Sunday 7 June 2015

Berry, Peachy, Oh So Easy!

Torta di Sfoglia Semplice con Pesche & Mertilli
Simple Peach & Blueberry Puff-Pastry Tart

 

It's Sunday, it's sunny, life is good... So take it easy! You have friends coming in the afternoon? You want to have something nice and fresh and seasonal to offer them, but don't know what to do... And more's to the point... You don't want to spend hours preparing it?

Well, you can't get easier than this! It's simple, it works and with a little trick or two, you can make your roll of store bought puff pastry look like something handmade... But you will have to do a few little things by hand to achieve that of course! Let me show you how easy it is!


 

Of course, the thing we all love about puff pastry is the fact that is... Well... Puffs up! So, I decided to try to have as much of that flaky, layered, crumbly goodness going on as I could...

Ladies and gentlemen, grab your knives!


 

It's true, you are seeing almost the whole of the ingredients for this lovely, admittedly small, 4-slice tart. Obviously, you will need to cut a circle of pastry from the roll of around 8" ( which will leave me a little left-over for later), but otherwise, yes, 2 small peaches, a good handful of blueberries, a little sugar, a little cinnamon and a little time is all you need.

Oh- and a nice, sharp knife!


 

Just a hint of sugar and cinnamon is all you need to make this taste wonderful... Just let that nice fresh fruit be itself and it will do the hard work for you!


Simply slice up the peaches and stir them carefully together with 1 teaspoon each of sugar and cinnamon. I made the effort of peeling my peaches, but that is a simple choice of preference... That bit of peel will not hurt at all.



Let the peaches and berries "marinate" a little for 4-5 minutes... You will see that with just a little bit of sugar, the natural juices of the peach slices will be drawn out and make everything nice and moist.

In the meantime you can prepare the pastry. Simply cut a circle, using a plate as a stencil is obviously the easiest way, and then make lots of cuts all the way around as you can see here. Sound difficult to get them all relatively equal sized? Nah!

Simply make your first cuts at the top, bottom, left and right, then the next half-way in-between and so on. Like I said... It's easy, it's fun... And it's the least you can do!

Next, lay the peach slices on top, as neatly or messily as you like. I made the effort to make mine look a little pretty for all y'all... I'm nice like that!


 

Sprinkle with the berries and a little extra sugar and you are ready to get creative with those edges!

 
 
Simply fold the separate pieces of pastry over at a slight angle, so that they overlap a little and keep going all around the outside. Make sure to press them down a little so that they stick together.

 

And as soon as it looks like this, it is ready to go into a hot oven, at 180C, for 30-40 minutes. Oops, did I forget to tell you to get the oven ready? Doh!!!

 
 
40 minutes later... YUM!
 

It may be a little delicate at first, but once it has cooled down for 15-20 minutes, you will be able to safely set it out onto a decorative dish... And to wow your friends or family... Or just thrill over it yourselves!

 

Have a slice... Or two... You deserve it! I said so!

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