Deliciously sweet summer peaches and the exotically heady perfume of rose water is a match made in heaven- a flavour combo that will keep your guests swooning with delight … and guessing!
Serves 8-10 people
Ingredients:
- 500gm of fresh peach flesh, deseeded, skinless. Equates to approx. 800gm unprocessed fruit. Easy skin slipping method below.
- Catch the peach juice and retain as you process the fruit.
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Juice of half lemon
- 2 tbsp. castor sugar
- 1 tbsp. Cornflour
- 100 ml combined of retained peach juice and water
- 80ml rose water
- 1 sheet of store–bought readymade shortcrust pastry. But if you would like to make your own totally-worth-it deluxe pastry, check out my recipe for Sweet French butter Shortcrust pastry in the recipe section on this website.
Making the filling:
Slip the skins off the whole peaches by blanching them for 3 minutes in a saucepan of boiling water. Spoon them out into a bath of iced water and gently ‘slip’ the skins off with your hands when they’re cool enough to handle. Try to buy peaches that come easily away from the seed, and cut the flesh into eighths wedges. Reserve any fruit juice you can, add enough water to bring the liquid total to around 100ml and mix this with the cornflour in a little separate bowl, to a runny paste.
In a medium saucepan, add the processed fruit, cornflour paste, all the remaining filling ingredients except the rose water and bring to a quiet boil, stirring gently so as not to break up the fruit too much. Stir in the rose water. Put aside to thicken and cool completely.
Blind baking your tart shell:
Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C. Lightly spray a 24cm Loose base quiche/tart tin with cooking oil.
Separate out a sheet of pastry from the freezer and leave to thaw slightly on the bench until just pliable.
Pick up the dough over a rolling pin and lay it over your tart tin. Gently push the pastry down into the dish, up the walls and into the corners, be careful not to stretch it. Trim, pinch, mould, repair holes and add bits as required, rustic is all the fashion! Chill in the fridge for 30 mins.
Remove and with a fork, prick holes in the pastry on the bottom of the dish, lots and lots, 20-30 times. Put it in the oven and blind bake for 12 minutes until very lightly coloured.
Now relax. This blind baked shell, still in its tart tin, will keep in an airtight container, in the fridge for a few days until you are ready to fill it.
Bringing it all together!
Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C. Spoon the fruit filling into the pastry shell, sprinkle the top with a little castor sugar and bake in the oven for approx. 20 minutes or until the pastry edges have browned a little more.
Cool on a cake rack, pop the fluted sides away, slide the round metal base out and centre the tart onto a cake stand or plate. This is all a bit of a juggle and nerve wracking but worth being delicate because it will look beautiful when complete. Decorate if desired with a dusting of icing sugar, flowers, leaves, fruit or nothing at all. Serve slices with a big dollop of cultured crème fraiche or double cream.