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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Asparagus Gruyere Tart

If you make this tart, don't do what I did. Because even though I knew the bottom of my tart would be a little soggy, I went ahead and skipped baking the dough before I put the toppings on anyway. I thought there was a small chance the cheese & asparagus wouldn't be too wet/heavy and the bottom might puff a little and stay dry. So I did it, just to find out for sure. And yes, the bottom was a little soggy. So do make this tart (because if you like asparagus, you'll love it), but don't question Martha Stewart's procedure like I did (really, who the hell do I think I am?).

ASPARAGUS GRUYERE TART

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

flour, for work surface

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, defrosted

5 ½ oz. (2 cups) shredded gruyere cheese

1 1/2 lb. medium or thick asparagus

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1.      Preheat oven to 400º F.

2.      On a floured surface, roll the puff pastry into a 16-by-10-inch rectangle. Trim uneven edges. Place pastry on a baking sheet. With a sharp knife, lightly score pastry dough 1-inch in from the edges to mark a rectangle. Using a fork, pierce dough inside the markings at 1/2-inch intervals. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.

3.      Remove pastry shell from oven, and sprinkle with cheese. Trim the bottoms of the asparagus spears to fit crosswise inside the tart shell; arrange in a single layer over cheese, alternating ends and tips. Brush with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Bake until spears are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

from Martha Stewart

asparagus

rolled puffed pastry on a sheetpan

Since I wasn't following directions, I just
pricked the dough all over with a fork.

I didn't use gruyere...this fontina was a nice substitute.

sprinkling cheese on the dough

My asparagus was shorter than the dough,
so I arranged some on the top and bottom too.

more cheese sprinkled on top
(not too much - you don't want to cover the asparagus)

asparagus tart

side view

sliced

close up

My daughter doesn't like asparagus, so I made
her the same tart, but with broccoli. She loved it.

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Tomato Sauce Tart

As you can imagine, when I was a pastry student, we ate plenty of sweets. I won't go so far as to say that we got sick of them, but when our teacher pulled out this recipe and said we were making a tomato tart, we were pretty damn excited. My guess is the oompa loompas would feel the same way if Willy Wonka threw them a pizza party.

I decided to go ahead and rename this a tomato sauce tart because you're basically making a tomato sauce with lots of parmesan and eggs added so it will set up and be sliceable. It's great for fall and winter when the fresh summer tomatoes are long gone.

TOMATO SAUCE TART

Yield: 1 (9” to 10”) tart

Crust:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

3 tablespoons ice water, more if needed

2 tablespoons chilled heavy cream

Filling:

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or pressed

8 basil leaves, chopped

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

5 large eggs, beaten

1 cup grated parmesan

Crust:

1.      Blend flour and salt in food processor. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 3 tablespoons ice water and cream. Process just until moist clumps form (add more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry). Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic; chill 1 hour. Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.

2.      Roll dough to ¼-inch thickness and transfer to a 9- or 10-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Trim overhang to ½-inch. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

3.      Preheat oven to 375° F.

4.      Using a fork, pierce dough all over the bottom. Line with parchment paper and pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the weights/parchment. Bake until pale golden, about another 10 minutes (crust may shrink slightly). Set aside while you make the filling.

5.      Reduce oven temperature to 350° F.

Filling:

6.      Saute onion, garlic and basil in olive oil and butter until onions are soft, about 6-8 minutes.

7.      Add tomatoes (with their juices), bring to a steady simmer and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened (about 20 minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

8.      Add eggs and cheese; mix well.

9.      Pour tomato mixture into tart shell and bake for 35-40 minutes or until set in the center.

crust from "Easy Tart Crust" Bon Appétit, March 2004 (filling slightly adapted from FCI handout)

flour, salt and butter

adding cream (water already added)

clumpy

dough disk

dough rolled

dough in tart pan

basil

onion, garlic and basil

I found these petit diced tomatoes that are nice
for times when you want the tomato chunks
smaller, and you're not planning to blend.

adding tomatoes to the pan

mixed and thickened

If you don't use the petit diced tomatoes and you
want your tomato sauce smoother, you could
always blend it at this point and then proceed.

adding parmesan

mixing in the eggs

filling in the blind baked tart shell

slicing baked tart

tomato tart slice

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Plum Almond Tart

I don't even know where to start. This tart is so unbelievably good, my very limited writing skills couldn't possibly do it justice. Let's forget for a minute that the plum-almond flavor combination is out of this world because first I need to acknowledge the crust. Oh, the crust. It just might be the best crust I've ever eaten in my life (and I've had plenty, believe me). Plus it rolls out like a dream and only needs 15 minutes to rest in the freezer. It literally melts in your mouth. Melts! Am I getting through to you? Because this is important.

Okay, onto the filling. Like I said, the blend of juicy plum and almond is sensational. As a matter of fact, my plum hating husband (okay, that might be overstating it--while he has no interest in plums, I've never actually heard him bad mouth them)...anyway, my husband ate a piece of this while I was out of the room and when I returned he said simply "that's one amazing tart." Nough said (apparently e's are for douchenuggets).

PLUM ALMOND TART

Serves 6

crust:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 tablespoons ice water

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

filling:

1/3 cup whole almonds (or 2 oz. almond flour)

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

4 teaspoons framboise (raspberry liqueur) or brandy

12 oz. ripe red-skinned plums, pitted and cut into 3/4-inch-thick wedges

1/4 cup red currant jelly (or seedless raspberry jam)

whipped cream (optional)

Crust:

1.      Preheat oven to 375° F. Combine flour, sugar and salt in processor. Using on/off turns, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix 2 tablespoons ice water and vanilla in small bowl. Pour water mixture over dough. Process until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Roll out on floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch. Fold overhang in and press, forming double-thick sides. Using fork, pierce dough all over. Freeze 15 minutes.

2.      Bake crust until pale golden, about 30 minutes (crust may shrink slightly). Cool on rack. Maintain oven temperature.

Filling:

3.      Finely grind almonds with sugar in processor (if using almond flour, just pulse a few times to blend). Add egg, butter and 2 teaspoons framboise. Process until batter forms. Pour filling into crust. Arrange plums atop filling. Bake until plums are tender and filling is golden and set, about 50 minutes.

4.      Melt jelly with remaining 2 teaspoons of the framboise in heavy small saucepan over medium-low heat. Brush jelly mixture over plums. Cool tart. Serve at room temperature with whipped cream, if desired.

barely adapted from Bon Appétit, October 1998

flour, sugar and salt with butter added

water/vanilla mixture added

dough disk

dough rolled

pressing dough into the pan

ready to bake (don't forget to prick the bottom with a fork,
that allows steam to escape and keeps the dough from bubbling up).

almonds and sugar

You can use blanched almonds if you prefer,
but all I had were these and I didn't feel like
blanching them (and obviously it worked just fine)

finely ground

adding the egg, butter and framboise

almond cream ready

lovely plums

crust baked

I thought for sure this crust would bubble up without using some
kind of pie weights, but it didn't. This crust is like some kind of
super-crust I've never seen before (it might be from Krypton).

crust filled with almond cream

plums arranged

tart baked

red currant jelly with framboise

If you don't have red currant jelly, use seedless raspberry jam
(my favorite is Polaner All-Fruit, it has just the right consistency).

melted

glazing the tart

glazed plum almond tart

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