Although this dessert looks like a tart or pie, the way it behaves depends on the kind of plum you use. If you use firm varieties, your tart will stay intact. If you use the more common red plum as I did, you are going to get more of a crisp.
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<br />The crust is classic crumble with extra stability from an egg yolk and added butter, but with juicy fruit, it's not quite stable enough to preserve the allusion that it's a tart. With soft ripe plums, it will fall apart when cut, so let go of any notion of pretty wedges on a plate and just dig the spoon into it as you would when serving a fruit crisp. It doesn't matter anyway -- it tastes outstanding. Inside the crust are fresh sliced plums tossed with a little lemon zest -- nothing else. The tart/crisp is baked until the plums are bubbly and the crust is golden brown. It tastes sweet but not overly so. It's homemade perfection, which means that although it might not look perfect, it tastes divine.

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