Wally's peaches
After reading AH's book and finding a peach tart recipe, I knew that it'd be one of the firsts I wanted to make. The perfect time came for a memorial birthday dessert party, for someone that had very much loved peaches. The tart started to come together many days before. I purchaser some organic peaches at whole foods, but it kept being too hot to turn on the oven.
On Wednesday, as I walked to work, the Amish farmer's market started to set out their peaches for sale so I bought a quart. By Saturday, after shopping for new kitchen appliances, I had hoped the peaches would be perfectly over ripe...
Well, the WF's peaches were great: soft and super juicy. The Amish peaches were... very hard. I freaked! The recipe says very ripe! Since I wanted to make 2 tarts, I could either make just one or I could mix the two kinds together and home for the best. So that's what I did- 5 peaches per tart, 2 hard, white ones and 3 juicy ripe ones.
The crust, of course, comes first and couldn't have been easier. In a 9" pie dish (because I didn't have two square 8"), I mixed together 1.5c flour, 1/2t salt, and 1t sugar. in a bowl, I added 1/2 c olive oil, 2T milk, and 1/2 t vanilla extract (even though it called for almond). Pouring the liquid into the dry, I used a fork to mix it all up and used my fingers to thin it out and shape it in the dish. the recipe said only to have it 3/4" high and I was reluctant. But I took some off... I wish I had done more as it burned later.
Then to those peaches- I tried a paring knife first on the super soft peaches which seemed to work best to get off the skin. Then for the hard white ones, I opted for the peeler, which was faster. I sliced them all into 6 chunks. Thinking that the peaches on the bottom of the dish would cook faster because they would also boil in the other peaches' juices, I layered them on the bottom. The riper chunks were placed on top.
Next it was a bowl of 3/4c sugar, 2T flour, 1/4t salt and 2T cold butter mixed with my fingers till it was like sand, especially since I used unbleached flour. Then sprinkled generously on top and threw in the oven at 425 for 35-45min. at 30, I had to take it out, it started to burn and I had to get to the party!
Photo from: http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2008/09/nectarine_tart.html
On Wednesday, as I walked to work, the Amish farmer's market started to set out their peaches for sale so I bought a quart. By Saturday, after shopping for new kitchen appliances, I had hoped the peaches would be perfectly over ripe...
Well, the WF's peaches were great: soft and super juicy. The Amish peaches were... very hard. I freaked! The recipe says very ripe! Since I wanted to make 2 tarts, I could either make just one or I could mix the two kinds together and home for the best. So that's what I did- 5 peaches per tart, 2 hard, white ones and 3 juicy ripe ones.
The crust, of course, comes first and couldn't have been easier. In a 9" pie dish (because I didn't have two square 8"), I mixed together 1.5c flour, 1/2t salt, and 1t sugar. in a bowl, I added 1/2 c olive oil, 2T milk, and 1/2 t vanilla extract (even though it called for almond). Pouring the liquid into the dry, I used a fork to mix it all up and used my fingers to thin it out and shape it in the dish. the recipe said only to have it 3/4" high and I was reluctant. But I took some off... I wish I had done more as it burned later.
Next it was a bowl of 3/4c sugar, 2T flour, 1/4t salt and 2T cold butter mixed with my fingers till it was like sand, especially since I used unbleached flour. Then sprinkled generously on top and threw in the oven at 425 for 35-45min. at 30, I had to take it out, it started to burn and I had to get to the party!
Photo from: http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2008/09/nectarine_tart.html
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