A Pretty Peach Tart

I came away from the Muscoot Farm Market yesterday with beautiful peaches and a pint of raspberries.  Hmmm. A tart came to mind.  This morning as I assembled my ingredients, I noticed that half the raspberries had disappeared.  I had to work fast.  This is a variation of my “Peach of a Pie” post of August 7 but easier.

Tart dough

1 ½ cups flour

½ t salt

½ cup sugar

8 T butter cut into a small dice

4 T ice water

 

Filling

6 large ripe and fragrant peaches

¼ cup instant tapioca

½ cup sugar

pinch of salt

Juice from ½ lemon

2 T butter cut into 8 ½-inch cubes

Pulse flour, salt and sugar in a food processor. Add butter.  Pulse briefly.  There should still be bits of butter visible.  Add ice water around bowl and again, pulse briefly, just until dough holds together when pressed between your fingers.  Don’t let a ball form.

On work surface, press dough outward with the heel of your hand.  Pat into a round, wrap in plastic and chill for a half hour.

Roll out dough into a 12-inch round. Drape into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Chill in refrigerator for 20 minutes.

While tart shell is chilling, cut a small cross in the stem end of each peach, dip peaches one or two at a time into a pot of simmering water for 1 ½ minutes.  Let cool.  Peel off skin.  Slice into half-inch wedges.  Add instant tapioca, sugar, salt and lemon juice. Mix.

Pour half of peach mixture into tart shell..  Arrange remainder of peach slices into an attractive pattern.  Dot with cubes of butter and fresh raspberries.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  Turn heat down to 350 and bake another half hour or until mixture bubbles up and crust is golden brown.

The white nectarine version, this one an upside-down tart