Stone fruit and crème fraiche tart

Photographer: Adam

It would seem I’m a bit of a stone fruit fiend. Last week I was at the veggie shop and I couldn’t resist buying soft, ripe apricots – I bought two kilos and there isn’t one left in our fruit bowl! I guess I figure that while the going is good I had better dive right on in and make the most of these seasonal sweet treats.

Summery stone fruit combines with orange and crème fraiche to make this tart perfect for taking along on a picnic or to a barbeque. While there are a few steps involved, it is really simple to make. You cake bake the pastry and frangipane, and roast the fruit in advance. Simply assemble just prior to serving.

Store bought pastry works just fine, but it is so satisfying to make your own. The secret to a good pastry crust: chill, chill, chill! Pastry doesn’t like to get hot and sweaty. I have adapted the pastry from Sara’s spring frangipane tart as I find it makes a great, fine crust and well, why re-invent the wheel eh?

INGREDIENTS

Pastry
65g butter
50g icing sugar
130g flour
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp water

Frangipane
100g butter
½ cup caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
140g ground almonds

Cream filling
150 ml cream
250g crème fraiche
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp icing sugar
Finely grated zest of half an orange

Roasted fruit
~750g stone fruit of your choice– I used 4 nectarines, 3 peaches and 4 apricots
2 tbsp brown sugar
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup rum

METHOD

Pastry
1. Blend the very cold butter with the icing sugar and flour in a food processor.
2. In a separate bowl beat the egg yolk with the water.
3. Slowly pulse the egg yolk mixture into the butter and flour mixture. Mix until it is just coming together, then turn out onto a floured surface and knead a little to form a ball.
4. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
5. Once chilled, pre heat oven to 180ºC. Roll pastry out to approximately 2-3mm thick and use to line a 28cm loose bottom tart tin. Chill in the freezer for 10 minutes.
6. Blind bake the pastry for 12 minutes, then set aside while you prepare the frangipane:

Frangipane
1. Cream softened butter and caster suagar until very pale.
2. Add eggs, flour, vanilla and ground almonds. Beat until smooth.
3. Smooth into blind baked pastry shell and bake for 30 minutes until pastry is crisp and frangipane is golden.
4. Set aside to cool.

Cream filling
Whip cream until thick, then add crème fraiche, vanilla, icing sugar and orange zest and whip until light and fluffy. Chill until ready to serve.

Roasted fruit
1. Preheat oven to 180ºC on Bake
2. Halve stone fruit and place cut side up in a roasting dish. Sprinkle over brown sugar and pour over orange juice and rum.
3. Roast stone fruit until just tender – time required will depend on both the size and ripeness of your fruit. My peaches and nectarines took 15 minutes and apricots just 10 minutes.
4. Reserve the syrup to drizzle over the finished tart.
5. Cool to room temperature.

To assemble
When ready to serve, spoon cream filling into the pastry case and smooth to edges.
Arrange roasted fruit on top of tart and drizzle syrup over.