Peach & Fig Tart with Star Anis, Sambuca and Red Pepper
Of course the name of this post here is supposed to be a little provocative... so is the food that we are going to be talking about here- hopefully! I would hope that this luscious and fruity pastry with its Sambuca-infused peach and fig slices might lead you into temptation! And better still... into your kitchens for you to make for yourselves!
The only thing you need to prepare to make this little beauty, is some seasoned sugar- and that will take you all of 2-3 minutes, so this whole thing is very quick and very easy!
To "make" the sugar, take some regular granulated sugar- I needed less than a tablespoonful for this tart, but let's stick with the tablespoon. Add a pinch of salt and a few red pepper corns- 5-7, say. Then add one segment of a star anis seed, half a teaspoon of cinnamon and grind this all together in a mortar and pestle into a fine, powdered sugar. This is what is going to make your tart taste deliciously different and fun! Oh- and the shot or two of sambuca as well of course!
Next, I cut 1 peach and 2 figs into thin-ish slices and drizzled them with said sambuca, then sprinkled them with the powdered sugar and allowed them to marinate for 5-10 minutes, so that the flavored sugar had a chance to dissolve and seep into the fruit.
I then cut a circle of puff pastry out and laid it in my frying pan. And turned on the oven... best get that thing nice and hot beforehand! Back to the pastry... I laid out the fruit slices decoratively and then folded the outside edge of the pastry over. I folded and pinched, folded and pinched, all the way around. Of course the pastry does not stay that way, but when it does open up and puff out in the oven, it does it in a nice, vertical manner that looks much prettier! There's a cool little tip for you! So, I popped the pan onto the stove top and gave it 4-5 minutes of good heat from below, before transferring it to the oven, to finish backing from above... that way I made sure that the pastry would not be soggy and soft in the middle!
And that is all you need to know! Apart from the fact that it is totally yummy and would be great with some vanilla ice cream for example... But I will leave the rest of it all up to you!
Great tip to start the tart off on the stovetop to ensure a crispy crust. I'll have to remember that for next time I make a tart!
ReplyDeleteI'm Sicilian and miserly with my gas bill Frank ;-) I do this with Pizza too- it's the best way to get heat to the bottom of any pastry and to get it crisp! Thanks for writing! Francesco
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