From theguardian.com
Puff pastry is the perfect vessel for showing off the intense fruit in this elegant tart of peaches on a bed of frangipane with a basil-lime glaze
Summer fruit puddings, for me, are all about ratios. I want my taste buds to be flooded with beautiful fruit first, then chased down with the merest hint of cream, pastry, crumble or whatever. The puff pastry tart boasts the largest surface area of all tarts, so lends itself perfectly to the job, in that you can cover every inch of the pastry with fruit. Stone fruits are best, and peaches are my favourite, especially when layered over a thin cardamom and almond frangipane, as they are in today’s recipe. When the peach roasts down, it tastes like a more intense and concentrated version of itself. Like summer, distilled.
Peach, almond, cardamom and basil puff tart
The basil adds a citrus and floral flavour to the lime glaze that tops the tart. Keep the pastry in the fridge until the last minute, so it doesn’t soften too much before it heads into the oven.
Prep 5 min
Cook 1 hour 10 min
Serves 6-8
75g unsalted vegan butter, softened at room temperature
90g caster sugar
¼ tsp fine sea salt
½ tbsp plain flour
1 lime, zest finely grated, and juiced, to get 2 tbsp
80g ground almonds
1 tsp ground cardamom
10g basil leaves
1 x 320g pack pre-rolled puff pastry (suitable for vegans), chilled
6 ripe peaches, halved, stoned and cut into 1cm-thick wedges
Vegan creme fraiche or ice-cream, to serve
Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/425F/gas 7. First make the almond frangipane that will sit under the peaches. Cream the butter and 50g of the sugar until well mixed, then add the salt, flour, lime zest, almonds and cardamom, mix again and set aside.
Next make the lime syrup. Put the lime juice and the remaining 40g sugar in a small saucepan on a low heat and cook for three minutes, until dissolved, reduced and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Take off the heat, add the basil leaves and leave to cool.
Take the pastry sheet out of the fridge and unroll onto a baking tray (use the paper that comes with it as a lining). Prick all over with a fork to stop the pastry from puffing up in the oven, then spread the frangipane over the top, leaving a ½cm border around the edges.
Arrange the peaches neatly and slightly overlapping on top of the frangipane, again keeping the ½cm border, until it’s fully covered (I like to change direction with each row). Squeeze the syrup out of the basil leaves – use the back of a spoon or your (clean) hands – then brush all over the top of the peaches.
Pop the tray in the oven, turn down the heat to 190C (170C fan)/375F/gas 5 and bake for 35 minutes, or until the fruit is soft and the pastry golden. Check it halfway through – if any part of the pastry has puffed up a lot and is forcing the peaches up and off the tart, use the tip of a knife to release the air and nudge the fruit back into place.
Serve warm with vegan creme fraiche or vanilla ice-cream.
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