Nectarine Almond Frangipane Tart

I'm just going to state the obvious...I burned the crust. I should have covered the edges with foil during the second half of baking, but I wasn't paying attention and it got away from me. Oh well. I hesitated for just a moment to share this with you, but then I realized how selfish it would be for me to rob you of that comforting feeling you get when you know you're not the only one who does stuff like this. And I already felt bad, so why shouldn't you feel good? You're welcome. Anyway, I guess it's a testimonial to this being a good tart, because in spite of the burnt crust, it was still delightful. And I can tell that the crust is delicious, because the unburnt part on the bottom was awesome (the lemon zest in there is a really nice touch).

NECTARINE ALMOND FRANGIPANE TART

Makes 8 servings

pastry dough:

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest

2 large egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons water

frangipane filling:

7 to 8 oz almond paste (not marzipan or almond filling)

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened

3 tablespoons sugar

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 lb firm-ripe nectarines

glaze:

1/3 cup peach preserves

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon Disaronno Amaretto (optional)

Special equipment: 11" x 8" rectangular (or 11" round) fluted tart pan with removable bottom

Make dough:

1.      Put oven rack in middle position and preheat to 375° F.

2.      Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor until combined. Add butter and zest and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Add yolks, vanilla, and water and pulse just until incorporated and dough begins to form large clumps.

3.      Turn dough out onto a work surface and divide into 4 portions. Smear each portion once with heel of your hand in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together using scraper and form into a ball, then flatten into a rectangle.

4.      Put dough in tart pan and pat out with well-floured fingers into an even layer over bottom and up sides so it extends about 1/4 inch above rim. Chill 30 minutes.

5.      Lightly prick tart shell all over with a fork, then line with foil and fill with pie weights. Bake shell until golden around edge, about 15 minutes. Carefully remove foil and weights and bake until shell is golden all over, about 15 minutes more. Cool shell completely in pan on a rack. Leave oven on.

Make filling:

6.      Beat together almond paste, butter, sugar, and almond extract in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then mix in flour and salt.

7.      Halve nectarines, discarding pits, then cut into 1/4-inch-wide wedges.

8.      Spread frangipane filling evenly in tart shell. Stand nectarine wedges, skin sides down, decoratively in filling, being careful not to push too far into filling.

9.      Bake tart until frangipane is puffed and golden and edges of nectarines are golden brown, about 1 1/4 hours.

Make glaze:

10.  Heat preserves and water in a 1-quart saucepan over moderately high heat, stirring, until preserves are melted. Remove from heat and force through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl, discarding solids. Stir in Amaretto (if using).

11.  Brush top of hot tart generously with glaze and cool in pan on rack 15 minutes. Remove side of pan and cool tart completely, about 2 hours.

Gourmet, September 2006

flour, sugar, salt, butter and zest

adding yolks, vanilla and water

dough pulsed

dough in four parts and smeared

dough in pan

I used red lentils as pie weights.

blind baked crust (still looking good)

sugar, butter and almond paste

mixed; adding first egg

eggs already mixed in; adding flour and salt

almond cream

filling the tart crust with almond cream

nectarines

nectarines arranged stupidly

I recommend leaning all your nectarines in one direction,
instead of trying to face them all up. As you can see in the next
photo, they all fell over in different directions and ended up
looking pretty stupid. I guess it just wasn't my day in the kitchen.

baked tart

No, I'm not dyslexic (but if I was smart, I'd go with that).

glaze ingredients (before melting)

glazing tart

nectarine almond frangipane tart

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