A Favorite Cookbook from a Culinary Hero

I have a few culinary heroes

Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa is one

Anna Pump is another

I "met" Anna before I met Ina.

In the gift shop of a California winery,

I found an interesting cookbook

I read the whole book on that trip and couldn't wait to get home to make some of the dishes.

And make them I did -- there are a few (because of scarcity of ingredients) that I haven't made

but I've made most of them

And some time after time.

I'd give up a lot of my cookbooks before I'd give up this one!

And then I found that she had two more --

The Loaves and Fishes Cookbook

and

The Loaves and Fishes Party Cookbook

I soon had acquired both of them

And although I do like them . . .

Country Weekend Entertaining remains my favorite.

For a time, it was out of print and copies were listed for sale on Amazon for hundreds of dollars.

I would have never given up my copy

for any amount of money!

One of my favorite dishes?

Two Plum Tarts

It's not a tart made with just two plums but rather two plum tarts.

You can make one -- I did the first time -- but you really need to make two!

All of Anna's recipes are simple as is this tart

TWO PLUM TARTS

4 cups flour

1 1/2 c. finely chopped walnuts

1 1/2 c. packed light brown sugar

24 T. cold unsalted butter, cut into 1 T. slices

2 egg yolks

4 pounds ripe Italian prune plums, pitted and quartered lengthwise

Preheat oven to 400

Combine the flour, walnuts, sugar in a large bowl.   Add the butter and the egg yolks and mix by hand or with an electric mixer until crumbly.   (I used my food processor)

Press 3 cups of the crumb mixture into each of two 9 or 10 inch springform pans, creating an even layer over the bottom of each pan.   Beginning from the outer edge of each pan, arrange the plums in a circular, flowerlike pattern, skin side down, over the doughy layer.    Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture uniformly over the plums.

Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until lightly browned and the plum juice has risen to the top.    Remove from the oven and cool 10 minutes.    Transfer the tarts from the pans to flat cake pans.    Serve warm or at room temperature.

The tart recipe came from her third cookbook,

I adore all of my Anna Pump books and although the other three (her latest is Summer on a Plate) are not used as much as the first one, I would never get rid of any of her cookbooks, but . . .

I am always on the prowl for them and when I find them in a thrift shop or estate sale and it's under $5, I buy it . . . and give it away.

For I love to share Anna!

And I've an Anna to share -- her The Loaves and Fishes Party Cookbook.   It's used but in good condition and has the dust jacket.  

To be eligible for the drawing, just leave a comment -- I'll draw on Wednesday.     If you're a follower, I'll put you in twice.

I hope you enjoy this cookbook as much as I . . . and when the Italian plums come to the market this year . . . that you'll make the tarts!

For those of you who asked for the recipe for the apricot almond bread, here it is --

APRICOT ALMOND TEA BREAD

6 ounces dried apricots, coarsely chopped

3/4 c. orange juice

2 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

3 1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

3 T. butter, melted

1/2 c. milk

1 egg

1 cup slivered or whole natural almonds, toasted

Heat oven to 350.    Grease and flour a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.

In small saucepan, bring apricots and juice just to boiling.    Pour into large bowl; cool to lukewarm.   Add all remaining ingredients except almonds.   Mix just to blend thoroughly.    Gently mix in almonds.    Turn into pan; level top.    Bake in center of oven about 1 hour 15 minutes or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean.

Cool in pan 10 minutes.

Turn out of pan onto rack to cool.

While still slightly warm, wrap securely in plastic wrap or aluminum foil.

Slice to serve.    Flavor is best if bread is allowed to stand 24 hours before serving.

Note:   I used my "boozy" apricots.   The apricots that I use for my apricot liqueur.    They're already rehydrated so I skipped that step.    I also added liqueur as the liquid instead of the orange juice.

I made a dozen muffins and two mini loaves of bread.    The next day I made a glaze from powdered sugar, almond extract and a wee bit of milk and drizzled over the top.

It's Friday and I'm joining Michael at Rattlebridge Farm for Foodie Friday.