Late Summer Mixed Fruit Pie

Our red-yellow plum tree (we’re not sure of the variety) has been super productive this year. I removed all the decorative stones that were weighing on the soil around the trunk on the advice of an arborist, cleared the soil around the root crown, added a layer of mulch, and kept the trees regularly watered. My efforts paid off (or else the tree is naturally in the bountiful phase of a biennial cycle). What to do with all the fruit?

We’ve been harvesting between 2 to 4 lbs every few days.

The plums are on the small side, but they’re sweet. I found a recipe on Serious Eats by Stella Parks that I hadn’t made before, and thought it was perfect. The promise of a dead easy crust, and a flexible filling that can incorporate a combination of different late summer fruit.

The first time I made this was for a dinner we were invited to. I used a mix of cherries, blueberries, plums, and peaches. This turned out amazingly. Very flaky crust, slices that cut cleanly, pure fruit flavour. Thirteen of us finished the whole thing in one sitting, and I didn’t even get a photo.

I made it again at a rented cottage recently. This time, I used mostly our plums, plus a few nectarines and peaches. Again, it turned out to be super delicious. Our friends couldn’t wait the recommended several hours to let it cool, so the slices were a bit runny.

This is an excellent summer pie, a definite crowd pleaser. I liked that there were no other flavourings to distract from the stone fruit, and the crust is all-butter, with a foolproof technique. Highly recommended.