“I really feel family recipes tell who you are,” says Joan Nathan, the author of 11 cookbooks, including her latest, “My Life in Recipes: Food, Family, and Memories.” This plum tart, which is flavored with brandy and cinnamon, has been part of her family’s repertoire for generations, changing with each baker.
It comes from her father Ernest Nathan’s German side of the family. He “came to Rhode Island in 1929, the day after the stock market [crashed],” explains Joan. And her mother Pearl likely learned the recipe from her mother-in-law Lina, but she updated it, adding jam as a layer on the bottom of the tart — a tip she learned from watching Julia Child.
Joan has also tweaked the recipe over the years, trimming the amount of sugar and par-baking the crust to ensure it stays crisp even as the fruit releases some of its juices. When she makes the tart for Rosh Hashanah, only Italian blue plums will do, but during the summer, when she spends her time on Martha’s Vineyard, Joan will sometimes swap them out for peaches, blueberries, or the raspberries that grow in her garden.
Read more about her family in "The Dishes That Mark the High Holidays for Joan Nathan."