TOP
4 peaches
6 apricots
4tbsp honey
4 sprigs rosemary
PASTRY
250g/1¾ cups plain/all-purpose flour
100g/scant ¾ cup icing/confectioners sugar
125g/½ cup butter, cubed
1 egg
FILLING
400g/14oz ricotta
Zest of a lemon
Zest of an orange
50g/¼ cup caster/superfine sugar
1 egg
EQUIPMENT
20cm/9in loose-bottomed tart tin/pan
If you have read Call Me By Your Name, you will know it would be remiss of me not to include a recipe for peaches here. It’s no hardship; they’re among my most beloved fruit. By the time they appear on the shelves, my hayfever has subsided, and I am already looking forward to autumn appearing. But, for the month or so when they’re at their best, I’d happily live on them alone. If you have a bowlful of ripe fruit, it would be lovely used raw in this tart, with a drizzle of rosemary honey. But if your fruit is a little less yielding, do try roasting it first.
Serves 10
1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan/400F/gas 6. Slice the peaches and apricots in half, pull out the stones, and put them cut-side up in a roasting dish. Drizzle the honey over the top, along with the leaves from 2 sprigs of the rosemary. Roast for half an hour, and then cool to room temperature while you prepare the tart.
2. While the fruit is in the oven, prepare the pastry. In a food processor, blitz the flour and icing sugar with the butter, until it resembles breadcrumbs. Alternatively, you can do this with your fingertips, but this is a soft and sweet pastry – it melts easily if you have warm hands. Use the egg to bring the pastry together, then roll it into a log, and cover it with plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for half an hour.
3. Once firm, cut into round discs. The pastry is too soft and sweet to roll out easily, especially in the summer. Press the rounds of pastry into the tart tin, right up the sides, using a wodge of pastry to push it into the corners and seal any joins. Prick the pastry all over, and return to the fridge for another half an hour, until firm. Turn up the oven to 200C fan/425F/gas 7 – your fruit should be done by now – just before you bring the pastry out of the fridge.
4. Cover the pastry with 2 sheets of plastic wrap, and pour baking beans or rice in, right up to the top of the pastry. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the beans or rice and wrap and bake until the pastry is golden and dry to the touch (about 10 minutes).
5. Turn the oven down to 160C fan/350F/gas 4. Whisk the ingredients for the ricotta filling together. Once the pastry is cool enough to touch, spoon the filling into it and smooth off the top. Bake for 20 minutes until set.
6. Once the tart has cooled to room temperature, spoon the peaches and apricots onto the top. Tip the roasting juices into a small saucepan, and simmer with the rest of the rosemary sprigs until it is a viscous syrup. Spoon this over the fruit on the tart, and serve.