.

10 - fold up the sides of the dough over the berries, leaving a large opening in the middle.

11 - brush the exposed dough with the beaten egg whites. Be sure to get both the dough where it meets the pan and the edges that dip into the fruit.

12 - dot the top of the exposed fruit with the butter pieces.

13 - fridge the sheet with the dough for 15-45 minutes

14 - bake in oven for 30-40 minutes or longer until pastry is deep golden. It may leak out of the edge. Welcome to rustic pies.

Serve as is, or with a bit of whipped cream or ice cream. Stores well at room temp covered with wax paper for a few days.