I adore living in a country where I can buy short crust and puff pastry of acceptable quality at nearly every large grocer AND I can source some pretty excellent ones from the more boutique grocers.  Because of this, the wealth of Plum Tarts I inherited this week were easily transformed into a gorgeous Plum Tart in as little time as it took to slice them in half and shuck out their stones.

The whole process was made even easier by using some lovely Grapefruit Curd I had left over from the delicious preserves workshop I attended, led by the very talented and organized Anna Colquhoun of Culinary Anthropologist.

The class lasted about 5 or 6 hours and the skill levels of attendants varied from absolute novice to very serious dabbler.  Everything we made was delicious and the presentation was polished thanks to some very pretty jars and extra things from Lakeland. 

We made Grapefruit Curd, Carrot Chutney, Pickled Beets, Preserved Lemons and Bitter Orange Marmalade.  Some of these things will be put up for a while- the marmalade I'll save for a year and then open, the pickled beets might make their debut in the summer when it's too hot out to turn on the stove or run the oven, the curd is already eaten up and the carrot chutney, well I imagine I can break that one open sometime next month. Thanks to Anna for a great class, thanks to Riverford for getting me there!