Rustic Necatarine Tart

It’s been a busy week so I’m running behind here but it’s Sunday evening, I have some time, I’m listening to The Trews acoustic album, Friends and Total Strangers (which I highly recommend), the puppy is lying on my feet, and, I hope this post will make up for it.

It’s no secret that I’m a sucker for anything that’s a big, bright, block of colour so when the farmer’s market had big red baskets of Okanagan nectarines on sale for $5, I couldn’t resist.  I had no idea what on earth I was going to do with that many nectarines, but they sure did look pretty!

So, after some searching, I decided to make a ‘rustic nectarine tart’.  I have a thing for rustic tarts right now. Heh.

It turned out to be super easy and, it gave me some of the best pictures I’ve taken so far (at least, that’s in my opinion anyway, haha).

It’s a great dessert to make.  The nectarines shout out SUMMER!!  But a rustic tart feels like autumn.  So it’s a great dish to make to cross the seasonal divide.

I had great light for this shoot and I had loads of time, which makes a difference (except for the ice cream shot!).  I think having lots of time makes it easier to experiment and try different things.  I had more time to spend on post processing too, which I’m slowly getting better at.

Plus, I got to use my cute sugar bowl I picked up for a steal while out exploring one day a few weeks ago!

Et voila!  The finished product with some very yummy Saskatoon Berry Sorbet (from safeway! It was really good!)

And without further ado, the recipe, which again, was a mishmash of a few different ones I found online.  The basis for it though, was from Martha Stewart.

Rustic Nectarine Tart

1 tbsp all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 package of puff pastry, thawed
1/3 cup sugar plus 2 tsp for sprinkling
2 tbsp cream cheese, the spreadable kind
4 large ripe nectarines, halved, pitted and sliced 1/4 inch thick
pinch of salt
2 tbsp seedless red-currant jelly, warmed until liquefied

Preheat oven to 425F

Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured work surface to a 12 x 14 inch rectangle.  Trim the edges to make them even if you want, but I prefer the imperfect untrimmed version – looks more ‘rustic’!

Place the pastry on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Use a sharp paring knife to score the dough to form a 1 inch border.  Use a fork to prick the dough inside the border every 1/2 inch.

Sprinkle the border with 2 tsp of sugar.  Refrigerate until slightly firm, about 10 minutes (you can leave it in the fridge up to a day, covered with plastic wrap)

Bake chilled dough until puffed and golden brown, 10 – 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, gently toss nectarine slices with 1 tbsp of flour and the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar and salt.

Remove baked pastry from oven when it’s puffed and golden brown and, with a fork, press dough inside border (it will be very poofy!) to make it level.  Spread, very carefully, the cream cheese in a thin layer inside the border (the softer the cheese, the better).

Arrange the nectarines and their mixture either in rows on top of the pastry or, for a more haphazard look, pile them on top and then spread them out with your hands until even.

Bake, loosely tented with foil, until nectarines have softened.  The recipes all said about 10 minutes but I found it took closer to 20.  Remove from oven.

Brush the nectarines with the warm jelly and let cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes.  To serve cut into pieces

(as an aside, I brushed the jelly on the tart border and the nectarines before removing the tart from the oven.  I turned the oven to broil and let it cook for another minute – just long enough to get a nice caramelized glaze but not long enough to burn!)

Enjoy!