Peach Melba Tart

I wanted to leave you all with something sweet. I am off to California in a few days for close to a week. No husband. No kids.

What ever will I do with myself?

Hmmmm, let’s start off with my best friend picking me up from the Santa Barbara airport. Herself, sans child. So off we go to venture around Santa Barbara. Cruise State Street, enjoy the ocean breeze, get a yummy bite and then have a late dinner with our fantabulous friend in Thousand Oaks. Then we’re off to her house, another seaside city near Los Angeles.

I am determined to find a karaoke joint opened on a Wednesday night…

She has clients the following morning. This is how I see it:

I wake up

late.

I walk to a local coffee shop.

Buy the biggest latte known to man.

Looks about right

And a pastry.

I will then venture to the beach where I will promptly plop myself,

book and latte in hand

(after about a week or two of contemplating, here are my vacation books:

Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum

Finish up – The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America by George Packer

and

The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan)

I am not moving

until someone physically removes me.

Sun burn time.

The rest of the trip I will be staying at my Grandmother and Granddad’s house enjoying Ventura, once again. Drinking my Granddad’s insanely delicious coffee each morning, sitting with my Grandmother. Reading. Walking. Laughing. Crying. Trader Joe’s snacking. Should be a good time. Since I’ll be having such a good time I decided to leave my fellow blog heads with a fabulous summer dessert. I will be making this for my husband and kids to enjoy while I’m out-of-town. Hopefully lessen the blow of single-fatherhood. What an easy, tasty, perfect-for-summer treat. And the way it looks….well, you can see. Gorg. Melba is traditionally a peach and raspberry sauce you pour over vanilla ice cream. Yet here is where Foot Network got creative. What a perfect rendition of an already immaculate and scrumptious dessert. The only time-consuming part is making sure you slice those peaches nice and thin. Since you are leaving the skins on the peaches, I strongly suggest getting organic peaches. Yellow, not white. Other than that this truly is a very simple tart to make. And what a presentation!

Happy sun bathing friends!

Ingredients

For the crust:

1/2 cup sliced almonds

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

For the glaze:

1 peach, diced

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 wide strips lemon zest 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

For the filling and topping:

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

2 firm peaches, thinly sliced

1/2 cup raspberries

Preparation

Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spread the almonds on a baking sheet and bake until slightly golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let cool completely.
Combine the flour, 1/3 cup of the toasted almonds, the granulated sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Add 2 tablespoons ice water and pulse until the dough just comes together. Turn out the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and form into a disk; wrap tightly and refrigerate until slightly firm, about 15 minutes. Unwrap the dough and press evenly into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Freeze until firm, about 10 minutes.
Place the tart pan on a baking sheet. Line the crust with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until the edge of the crust is slightly golden, about 20 minutes. Remove the foil and weights and continue baking until the crust is golden brown all over, 15 to 20 more minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Make the glaze: Combine the diced peach, granulated sugar, lemon zest and juice, and 1 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook until the peach is soft and the glaze is thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove the lemon zest; let the glaze cool.
Make the filling: Mix the ricotta, cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and nutmeg in a bowl with a mixer until smooth; spread evenly in the crust. Arrange the sliced peaches on top of the filling in concentric circles. Brush with all but about 1 tablespoon of the glaze. Gently toss the raspberries with the remaining glaze, then scatter on top of the tart along with the remaining toasted almonds. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate up to 4 hours.

High Altitude Adjustment