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Dietmar Sawyere’s nectarine and frangipane tart

The secret? Slow-baked nectarines to intensify the fruit's sweetness.
William Meppem
8
1H 30M
5H
6H 30M

“In Australia, nectarines can often be underripe, so we slow-bake them with sugar to intensify the sweetness. If you find perfectly tree-ripened fruit, you can skip this step. Make sure the frangipane is chilled before adding it to the pastry case.” – Dietmar Sawyere

Ingredients

Mascarpone sorbet
Sweet pastry

Method

Main

1.For mascarpone sorbet, blend mascarpone with sugar syrup in a blender until smooth, add lemon juice and blend to combine. Freeze in an ice-cream machine, then freeze until firm (3 hours). Makes 1 litre.
2.Preheat oven to 80C. Slice nectarines into cheeks or, if ripe enough, halve and remove stones. Scatter icing sugar over an oven tray lined with baking paper and place nectarines cut-side down onto icing sugar. Bake until soft and a little dried (3-4 hours). Set aside to cool.
3.Meanwhile, for sweet pastry, sieve flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add butter. Sieve icing sugar over butter, add egg yolks and vanilla seeds and mix with your fingertips to form a smooth paste. Gradually draw in flour from sides of well until a smooth dough forms. Do not overwork. Roll pastry between two pieces of baking paper to a 3mm-thick round and refrigerate to rest (1 hour). Bring to room temperature so pastry is just flexible enough to line a lightly greased 23cm-diameter, 4cm-high ring mould placed on an oven tray lined with baking paper. Trim excess pastry and refrigerate to rest (20-30 minutes).
4.Meanwhile, beat butter and caster sugar with vanilla seeds in an electric mixer until pale. Add eggs, flour and amaretto, beat to combine. Stir through almond meal, then refrigerate until chilled (1-2 hours).
5.Increase oven to 180C. Spread jam over pastry base, then spread frangipane on top. Arrange nectarine cheeks on top and bake until tart is set and golden and springy to touch (50 minutes-1 hour). Cool in ring mould on tray on a wire rack (1 hour), then remove from mould, dust edges with icing sugar and serve with mascarpone sorbet.

To make sugar syrup, bring equal quantities of caster sugar and water to the boil in a saucepan, set aside to cool.

Drink suggestion by Dietmar Sawyere: Moscato d’Asti

Notes

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