Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Stone Fruit Tart with Almond Crust

First let me say that this recipe got me way more Ooohs and Aaahs than I expected. I certainly got more credit than I deserved considering how easy this was. The plums were from the CSA and the peaches were from the farmer's market. But any stone fruit would do. There are currently 5 or 6 different kinds of plums at my farmer's market. I chose the peaches because I though they would be a bit sweeter than the tart plums.

I got the recipe for the tart shell from a recent post at The Nourished Kitchen which I only recently discovered. I was actually so inspiried by the gorgeous picture she took that I went out and bought a tart pan the very next day and this was the first time I used it. The shell contained:
2 cups of almond meal
1 egg white
4 tablespoons of butter (half a stick)
2 tablespoons sugar
The Nourished Kitched calls for a stand mixer to mix the ingredients, but my stand mixer is all covered with stuff in the only crummy pantry I get in my tiny apartment, so I opted for a potato masher instead. And you know what? It worked just fine. By the way, thanks to my dad for takin' the pics. I was so happy you came to town for a visit!! Plus, I never get a photographer in the kitchen! It was really fun.
I worked all the ingredients together. When the dough came together I put the whole lot of it in the tart pan and spread it out into the pan. Just squish it out evenly and press it into the corners to move it out. The almonds have alot of fat so it gets a little messy. It is also nothing like a wheat based dough, there is not springiness to the dough. It is more like a paste, so just be gentle and sread it out evenly.
The tart is not totally gluten free because I did put a little flour in with the fruit to soak up the juice. But if you have gluten sensitivity just omit it. I mixed about a quarter cup of brown sugar in with the cut up fruit and placed it in the unbaked tart. Then I baked the tart at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes of until the whole house smelled like almonds. Yummy.Here is what it looked like after I served it.
That piece got eaten. There were no leftovers. That is when you know you've got a hit: no leftovers.

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