Autumn is here, all the delicious autumnal fruit is in the shops. Beautiful purple, blue black – any of the dark coloured plums are super-foods because of their high content of antioxidants, the most effective protectors of the heart and conveyors of amazing anticancer chemicals. A great source of Vitamins C A and K, the plums and pears together make a beautiful contrast against the pastry and (optional) vanilla ice-cream. Apples are in abundance too – we managed a crop from our little tree – about the only thing in the garden the snails left alone.

These tarts are a cinch – use puff pastry from a pack (life is too short for any other approach), poach the fruit to soften it if needed. I keep the fruits separate to retain the different colours so that they don’t all bleed into one. I love the jewel colours of the plums and if anyone has been keeping an eye on fashion week then you will know its a big trend for ’13….

Pear and Plum Galette
1 small pack of puff pastry (A 450gr pack will make 1 of each tarts)

6 plums washed and quartered with seed removed
4 pears peeled and cored and quartered
2 tbsp coconut palm or dark browh sugar

Place fruit into separate pots, add 1 tsb of sugar into each pot and barely cover the bottom of the pot with some water in which to poach the fruit to soften.
Poach gently until soft and leave to cool
Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle to cover a standard baking sheet.
With a knife make a border all around the rectangle, about .5″ inch in from the edge, don’t cut right through the pastry
Spread the plums over the pastry followed by the pears
Bake at 180 for about 20 minutes until golden brown, serve warm with your choice of ice cream or cream.

Apple galette
6 apples peeled cored and thinly sliced
2 tbsp coconut palm or dark brown sugar mixed with 1 tsp of mixed spice

Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle to cover a standard baking sheet.
With a knife make a border all around the rectangle, about .5″ inch in, don’t cut right through the pastry.
Spread the apples out across the pastry and sprinkle over the sugar and spice mix
Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown .