recipe of the week

Caramelised Peach & Almond Crumble as seen on the Careme Pastry website.

 

preparation time: 20 mins
cooking time: 50 mins
serves: 6

ingredients
435g pack Carême sweet vanilla bean shortcrust pastry
1 egg yolk beaten
4 free stone peaches, de-stoned and sliced
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon amaretto (optional)
crumble ...
6 almond biscotti biscuits
¼ cup whole natural almonds
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 ½ tablespoons caster sugar
1 teaspoon almond essence
60g chilled unsalted butter, cut into 2cm cubes

method
preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced), lightly grease a 22cm round tart tin with removable base.
place pastry on a lightly floured kitchen work surface; roll pastry to a thickness of approximately 3mm. to check if the pastry is the correct size for the tart tin, place the tart tin over the pastry, there should be at least a 5cm border the whole way around. carefully line the tart tin, cover and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

to blind bake the pastry case, line the pastry case with baking paper or foil, then fill to top with baking beans or a dried pulse (eg. chickpeas), to help support the sides and weigh the base down during cooking.
place tart tin on a baking tray in preheated oven, bake for 15 minutes. remove tart tin from oven, check pastry is lightly golden before removing beans and baking paper. brush base of tart with beaten egg yolk and return to oven, cook for a further 10 minutes. remove tart from oven, allow to cool.

for the crumble, place the biscotti biscuits, almonds, flour, sugar and essence together in a food processor, pulsing until mixture is coarsely chopped. add the butter and pulse until small clumps begin to form. set crumble aside for later.

place a large frying pan over medium-high heat. meanwhile toss peach slices in brown sugar, tip into pre-heated frying pan spreading to a single layer, move occasionally until fruit is evenly coated in caramel. add amaretto to the pan, tossing peaches to combine, remove from heat.
spoon fruit into the prepared pastry case, top with crumble, bake for 25 minutes. serve tart with cream.