Brown butter nectarine and plum tart

Over the past two years I’ve moved house a total of four times.  I expect to be moving again in a month or two’s time, which I’m hoping will be the last for a good while to come!  With each move I have to confess I’ve become increasingly lazy when it comes to unpacking.  Knowing that another move was on the horizon at the time of my last, I’ve left a good number of unpacked boxes stowed away in my garage. 

Bear with me now, I promise there is a point to this story.  About a month ago now I found myself down in the garage rummaging around for some paperwork when I came across a box containing a stack of cookbooks I’d not seen in the better part of a decade.  For a moment, it felt a little like Christmas!

One of the books was a copy of Bill Granger’s first cookbook, Bill’s Sydney Food which was first published back in 2000.  At the time I remember his book caused quite a stir.  Everyone loved his simple, fresh take on food. 

His recipes have clearly endured the test of time. I spent an enjoyable half hour or so distracting myself from more pressing matters by flicking through this long forgotten treasure. One of the many recipes which caught my eye was his Plum and Nectarine Tart, and I’ve since been waiting for the right occasion to try my hand at it. 

Last weekend I finally got a chance to bake a version for myself.  Perfect timing since stone fruit is in season here in Sydney at the moment.  The brown butter for this dish really takes the flavours to a whole new level.  It made a delicious dessert for a family gathering and judging by how little was left at the end of the night, this Brown Butter Nectarine and Plum Tart was a great success.  

Brown butter nectarine and plum tart

2015-03-08 11:43:47

Serves 8

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Ingredients

1. Sweet pastry*
2. 2 nectarines
3. 2 plums
4. 3 eggs
5. 1/2 cup caster sugar
6. 2 tbsp plain flour
7. 90 g butter

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease a 23 cm tart case.
2. Roll out the sweet pastry** until it is about 2-3mm thick and use it to line the tart case, leaving the excess to hang over the sides.
3. Line the pastry with baking paper, fill with ceramic baking beans and blind bake for 10 minutes.
4. Remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 10 minutes, or until golden.
5. Trim the excess pastry from the edges and set aside to cool.
6. While the pastry is cooling, stone the plums and nectarines and cut each into 6 to 8 pieces (depending on size of fruit).
7. In a small fry pan, brown the butter over a medium heat then set aside.
8. Beat the sugar and eggs together with an electric mixer until well combined and turns pale.
9. Add the flour and browned butter and gently fold into the mixture to combine.
10. Arrange the fruit in the pastry case, with the skin facing down then pour the tart mixture evenly over the fruit.
11. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden. Cover pie with foil if crust begins to brown too much.
12. Remove from oven and leave to cool slightly before serving.
13. Lightly dust with icing sugar and serve with ice cream and/or thickened cream.

Notes

1. * Refer to the sweet pastry recipe on my blog, or alternatively one of your preference.
2. ** To save on mess and to aid the easy transfer of the pastry, a trick I’ve recently picked up is to roll your pastry out on some baking paper. That way you don’t need to lightly dust your surface and once the pastry is at the desired thickness you can easily roll the pastry with paper around the rolling pin to transfer it to the tart case. You can then reuse the baking paper for blind baking the pastry.

Adapted from Bill Granger

Adapted from Bill Granger

A Sweet Muddle http://www.asweetmuddle.com/